IMMF board elections were held over the weekend at Hamburg’s Reeperbahn conference, new members joined, and we expanded our executive team to embrace more countries and languages. IMMF officials were appointed by manager representatives of 17 IMMF member organisations from 16 countries with a new chair Volker May from Germany, and vice chairs Patricia Hermida from Spain and Gabriel Turielle from Uruguay. We represent artists in 5 continents, our strength is in local talent, and global markets. At Reeperbahn we at discussed new opportunities for artists, including how to mine the digital gold that is data. With more, and more opportunities for distribution, the data that inspires music curation and recommendation has never before been a more powerful tool for surfacing local talent internationally. We do not endorse consumers going off the grid. We think that when they do, everything is lost. Artists need to make a living, so we need consumers to be able to access relevant legal choices conveniently. Therefore we need to be cautious about controlling consumer choice, about geo-blocking, and about cultural quotas. Curation and recommendation are evolving, and are being used by artists to reach wider audiences. Artists are learning how to use these tools to break out of silos to connect with audiences. The principle of ensuring a more diverse and plural availability of music is one we support with all our hearts. Read the full article at the IMMF Website: http://immf.com/support-good-art-good-taste/ Picture: IMMF General Assembly at Reeperbahn Festival 2015 f.l.t.r.: Nathan Brenner (Chair of MMF Australia, IMMF Treasurer), Graham Stairs (International Representative of MMF Canada), Oliver Toth (Chair of MMF Luxembourg), Raitis Zgirskis (International Representative of MMF Latvia), Per Kviman (Chair of MMF Sweden), Natalia Talayero (Co-Chair of MMF Spain), Andy Edwards (International Representative of MMF UK), Patricia Hermida (Co-Chair of MMF Spain, IMMF Vice-Chair), Kari Karjalainen (Member of MMF Finland, Head of the IMMF Copyright Committee), Christoph Storbeck (Chair of MMF Italy), Volker May (International Representative of IMUC Germany, IMMF Chair), Jake Beaumont-Nesbitt (IMMF Policy Advisor), Virpi Immonen (Chair of MMF Finland), Marcel Albers (International Representative of MMF Netherlands), Katia Giampaolo (Member of MMF Italy, Member of the Live Committee), Laszlo Kelemen (International Representative of MMF Hungary), Daria Wabnitz (IMMF Project and Member Manager), Jorge Bizarro (International Representative of MMF Portugal), Leelo Lehtla (Chair of MMF Estonia, Head of the IMMF Classical Committee), Cecilie Torp-Holte (Chair of NEMAA Norway), Danel Padre (International Representative of MMF Estonia), Sibusiso Tshabalala (Chair of MMF South Africa), Yvette Myhill (Chair of AAM Australia) // Not in the picture, but also attending: Didier Zerath (AMA France), Maarten Quaghebeur (MMaF Belgium), Nuno Saraiva (MMF Portugal)