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Championing the retailers and digital services who connect music, video and games creators with UK fans

ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association, is a UK trade organisation formed specifically to act as a forum for the physical and digital retail and wholesale sectors of the music, video and videogames industries.

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11 Mar, 2024
ERA CEO Kim Bayley said: “The ONS decision to add vinyl records to its basket of goods and services is an incredible milestone, marking the return to the mainstream of a format, most people – including the music industry – had given up on. “The long march back to popularity of vinyl is first and foremost a reflection of the inherent qualities of the format, in terms of touch, visual appeal and of course sound quality. But it is also a reflection of the skill and insight of the independent and High Street retailers who first identified that even as music became more convenient and less tangible in the streaming age there would be a need for a physical format which offered things which streaming could not. “This is a day not just to celebrate the renewed success of vinyl but also to salute the retailers who pointed the way to this remarkable comeback.”
08 Mar, 2024
ERA CEO Kim Bayley has been named to the Women In Trade Association 2024 Powerlist, created by the Trade Associations Federation, the “trade association of trade associations”, to celebrate International Women’s Day. This latest honour comes just 2 weeks after Bayley was highly commended for her “outstanding leadership” at the Trade Association Federation Awards. “I welcome TAF’s initiative to highlight the role of women in trade associations – six of our eight team members are women – and I am honoured to be included,” she said. In her 21st year as CEO of ERA, Kim Bayley is still innovating and pushing the organisation forwards, in the past year launching the organisation’s debut Retail Champion Awards and Summer Party. Bayley is best-known as the woman who turned a little-known trade org representing physical record stores into the UK’s, and possibly the world’s, only advocacy group which brings together digital giants – like Spotify, Amazon and YouTube – with the smallest indie record shops. It was Bayley who stepped in 15 years ago to offer admin and logistical support to a handful of indie stores who had dreamed up the idea of a day celebrating record shops. Under her guidance Record Store Day has become an annual fixture in the music industry calendar attracting star ambassadors such as Sir Elton John and The 1975, sponsored by BBC Sounds and a string of commercial partners. A tireless advocate for digital services and retailers, Bayley has appeared on virtually every mainstream media outlet. She has displayed her skills as a lobbyist over a three year period in which music streaming companies have faced scrutiny from the DCMS Select Committee, the Intellectual Property Office and the Competition & Markets Authority, winning people over with her transparent communication style and commitment to finding collaborative solutions to complicated situations.

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