IMPALA Elects New Board With Francesca Trainini As President & Dario Draštata As Chair

VIENNA (CelebrityAccess) – The Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association (IMPALA) announced today (September 8) that it has elected a new board for a term of two years and reviewed the priorities of the association for the coming year. These include AI opportunities, streaming reform, fiscal support, growing the Central Eastern European network and boosting sustainability and inclusion work.
The board appointed Francesca Trainini of the Italian National Association of Independent Music Producers (PMI) as president. At the same time, Dario Draštata of the Balkan regional association Regional Association of Independent Discographers – Balkans (RUNDA) was elected as the new chair of IMPALA.
The members thanked Everlasting Records CEO Mark Kitcatt, who stepped down as president to continue as a board member and chair of IMPALA’s streaming reform group. He also continues as IMPALA’s representative on the executive committee of WIN. Geert De Blaere, representing the Belgian association Belgian Independent Music Association (BIMA), will continue as treasurer of the association, with Helen Smith remaining as executive chair.
IMPALA’s priorities for the next mandate have been revised for the following two years. In line with the appointment of Draštata as chair, the development of work in Central and Eastern Europe will be one of the headline priorities. IMPALA will also further its efforts to achieve streaming reform with its plan to maximize revenue for artists. This will go hand in hand with IMPALA’s commitment to lead on sustainability and EDI issues.
As the digital market constantly evolves, IMPALA will seek to seize the commercial opportunities presented by AI and ensure the legislative framework keeps pace with the sector’s needs and challenges. Future efforts will also be focused on growing and securing fiscal support for the independent music company sector across Europe.
IMPALA chair Dario Draštata commented: “We are set up for the next two years, and developing the network will be one of my key priorities. The Central and Eastern European region is a huge market with amazing talent, and I am excited to be able to chair IMPALA with the huge opportunities we have across streaming and the whole market.”
IMPALA president Francesca Trainini added: “My priority will be to support our streaming reform work along with the chair of our working group, Mark Kitcatt. This also includes maximizing AI opportunities and ensuring we have the right frameworks in place regarding copyright.”
IMPALA’s executive chair, Helen Smith, concluded: “Thanks to the Austrian association VTMÖ for hosting our first annual meeting in Vienna at the WAVES conference. Alongside artist remuneration, streaming and AI, our members prioritized carbon literacy, diversity work and other key issues such as a new fiscal approach. Welcome to our new executive board members who will help us achieve our new goals.”
The list of IMPALA members elected to the Board so far (more to follow under IMPALA’s new program) is (in alphabetical order):

• !K7 (represented by Horst Weidenmüller and Tom Nieuweboer)
• 8Ball Music (represented by Floris Janssen and Helene Koekoek)
• AIM (represented by Silvia Montello and Gee Davy)
• AIM Ireland (represented by Gill Dooley)
• AMAEI (represented by Pedro Marques and Ana Rita Feijão)
• ANMIP (represented by Ruth Koleva)
• Beggars Group (represented by Paul Redding)
• Better Noise Music (represented by Dan Waite and Claudia Mancino)
• BIMA (represented by Geert de Blaere)
• Cooking Vinyl (represented by Martin Goldschmidt and Michelle Polley)
• Cosmos Music Group (represented by Robert Litsen and Lisa Ohman)
• DUP (represented by Kristoffer Rom and Laura Littauer)
• Edel (represented by Jonas Haentjes)
• Epitaph (represented by Roger Dorresteijn)
• Everlasting Records (represented by Mark Kitcatt and Yavanna Cubas Callero)
• FONO (represented by Larry Bringsjord and Olga Solyanik)
• HAIL (represented by Zsolt Jeges and Csaba Nasz)
• IndieCo (represented by Katja Vaukhonen and Riku Pääkkönen)
• INDIERO (represented by Dan Muraru and Anca Lupes)
• IndieSuisse (represented by Andreas Ryser and Fabienne Schmuki)
• [PIAS] Music Group (represented by Michel Lambot)
• Platforma (represented by Matej Burda and Martin Nedvêd)
• Playground Music Scandinavia (represented by Jonas Sjöström and Rebecka Sjöström)
• PMI (represented by Francesca Trainini and Guendalina Gramitto Ricci)
• RUNDA (represented by Dario Draštata and Pavle Eftimovski)
• SCL / Lusitanian (represented by Nuno Saraiva)
• SOM (represented by Eva Karman Reinhold)
• STOMP (represented by Kees van Weijen and Helene Koekoek)
• Sugar Music (represented by Andrea Cotromano)
• UFI (represented by Sonia Durán)
• UPFI (represented by Guilhem Cottet and Laure Cavaillé)
• VTMÖ (represented by Alexander Hirschenhauser and Paulina Parvanov)
• VUT (represented by Jörg Heidemann and Henrietta Bauer)
• Wagram Music (represented by Stephan Bourdoiseau and Arthur Zeller)

If you would like more information on the structure of IMPALA, please click here.