Candidates Standing for Election Alphabetically by surname: • Jackie Davidson Page 2 • Mark Kelly Page 3 • Gary Powell Page 4 • David Rowntree Page 5 • Lauren Rozwadowski Page 6 • Nadine Shah Page 7 • Peter Thoms Page 8 • Firas Waez Page 9 1 Candidate Statements Jackie Davidson I have been fortunate to work in an industry that I love for a couple of decades now and to say it has been a tough journey would be an understatement. I have seen privilege afforded to others that was not open to myself. Rather than allowing this to dishearten me, I became resolute and determined to work harder. Now, more than ever, it is essential that the organisations that represent our industry adopt a more diverse and inclusive approach, which has so often been overlooked in the past. Inclusion should be afforded to all, regardless of one’s gender, ethnicity or background - and PPL should be no exception to this. With its members coming from a broad demographic, I strongly believe that the PPL board must reflect this. Throughout my career, I have always been passionate about making change in our business to ensure that everyone is fairly remunerated for their contributions to the art that is at the heart of our industry. As a manager, my emphasis has always been geared around the rights of performers, musicians and content creators. Without the artists, there would be no music business. So whilst the streaming era has injected an influx of revenue for record companies, organisations like PPL must continue to evolve to ensure that the performers' revenues (whether featured or non-featured) emulate this influx as well. Alongside this, it is also time for PPL to have greater transparency in their accounting. Members should be able to identify all their income from whatever territory, on individual performances. Furthermore, I believe that it is essential that we remain vigilant in defending performers rights in the streaming era, through education, clearer accessibility to information and by lobbying for licensing reforms to reflect current trends and consumer habits. As standard broadcasting and public performance develop into a more digitised landscape, it is imperative that performers rights are not left in limbo by outdated licensing practices. As challenging as it may sound, CMOs have to be as adaptable as possible amidst the ever-changing technologies that impact the industry. I have always taken a keen interest in the education and nurturing of aspiring performers, managers and executives within the business. I am passionate about creating a fairer, more diverse and transparent industry and for me, this can only be achieved by affecting change from within the long-standing organisations of our business. As an elected Performer Director of PPL, I would vigorously strive to implement long term practices to improve the lack of representation for women and people of colour at senior levels of the organisation. Last year I was surprised and honoured to receive an MBE for services to the music industry. If voted on to the board, I intend to pursue these developments with the same determination of focus, drive and passion that has been exuded throughout my career thus far. This is who I am and who I will always be. Please vote for me. I will not let you down. 2 Candidate Statements Mark Kelly I have been playing keyboards as a professional musician for nearly 40 years with the band Marillion. First, signed to a major label in the 1980’s followed by a stint with a number of independent labels. We made the transition to becoming online, independent artist in the early 2000’s by inventing the crowdfunding model that so many other artists have since successfully emulated. We have been lucky that we have been able to make a living from our music that entire time but I know it’s not easy for most performers and with today’s very challenging environment and almost zero live work, full time professional musicians are becoming an endangered species. With live income disappearing almost overnight, performers are relying on their PPL income more than ever. I’m happy to report that in the past decade that I’ve been serving on the PPL board as a performer director I’ve seen PPL make great strides in delivering as much money as possible, as quickly as possible to performers. There is always room for improvement but PPL is certainly doing an excellent job and should be applauded. Despite that, performer income is under threat because of the gradual but unstoppable takeover of music consumption by streaming services. Our PPL income depends on correctly identifying Equitable Remuneration where it exists and demanding that it’s paid. As the streaming services slowly replace terrestrial radio with curated playlists and other forms of passive streaming we need to make sure that Equitable Remuneration is paid or we are in danger of losing that income. Session musicians, as non-featured performers are paid nothing from streaming services unless they are classed as communication to the public, which a significant proportion should be. I am pleased that the joint venture with PRS is up and running well after a shaky start. This was long overdue and I will be in favour of further integration with PRS in the future. It’s about time that PPL was no longer 100% owned by the major labels. I would like to see a 50% split in ownership between performers and labels. In closing, I would be thankful for your vote so that I can continue to represent you on the PPL board. I also recognise that old, white guys like me are over-represented in the music industry generally, so if you decide not to vote for me I would encourage you to cast your vote for a more diverse candidate. 3 Candidate Statements Gary Powell HELLO!!!!! I’m Gary Powell, Drummer in the The Libertines, but that’s just the start of it… As well as my work in the Libertines I was also a founding member of the band Dirty Pretty Things. I have performed and toured with The Specials in the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and was briefly a member of the New York Dolls for their much touted reunion in 2004, which included performances at the Meltdown Festival at London’s festival halls; through this I featured in the Documentary that was filmed aboutThe band. Before all of that I was a session musician for the likes of Eddy Grant and Mary J Blige, and for a brief period of time was Lauren Hill’s musical director. Along side being a performing musician I also compose and arrange, I have composed for commercial brands such as Burberry, in one project I composed a score of music for their Burberry Brit perfume launch, an in store event featuring 30 drummers who I taught my score to and accompanied them playing. I arranged and performed as part of a percussive piece for 6 people that would accompany the writings of Ed Harcourt for the lavish celebration of the opening of Burberry shanghai, which also included Paloma Faith George Ezra and Cara Delevigne. I have performed live with Benjamin Clementine for the last mens wear collection under the previous creative Director Christopher Bailey. I have composed pieces for Christian Louboutin, for one project I wrote a bespoke piece of big band jazz for a hologram of Dita Von Teese, that played as part of the 20 year celebration exhibition at the design museum, I oversaw their in in store music policy for a period of time. Amongst others, I have created bespoke music for Roland Mouret, Todd Lynn, Fred Perry, Carolina Herrera, and Takeo Kikuchi, I regularly perform DJ sets globally for club nights, corporate events and commercial brands, performing in South America, North America, Asia, and Australia. I am also the CEO of my own Record Label 25 Hour Convenience store, which has been in operation since 2010. I am the founder of the social movement Unity Rocks, an awareness project launched to use the power of music and conversation to fight back against the growing problem of Racism and Intolerance in the country, we initially worked with the charity Hope not Hate, and are now working with the charity Stop Hate UK, celebrating their 25 year anniversary working on a project to raise money to roll out a series of Educational initiatives. I have hosted clinics for music schools, and have been invited to be a guest speaker at University’s up and down the country discussing various topics of social interest. Recently I have been writing articles and interviewing a varied list of musicians, designers and artists for the fashion magazine based in NYC called Ubikwist. And I have just landed a weekly show on Radio X . PHEW! 4 Candidate Statements David Rowntree This is a crunch time for many performers. The perfect storm of lockdown closures and Brexit uncertainties have left the music industry struggling to divide a shrinking pot. It’s vital that performers, upon whose shoulders the entire industry rests, are not left last in line. Because historically that is exactly what has happened, every time. Many performers work under agreements whose principles date from the 1960s. In the move to CD’s then digital downloads and now to streaming, every time performers have seen their share of the revenue shrink. But PPL has bucked this trend. First under Fran Nevrkla, now under Peter Leathem the organisation has pushed back against powerful corporate interests to try and ensure a level playing field for performers.