Once upon a time when anyone wanted a media quote on the music business their starting point would be the BPI, even if the story wasn't actually related to the recordings industry which the BPI represents. Then British Music Rights appointed Feargal Sharkey as their Chairman, who brings a bit of celebrity to a media interview, and now everyone goes there for a quote. Even if the story isn't actually related to the music publishing industry which, if I'm not mistaken, is what BMR represents. I say 'if I'm not mistaken' because pre-Sharkey BMR was a very low key outfit not prone to returning phone calls, so it's never been properly explained to me what exactly they do.
Presumably aware that he is taking on an ever-expanding spokesman role on all things music, Sharkey has suggested that BMR might expand its remit to become a more wide-ranging representative of the wider music industry (something BMR and Sharkey are already doing, to a certain extent, regarding the industry's response to the government's Gowers Review on copyright law). A wider representative remit for BMR would presumably mean [a] the association would represent more than just the publishers, [b] they would officially comment on a wider range of issues and [c] they might start returning phone calls from time to time.
Sharkey has told Music Week: "There is the potential that BMR will become a greater voice within the industry, because there is a need for this industry to engage in a way that it has never really done in the past".
He's right about the better need to engage, of course, and while BMR has been pretty rubbish at doing that in the past, he is a brilliant spokesperson for the industry, so it might be right for the body to take a more general representative role for the wider music business - though given the tendency for different parts of the music industry to diss and distrust each other, it may prove to be a tricky role on some key issues.