ERA CEO KIM BAYLEY NAMED TO WOMEN’S POWERLIST

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.