Silvia Montello has worked in just about every conceivable genre in the music industry. Getting her start as a buyer for the retail chain Our Price, she soon moved over into the publishing world with a focus on books and magazines about classical and jazz. Later, at Polygram and Universal, she continued her work in those genres before moving on to ‘everything but classical and jazz.’ Most recently she has been an advocate for electronic music as CEO of AFEM, the global voice for the electronic music industry. Late last year, it was announced that she would step into the chief executive role at AIM.
During her time at AFEM, Silvia was mindful of the fact that the music industry is an ecosystem, with many equally significant parts. Working day-to-day with everyone from labels and collections societies to artists, managers and live venues, she got a broad view of how stakeholders come at common issues from different angles. ‘Really, the importance is helping everybody to understand what the position is of all of those different stakeholder groups, because what we need to be trying to do is create success for everybody and not marginalise certain stakeholders at the expense of others,’ she says. ‘So when we're looking at things like streaming revenues, or sales revenues, it's really important to consider making sure that everybody that should have skin in the game is actually being paid what they should, rather than just looking at how can this group get more money at that group's expense.’
This communal understanding will be especially relevant in 2023, as she takes the reigns at AIM from Paul Pacifico, who departed at the end of 2022 after six years in-post. Paul’s tenure – which covered two terms and spanned both the pandemic and Brexit – saw the organisation broaden its programme of events and expand its network, alongside the introduction of the Music Climate Pact.
Under Paul’s leadership, AIM also strengthened its commitment to levelling the playing field for artists from diverse backgrounds. Now, Silvia is dedicated to continuing this work. As she enters the association, alongside responding quickly to the challenges of a nationwide economic recession, one of the key focuses of her tenure will be ‘continuing to do the work to ensure that independent creators from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities and genders are supported.’
‘We find ourselves in an industry which is improving in terms of its diverse representation, but it's still got a long way to go,’ she says. ‘The independent sector in particular is a fantastic breeding ground for amazing talent from all walks of life, all sorts of backgrounds. That's something that we really need to continue our focus on supporting.’
‘There’s been quite a cookie cutter approach – that everybody has to work in the same environment and timeframes, in the same sorts of ways, the same communication styles. That’s actually not how people with neurodiverse conditions can thrive.'
She is especially interested in the development of neurodiverse talent within the industry. In 2022, UK Music collected data on neurodivergence in its Diversity Report for the first time, finding that 13.1% of all survey respondents were neurodiverse. The music sector as a whole has taken a more proactive stance in understanding neurocognitive differences such as ADHD and autism in recent years, but the work isn’t over yet.
‘It’s an area that is starting to be looked at more seriously by the music industry in general. But there’s still, I think, a lack of understanding across our industry and across society around what neurodiversity is and what it means for the people that have a neurodiverse condition,' says Silvia.
In particular, the industry is beginning to look in more detail at how neurodivergent staff might either flourish or face challenges depending on their work environments. ‘Something that I’m really passionate about is helping more people within the sector understand how best to work with neurodiverse talent, whether that’s talent within the industry or artistic talent, to really help them succeed,’ Silvia says. ‘Historically, I think that there’s been quite a cookie cutter approach – that everybody has to work in the same environment and timeframes, in the same sorts of ways, the same communication styles. That’s actually not how people with neurodiverse conditions can thrive. In fact, the opposite can be true.’
Thankfully, she says, this is an area where ‘we are definitely heading in the right direction’. She cites Universal Music’s Creative Differences Handbook as one example of great progress being made, and hopes that similar initiatives will be established for those working outside of label structures or as freelancers. Like any kind of large scale progress, an industry-level understanding of neurodivergence in the music sector won’t happen overnight.
As always, the industry is bracing itself for change elsewhere. With the development of new technologies and shifts in how fans find and listen to music, we are once again facing a complete transformation of the music ecosystem. With the independent sector’s market share increasing year-on-year, Silvia is positive about its position in the changing landscape.
‘The ability to experiment and innovate and be very creative, quickly, is something that the independent sector has an advantage in. Especially smaller labels or self-releasing artists,’ she says. ‘You have the dynamism of being able to look at, for example, Web3 and the metaverse space, and experiment with small opportunities to try and learn how that is going to potentially benefit your business or engage your fan base.’
'Not everybody is a mainstream playlist listener. A lot of people are looking for things that they can get into, that they can own as one of their badges of identity.'
This fan base, she points out, doesn’t have to be enormous. Building a core base of true fans can now make all the difference to future revenues. ‘As music consumption becomes more fractionalised, more dissipated across different platforms, never before has it been important to have even a small number of committed fans that you engage with,’ Silvia says. ‘They can be the people who really help you develop and sustain your career, rather than needing to have that kind of global superstardom.’
‘That’s something that’s really exciting going forward. You can find your niche, find the platforms that can really engage with the people that are going to be into your music, and you can focus on them,’ she continues. ‘Audiences come in all different shapes and sizes. Not everybody is a mainstream playlist listener. A lot of people are looking for things that they can get into, that they can own as one of their badges of identity. I think that’s exciting for audience development. It doesn’t need to be big. It just needs to be small, beautiful and committed.’
