IMPEL's distributions increased by 60% in 2016

27 February 2017 - Press release

Online royalties paid out by the likes of Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify and YouTube to Independent Music Publishers e-Licensing (IMPEL) increased by 60% last year.

The figure refers to distributions made by IMPEL, which collectively licenses Anglo-American mechanical digital rights in Europe for publishers including Beggars Music, Imagem, SONGS Music Publishing and more.

Despite market wide decline in physical downloads, IMPEL's online royalties increased due to a huge growth in streaming. Recorded music saw digital music retail revenues grow 15.8% across streaming and download in the UK market in 2016 (up to £633.1m), according to ERA data.

IMPEL's 46 members also include publishers such as Bucks Music Group, Mute Song, peermusic, Reservoir Media, Sentric Music, Spirit B-Unique and The Music Sales Group, with repertoire covering Elvis, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Drake, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson and many more.

"IMPEL is a major player now in the digital space. By uniting their repertoire and pro-actively engaging with the digital community the independent publishers are operating on a par with the majors.  With repertoire spanning decades, genres and which has been recorded by iconic artists from Elvis to Bowie to Drake, the IMPEL repertoire has become an essential repertoire for digital services. IMPEL is growing in all directions and 2017 is going to be a ground-breaking year for us." – Jane Dyball, CEO, IMPEL

"Through our exponential growth in revenue we are attracting more members to, what is now, a major player in the digital licensing world." - Simon Platz, MD, Bucks Music Group and IMPEL Board Chair

"Reservoir/Reverb Music's Pan-European royalties have seen triple digit growth, year on year, since joining IMPEL. IMPEL helps to level the playing-field for independent music publishers and our songwriters, as we continue to top European charts time and time again. The indie sector is robust, as these impressive statistics illustrate." - Rell Lafargue, COO, Reservoir/ Reverb Music

"2016 was an outstanding year for IMPEL and that success has been shared by all members regardless of size or repertoire type. It shows what can be done by publishers working together and licensing collectively in the digital marketplace." - Chris Butler, Head of Publishing at Music Sales Group and IMPEL board member.