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I have just returned from a family holiday in Istanbul. Fascinating city, with numerous historical sights to see, good shopping, great food and very friendly people. Highly recommended! While on holiday I took the time to pop in to see Ahmet Türkoğlu & Aysu Sultan Yankaş at Mü-Yap, the Turkish record company collective CMO, & also Burhan Şeşen, Murat YILDIZ, & Ali Hergunsel at performer CMO, MÜYORBİR. Thank you all for taking the time to catch up. Earlier in the month, I was at the Camden Roundhouse for the Association of Independent Music (AIM) Awards put on by Gee Davy and her team. Congratulations to "Far From Saints" (Ignition Records) on winning the PPL Award for the Most Played New Independent Artist. It was also a pleasure to chat with Silvastone, who received the Diversity Champion award for his exceptional community work in Croydon. I was able to remind Silvastone (and show him some photos) of him performing at SXSW in 2018 as part of the PPL & PRS for Music Showcase (supported by Radio 1 Xtra, DJ Target hosting), AJ Tracey headlining. Whilst on the topic of celebrating independent music, it was a pleasure to catch up with Nina Nesbitt & her manager, Vicky Dowdall, after a superb opening night of Nina’s Mountain Music tour. Nina & Vicky are an exemplary artist/manager team, having worked together since Nina was a teenager and recently launching their own independent record label, Apple Tree Records. Nina also performed at SXSW in 2018 headlining a PPL & PRS for Music Showcase (with Sam Fender, Frank Turner etc) supported by BBC Radio 2, Jo Wiley hosting, the same year she received PPL Momentum Music funding. My colleague Michael Stack & I enjoyed attending a sold-out "One OK Rock" show at Wembley Arena. A big thanks to producer & co-manager Rob Cavallo for the invitation. Rob is well known for his work with Green Day, and many other bands. We were all treated to a cameo by Ed Sheeran who came out for one song! Ed has been PPL’s most played artist in seven out of the last nine years. It’s always a treat to see him take to stage. Just last week I was delighted to attend the 2024 All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) Awards on behalf of PPL. The event was so well hosted by Chi Onwurah MP, Co -Chair of APPJAG, Jo White MP and Chris Hodgkins. PPL was delighted to support the awards. I had the pleasure of presenting Zoe Rahman with the award for Jazz Album of the Year for her album ‘The Colour Of Sound’, which came 18 years after she won the Album of the Year at the first ever APPJAG Awards back in 2006, for her album “Melting Pot”. Congratulations to Zoe and to all of the nominees and winners on the night. I’m looking forward to a busy November at PPL, with our quarterly company townhall ‘PPL Connect’ later this week, followed by our Annual Performer Meeting (APM) in Bristol next week, the city where our story began back in 1934.