To coincide with the anniversary of Blackout Tuesday, AIM (The Association of Independent Music) has published its first ever Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Audit. It has also committed to follow it up every year to measure its progress in creating real and positive change across the industry.
Over the past year, AIM has worked with socially engaged organisations on targeted EDI commitments, and launched new initiatives for the independent community and wider music business.
Last week AIM launched ‘EDI Level-Up', a 12-month Equity, Diversity & Inclusion training programme free for members. This programme aims to break down barriers for independent music businesses and help them foster conscious inclusion.
AIM is also set to launch a free Associate Membership tier this month, offering access to knowledge, networks and platforms to every artist and other entrepreneur releasing music through AIM’s independent Distributor Members. The new membership is designed to level the playing field and equip businesses with the tools to grow. The organisation intends to support over 100,000 independent rightsholders through Associate Membership over the next year.
In April, AIM issued an open letter to the Prime Minister in response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ report on race which was commissioned by the UK government. The letter urged the Prime Minister to address the structural problems existing in society which the commission’s report failed to acknowledge. It was signed by almost 700 artists and professionals from the independent music sector and beyond, including industry and diversity leaders Keith Harris OBE, Nadia Khan (AIM Chair and Founder of Womxn in CTRL), Ammo Talwar MBE (Chair of the UK Music Diversity Taskforce) and Charisse Beaumont (Black Lives In Music), as well as artists such as Roots Manuva and Ms Banks.
As a member of UK Music, AIM helped draft, and has committed to deliver on, the trade association’s ‘Ten-Point Plan’ - a list of actions to help increase diversity and inclusion across the industry.
Paul Pacifico, CEO of AIM, commented: “AIM must work towards embodied solidarity with the people and causes we feel are under-represented in our industry and society. We have done some good work to date, but there is much more to achieve. We are fully committed and energised to build on the foundations now in place to help be a positive agent of change for a better, fairer and more inclusive music sector.”
The AIM EDI Audit can be read here.