John Phelan is Director General of ICMP, the global trade body for the music publishing industry.

ICMP’s membership spans the ‘Majors’, more than 1,000 ‘Indies’ and 76 national trade associations across 6 continents.

On aggregate ICMP represents and defends the rights behind approximately 90% of the worlds’ commercially released music – today more than 140 million music tracks of more than 5,000 genres.

Our industry is the nexus point between music creation and the market – we invest in songwriters and composers worldwide to bring the world’s music to an audience of billions.
Our companies do so by licensing every music engagement from, including streamed audio/video, TV, radio, digital emerging technologies, gaming, live etc.
Our sector also invests constantly in advancing the technology by which people discover and access music.

Belfast-born, John’s background is steeped in music, having started violin and piano studies as a child and going on to play professionally in many symphony orchestras and string quartets.

He studied law and then orchestral conducting to Conservatoire-level. He has worked for label trade body IFPI before his appointment to ICMP. John has lectured in Law at Lausanne University and the Paris School of Business Management.