Home

The 18th Indie Week from A2IM wrapped yesterday at the InterContinental Times Square NYC - which saw ~1,200 attendees join together over four days.

Major Themes:

It’s no surprise that AI was the dominant topic. Licensing frameworks, training data rights, catalog protection, creative workflow integration, publishing futures, operational efficiency - it was ubiquitous as expected.
Data as the critical foundation point. If your data is wrong, your royalties, valuations, chart positions and other important metrics are skewed. The main consensus was to fix the floor before building anything on top of it.
Direct-to-fan strategies - how indie players are getting straight to who they need to target most. Owning that first-party data, live activations, merch and physical drops, influencer campaigns, post-show retargeting - the labels pulling ahead have rebuilt around the fan relationship directly.
Catalog business continues to be a prevailing topic. Acquisition activity has forced the question: how do you manage acquired catalog as active infrastructure while keeping frontline alive? Sessions dug into valuation, deal structures, capital access, equity models, and what due diligence actually looks like when a buyer comes knocking.

Keynotes & Fireside Chats:

Charlie Lexton (Merlin) opened Tuesday arguing that the organization exists to protect independent music companies by turning collective scale into leverage, better economics, and stronger infrastructure. He framed AI, consolidation, and platform change as proof that Merlin has to keep evolving if it wants independents to stay independent without giving up opportunity.
Shira Perlmutter (Register of Copyrights) in conversation with A2IM COO Lisa Hresko covered where the Copyright Office actually stands on AI training data, what registration reform might look like in practice, and how policy is keeping pace (or not) with the speed of AI deals landing in the market.
Tom Becci (Concord) + Steven Victor (Victor Victor Worldwide): After announcing a strategic venture between the two companies, Becci sat down with industry executive Steven Victor who has helped build the legacies of artists such as Pop Smoke & Ski Mask the Slump God. Victor drove home the ideas of having confidence in your partners and focusing on talent/authenticity first - then working on shaping commercial elements after.
Ian Harrison (A2IM) + Rob Jonas (Luminate): Harrison & Jonas dug into the numbers as indie streaming share is rising across tiers, vinyl buyers are more diverse and more affluent than ever, and independents now account for roughly 44% of US recorded music.

Libera Awards:

The 15th Libera Awards on Monday kicked off the week with Geese & Oklou winning big on the artist side each taking home four awards.
Secretly claimed both Distributor & Publisher of the Year.
True Panther landed themselves 6 trophies overall including Label of the Year (5 or fewer employees).
Performances included Valerie June, Dawn Richard, Mdou Moctar & Aaron Main of Porches.

A2IM and ROSTR Partnership:

A2IM members are eligible for a 50% discount on ROSTR Pro annual memberships, which offer advanced tools such as global contact directories, signing information, and other artist insights.
ROSTR subscribers will receive 50% off A2IM’s Star Certification program for their artists at this location. Developed in partnership with Luminate, the A2IM Star Certification offers official recognition of retail success based on album equivalent activity.