ERA APPOINTS LUCIE CASWELL AS CHIEF INNOVATION & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS OFFICER
Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) has appointed Lucie Caswell as Chief Innovation & Government Affairs Officer to help drive consensus around evolving entertainment technologies.
Caswell is the former CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition – representing artists including, Radiohead, Imogen Heap, Howard Jones and Katie Melua – and spent three years at the UK’s Music Publishers’ Association, latterly as Chief Policy, Rights & Public Affairs Officer.
ERA CEO Kim Bayley said, “ERA’s members have transformed the music, video and games businesses for the better, benefitting both fans and creators and propelling the sector’s revenue to more than £11bn. The scale of the sector and the arrival of newer transformational technologies means it is entirely understandable that they face more governmental and regulatory scrutiny than ever before. We are delighted to have appointed to this new dual role someone who excels in working collaboratively to find collective solutions to the challenges technology presents.”
Lucie Caswell said, “Digital services and retailers provide creators and the content industries with their most important channels to market and to revenue. I believe strongly that all aspects of the supply chain need each other if they are truly to give fans and consumers what they want. As we navigate another entertainment revolution, driven by dynamic technologies including AI, I look forward to working with ERA’s innovative members and their partners, to ensure a sustainable and progressive ecosystem for all.”
Caswell’s appointment follows the publication of a new statement of intent by ERA, highlighting the values driving its work and that of its members – Collaboration, Pragmatism, Fan-focus, Sustainability and Diversity.
Both reflect a new agenda driven by ERA Chairman, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of screen-free family audio platform, Yoto, Ben Drury.
“ERA occupies a unique position in the entertainment space, bringing together tech giants and High Street stores, large and small,” said Drury. “The creation of this new role and Lucie’s appointment reflect both the growing significance of the sector and the importance, amid further technological change, that we find win-win regulatory solutions.”