The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) revealed ambitious plans to create a stronger, more united music industry in Scotland.

The five year plan outlines the SMIA’s core objectives and sets out an ambitious programme of events and initiatives designed to engage and attract members on an industry-wide level.

An industry led membership body, the SMIA’s objectives are to strengthen the music industry internally while championing its value and quality on both domestic and international stages.  This will be achieved through the employment of three key strategies:

•        celebrate and promote all musical endeavour in Scotland;

•        stimulate growth and job-creation at local, regional, national and international levels;

•        communicate more effectively, engaging with (and uniting) a diffuse industry populated with a myriad of small and medium enterprises across a spectrum of genres and sectors.

The SMIA will be responsible for delivering a number of high-level networking events, regional trade fairs and continuing professional development for its members.  The Association’s plan includes a number of exciting new developments including an annual programme of Independent Label Markets across Scotland, designed to bring together a range of independent labels, self-releasing artists and the music loving public. There will be a programme of bespoke professional training delivered in partnership with the Music Managers Forum which will help improve the skills of professionals in key areas like international music publishing and contract negotiation.

The SMIA also has ambitious targets to grow its membership with the stated objective of achieving full financial self-sufficiency within five years. Tam Coyle, Chair of the Scottish Music Industry Association, said; ‘The SMIA has enormous potential.  We have an excellent board with an appetite to change Scotland’s music industry for the better; the events and initiatives currently being developed are enormously exciting and should help the SMIA to become a unifying, proactive advocate for Scotland’s music industry.

‘By driving our membership recruitment, the SMIA can employ its financial resources into delivering initiatives for the industry, by the industry, without having to rely on external funding in the longer term.’

The SMIA will be supported by Creative Scotland investment during this key developmental phase, investment which recognises the Scottish Music Industry Association as a partner in delivering Creative Scotland’s aims of growing the cultural economy, stimulating growth within Scotland’s creative industries and maximising its global export.

Caroline Parkinson, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said; ‘Creative Scotland works with networks across a range of arts and creative disciplines and we are delighted to begin working with SMIA and its newly developed plans for their work with the Scottish music industry.

In addition to supporting its work in Scotland, Creative Scotland has tasked the SMIA with delivering Scotland’s presence at South By South West (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas in March next year.

Additionally we will lend support to SMIA in delivering those plans by providing capacity in the form of a one year secondment, which will give SMIA a foundation to build from.’

SMIA Board member, Stewart Henderson of Chemikal Underground, said;  ’Delivering SXSW allows the SMIA to deliver on its two core objectives.  We can promote and champion Scotland’s musical success overseas while using the consultation processes required at home to strengthen and shape our international showcasing strategies moving forward.  Placing the music industry at the heart of these policy decisions will ensure we can deliver a strategy that’s meaningful and productive, offering substantial returns for the industry, from artists and labels through to managers, promoters and our partners in the media.

Further support during this key stage of development has been provided through the secondment of Creative Scotland Development Officer Stuart Thomas for one year to work as Operations Manager at the SMIA.  Stuart will work across the full range of our activities with direction from the SMIA board, taking a lead role in the Association’s delivery of Scotland’s SXSW presence.

Source: Creative Scotland