15th March 2021: ERA is delighted to announce that Azi Eftekhari has been elected as the new Chair of the Entertainment Retailer’s Association (ERA) from today.
The election of Eftekhari, who has previously served on ERA’s Executive Board and Digital Board, comes at a time of unprecedented growth for the entertainment retail industry as revenues in 2020 rocketed to £9.2bn.
Eftekhari takes over from James Morton of Sky, who has been the ERA Non-Executive Chair since 2018 and who has been instrumental in updating ERA’s agenda and leading during a period of significant change for the UK entertainment industry.
Eftekhari has a long-standing career in the music and entertainment industry, beginning her career in theatre production before switching to the music business. She joined Universal Music as a press officer in its catalogue division, before progressing to become Director Digital and Publicity at Universal’s Mercury Music Group.
In 2012 she joined Google, spending eight years there, rising to Head of Label Relations (EMEA) for YouTube, most recently overseeing the launch of YouTube Music across Europe. In 2020 she co-founded a new company Remedy Inc focused on digital innovation, content creation and events.
As part of her role as Chair, a non-executive role, Eftekhari will continue to lead on ERA’s manifesto for “Delivering the Future of Entertainment” with a focus on 5 key challenges:
- Maintaining diversity
- Sustainability
- Enabling licensing
- Modernising the supply chain
- Putting consumers and creators front and centre.
Azi said on taking up the role “I'm delighted to be taking on this challenge and very much looking forward to working with the ERA team. The past 12 months have shown the entertainment industry at its best, despite the challenges of the pandemic. The prospects for the coming months are far from clear but you can expect me to work closely with ERA's board and members to continue to build on the positives, and drive forward our joint aims”.
Kim Bayley, CEO of ERA said “I am absolutely delighted to be working alongside Azi, who is of course not only ERA’s first ever female Chair, but more importantly brings a wealth of experience from her time at both Universal Music and at YouTube. Her creativity, drive and knowledge of the entertainment world will be a huge asset as we embark upon the next few years of the Association’s development. I’d also like to thank our outgoing Chair James Morton for his huge contribution to ERA during his years at the helm.”
Eftekhari is the first female to step into the ERA Chair role and will lead the Executive Board at ERA alongside:
- Paul Firth, Director of Music International – Amazon
- Kim Bayley, CEO - ERA
- Phil Halliday, Managing Director – HMV
- Drew Hill, Managing Director – Proper Music Distribution
- Natasha Youngs, Owner – Resident Music
- Tom Connaughton – Managing Director UK, Spotify
- Dan Chalmers – Head of Music EMEA, YouTube
ENDS
For more information please contact megan@eraltd.org