News

Longest-serving leader of recorded music trade body to retire at year’s end

London, 20 July 2023 – IFPI, the organisation that represents the recording industry worldwide, announced today that Frances Moore has decided to retire from her position as Chief Executive Officer at the end of 2023. IFPI’s longest-serving leader, she has led the trade body since 2010 through a historically dynamic and challenging period of change and growth.

Moore has agreed to remain with IFPI through year-end 2023 in order to assure a seamless transition and help in the global search for her successor. IFPI and its National Group network represent some 8,000 members, including record labels of all types and sizes from 70 countries around the world.

In a written statement, the IFPI Main Board said, “We thank Frances for all of her many accomplishments navigating IFPI through arguably the most demanding and complex period of modern music’s history. At once, she has led us through music’s digital transition and the industry’s expansion worldwide, enabling a return to growth that mutually benefits artists, labels and the broader music ecosystem. Not only has she herself been an excellent and effective advocate for labels and creators, but Frances has built an incredible team of professionals to assure that her legacy will carry on.”

Moore said, “After three decades with IFPI, thirteen of which as its Global CEO, it is time for me to hang up my spurs! I have loved working for IFPI and the recording industry and feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve in this role. I am very proud and appreciative of the IFPI team, both now and over the years. Every achievement has been the result of a team effort.  

She continued, “I have had the good fortune of living through so much of the industry’s transformation from analogue to digital. On my first day at IFPI thirty years ago, I was dealing with legislation on blank tape levies and here we are today dealing with legislation on AI!”

Moore led the recording industry through its digital transition, educating policymakers worldwide about the role of record labels, the value of music and creators’ rights. Under her leadership, IFPI acted to protect copyright online, efforts which unlocked additional remuneration for artists and rights holders. In 2021, Moore was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to the music industry. Noteworthy achievements during her tenure included:

• Enactment of the European Union (EU) Copyright Directive in 2019, which helped to tackle the so-called “value gap” by ensuring that online content sharing providers could no longer claim to benefit from a blanket exemption from copyright law;

• Extension of EU copyright protection for sound recordings from 50 years to 70 years in 2011 in Europe, enabling many older artists to continue to benefit from the consumption of their music; IFPI then leveraged this to achieve term extension in Japan through the EU-Japan FTA;

• Establishment of broadcast and public performance rights in China in 2020 after years of engaging with authorities there, a critical reform in a recorded music market that is now the fifth largest in the world.  The same rights were implemented only recently in Singapore, lobbied by IFPI through the EU-Singapore FTA;

• Increasing broadcast and public performance rights revenue from US$1.3 billion in 2011 to US$2.5 billion in 2022;

• Combating stream manipulation via a “Code of Best Practice” and bringing legal action against streaming manipulators in markets from Brazil to Germany and beyond;

• Leading IFPI’s successful legal actions to block access to copyright infringing websites in countries from India to Italy. Some 5,200 sites are now blocked through IFPI actions;

• Expanding IFPI’s organisational infrastructure to ensure that the organisation is well placed to campaign for rights holders in a range of fast-growing markets (in addition to its main office, it now has six regional offices: Southeast Asia, MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Europe, Greater China and representatives in Vietnam and South Korea);

• Creating ‘New Music Fridays’ in 2015 by aligning the global weekly release day for all music to Fridays, reducing the opportunity for piracy and giving fans a single day to focus on discovering new music;

• Signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the UAE Ministry of Economy in 2022 with the commitment to establish a Music Licensing Company in the region after several decades of campaigning;

• Establishing the IFPI Global Charts, the industry’s official annual ranking for the best-selling artists.  Additionally, launching the Official MENA Chart, the first official regional chart, alongside supporting the introduction of music charts in many territories; there are now official charts in some 55 countries worldwide;

• Serving as the recorded music industry’s most reliable source of data, with the figures in its annual Global Music Report officially charting the path of the industry’s recovery.

A barrister by profession, Moore joined IFPI in 1994 as Regional Director for Europe, following many years representing American and European companies in the retail and electronics sector.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

About IFPI

IFPI is the voice of the recording industry worldwide, representing over 8,000 record company members across the globe. We work to promote the value of recorded music, campaign for the rights of record producers and expand the commercial uses of recorded music around the world.

For further information please contact:

press@ifpi.org | +44 (0)20 7878 7979