The man behind Katie Melua and the Wombles' music career, Mr Mike Batt, yesterday told the Popkomm conference in Berlin that major and independent record companies should call a truce and work more closely together.
According to Billboard, Batt, who is founder and MD of Dramatico Entertainment, and who recently became Deputy Chairman of the BPI, said: "A lot of us who run indie labels tend to think of the majors as the enemy. They're not. The landscape has changed and now we need each other".
In a panel conversation with Billboard's Group Editorial Director Tamara Conniff, Batt said the indies should see the majors not as a threat, but as allies, especially in efforts to lobby for longer copyright terms in Europe. He added: "Instead of fighting against majors, and slagging them off, you can work with them".
On the continued growth of the major record companies, something some indies see as a problem, he concluded: "Companies buy each other. It's just trade. Universal is buying Sanctuary at the moment partly for the live business and partly for the catalogue. There's nothing wrong with that".