Kim Bayley is Chief Executive of ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association, whose members include virtually every significant digital service and retailer selling music, video and games in the UK. She is a powerful advocate for the unique value digital services and retailers add to the music industry, curating and promoting music to bridge the gap between creators and fans.

After qualifying as a lawyer at Hogan Lovells, Kim spent almost ten years in investment banking, where she was an Associate Director in the TMT Team at WestLB Panmure responsible for advising a variety of UK and German clients in TV, Publishing, Music and Technology.

She joined ERA in 2002 as Director of Development before taking on the top job at the association in 2004. Over the past 20 years, she has 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 – including Spotify, Amazon and YouTube – High Street names such as such as HMV, Rough Trade and Game, together with the smallest of indie record shops.  

It was Bayley who stepped in 14 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.  RSD was instrumental in helping indie record shop numbers reach a 12 year high in 2025. 2025 saw the most successful Record Store Day to date, delivering a £10m boost to the sector.

A tireless advocate for digital services and retailers, Bayley has appeared on virtually every mainstream media outlet and does not shy from the 4.30am start required to appear on BBC Five Live’s early morning Wake Up To Money.

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. 

More than 20 years in as CEO of digital entertainment and retail association ERA, Kim Bayley is still innovating, launching the organisation’s Retail Champion Awards and Summer Party in 2023 and a Future Leaders Programme in 2024.