Actually, there's not really much new news on the ongoing fallout over the deal between pan-European indies trade body IMPALA and Warner Music, but if we do one of those customary quick round ups of the story to date as an introduction it will look quite lengthy and you won't notice the lack of new news.
As previously reported, IMPALA last month announced it had reached a deal with Warner Music in which it had said it would not oppose any attempt by Warner to takeover EMI, in return for certain commitments by the major to aid the indie sector and its new digital licencing agency Merlin. But there is growing opposition to that deal among some of the independent labels aligned to IMPALA's affiliate trade bodies, and in particular our very own Association Of Independent Music, who enjoy an especially close relationship with the European body. London based independents Ministry and Gut have already announced their intention to quit the trade body because, they say, they believe any EMI Warner merger would be bad for the independent sector, and they could not be part of any trade association that supported further consolidation of the major record companies.
Ministry went further by issuing an open letter which claimed AIM was constitutionally bound to oppose the deal, and to force IMPALA to back out of it. In that letter Ministry also claimed the IMPALA/Warner deal had been done in secret, and that even AIM boss Alison Wenham was in the dark about the specifics until it was publicly announced, despite the fact she also sits on the IMPALA board.
AIM confirmed yesterday that they had held an internal meeting to discuss the IMPALA/Warner agreement and the opposition mounting against it and the way it was made. Confirming that those internal discussions were ongoing, but making very little other comment on the issues at hand, Wenham told reporters yesterday (this is the new bit, by the way): "I am pleased to report that the board had a very useful and positive meeting this morning. We did not have time to conclude the discussions relating to the IMPALA agreement, and the board will conclude those discussions at its regular monthly board meeting next week".