MUMBAI: Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director of music label Tips, has been unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Indian Music Industry and Phonographic Performance for 2009-2010. He succeeds Saregama managing director Subroto Chattopadhyay.

The board follows the tradition of rotating the chairmanship amongst its members, who at present are Sony Music Managing Director Shridhar Subramaniam, Venus Records Chairman Ganesh Jain, Universal Music Managing Director Rajat Kakar. RPG Enterprises-Saregama CFO G B Aayeer, Aditya Music Managing Director Umesh Gupta, EMI-Virgin General Manager T Suresh are also part of the Board.

Reports say that the new chairman will focus his energies on enhancing the IMI's partnership with telecom and broadcasting industries and bring about increased awareness for public performance licenses, a contentious issue among varied sectors of the entertainment sector for long.

The Indian Music Industry, established in 1936, is a non-profit, non-commercial organization, and the second oldest music consortium in the world. It is primarily focused at present to resuscitate the lost stature of the music industry by promoting and encouraging development of music culture, facilitating the evolution of fair trade and business practices, ensuring a copyright compliance regime, garnering government support on matters of concern related to copyright in spound recordings and music business as a whole.

The IMI is affiliated to the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) - a body based in London, having 1,450 members in 75 countries, which worldwide protects the interests of music industry.

IFPI works in co-operation with several inter-governmental organizations and has consultative status with the world intellectual property organizations, the UNESCO, ILO and world customs organization.

IMI has its headquarters in Mumbai with offices in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai and boasts of one of the the most professional and efficient anti-piracy teams in the country, headed by Julio Ribeiro, retired IPS.

Phonographic Performance Limited incorporated in 1941 is the apex licensing arm of the Indian Music Industry. PPL licenses and administers broadcasting, telecasting, public performance and mobile-digital rights on behalf of its 142 members.