Facebook and music

In other news, it has been announced that Facebook’s Dan Rose, VP of Partnerships & Platform Marketing, will be making a keynote address. As music is about to make even bigger inroads into Facebook, this could be significant. If you check your own timeline, you’ll probably find music comes in about every three messages. How can the business capitalise on that? Between now and Midem, we are expecting major news from the social media giant.

Heavyweights Microsoft BizSpark, the globally-renowned incubation program, will provide midemlab finalists with personalized coaching sessions and valuable tips to help prepare their most effective pitch. Berklee Music College and other bodies will also be active during Midem. To sign up, visit Midem.

While you’re saving money, why not pre-book your hotel already.

Early birds get the best beds at the best price.

An interesting figure is that participants from the digital sphere were up some 30%. The combination of MidemNet, MidemNet Lab and the Open Spaces gave a new dynamic to the music side. It would be tempting to jump to conclusions, but let’s be honest: the vast majority of these services and apps are very speculative. None that I know are offering advances to content creators or publishers. Nonetheless, they will play a big role in future business. We just don’t know which ones. It looks likely that staying in business will require nurturing multiple mini streams of revenue rather than relying on sales alone (Dave Kusek says this differently in the slideshow below).

MidemNet Lab winners were Jammbox, Next Big Sound and Shuffler.fm. Rather than going into their individual merits, check the Midem blog.

What does a smaller Midem mean for visitors?

Coming back to the fall in attendance, it’s worth reminding old-timers that the days of Midem with 12,000 visitors are over because the industry has lost 50% in revenue since that time. So what does a smaller Midem mean for visitors? Well, far more availability for one. A smaller, closer vibe among attendees, greater openness and willingness to explore business. Can these be bad things?

Overall, the business is being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, revenue is increasingly being done around the artists (as opposed their individual products). So variations of the 360° model are very much on the table. Yet no solution can be found without bearing consumers in mind. Mastering the ways they discover and consume music are vital.

Labels are also becoming increasingly self-reliant in the early stags of a band’s career. Given the difficulty of securing physical distribution in the UK, European labels are increasingly looking at a combination of digital distribution and local promotion.

Unlike previous years when Latin music or metal dominated the market’s aisles, no one music trend really stood out. The jazz and classical section was one of the most busy. But this could be due to the fact that there are fewer trade fairs that cater to their genres.

And to kill a recurrent rumour, Midem is not moving to Barcelona for a simple reason. In what way would that bring in an extra few thousand visitors?

UPDATE:

I just read Berklee’s Dave Kusek’s summary of the music biz, which is just that: a good summary.

Bruno Crolot joins Reed MIDEM from Sony Music Entertainment France where he was VP Digital Sales and Business Development. He will report to Reed MIDEM Entertainment Division Director, Anne de Kerckhove.

“MIDEM, Rethink Music and Connected Creativity will significantly benefit from Bruno’s knowledge of the music industry, combined with his extensive experience in the digital entertainment sector,” says Anne de Kerckhove. “In the transmedia age, MIDEM will increasingly bring together the international music community with the major players operating in the technology and digital media arena. An example of this will be how the music industry will be an integral part of the Connected Creativity Forum taking place during MIPTV in 2011.”

Midem has been one of Reed MIDEM’s flagship events, championing a new era in trade fairs that focus increasingly on its users’ needs and providing unsurpassed access to the people and information needed to move ahead in music. Unfortunately, it is also the sector that was first hit by the digital tsunami that is also now reaching the movie industry. Although attendance figures have fallen over the past five or so years, Midem has kept its position as the pre-eminent music fair and – significantly – a profitable one. The introduction of MidemNet has played a major role in its continued role in the industry.

Bruno Crolot has held a variety of roles in senior management, business development, marketing and strategy at Orange France Telecom, Noos and Universal Music France. He holds a degree in Business Management from Universite Paris 9 Dauphine.

MidemTalent showcases artists with established reputations in their home territories, and whose appearance at MIDEM will offer international visibility and the opportunity to find new worldwide partners. “Whether pop, rock, folk or electronic, all the major genres will be represented this year among these talented artists, each with undeniable potential for international success,” said Luc Charles, MIDEM’s Artistic Director. “Over two days, MIDEM will welcome some of the most promising names from Britain (Monarchy), America (Oh No Oh My), Belgium (Puggy), Ireland (James Vincent McMorrow, Yes Cadets), Italy (Malika Ayane) and France (Curry & Coco), plus a special guest from America, Saul Williams.”

It’s interesting that most of the bands are signed to major labels or publishers, and yet nonetheless have MySpace pages.

After a quick scan through the artists, our shortlist is: Yes Cadets, Malika Yanae and Puggy. Remember where you heard about them first. If you have other tips for Midem, please feel free to leave them as a comment. Last year’s tips proved very interesting. Click through for the line-up:

The video above is “Se ne va” by the Italian pop quartet Millionaire Blonde, which I think could be a pretty strong summer hit (so much so that I just did the English lyrics, which is why I give them star billing!). If interested for licensing, get in touch with me. Click through for some other great music tips.

The MIDEM Talent section has a few artists that I think are really worth following. Variety recently picked out my three recommendations from a few weeks back: Irish singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan, French spiky girl group The Plasticines and Switzerland’s jazz singer Sophie Hunger. Check the Midem page for their shows.

I’d add to that a strong Canadian presence with notably Jason Bajada and Matthew Barber. Both are playing on the Canadian Blast night at Morrison’s on Tuesday 26. Stay tuned for more tips.

On the African front, check the conscious rap of Zulu Boy or the accomplished songwriting of The Parlatones (who appeared last year as well – how many times has this happened?).

I’ve included here the presentations as they come from MIDEM. In other words, I haven’t road-tested the services myself. Find out more about MidemNet Lab.

Aviary/Myna (USA)
Myna, the new audio editor by Aviary, is a free online artists’ tool. This creative suite allows users to create, arrange and remix music tracks and audio clips, composed from Aviary’s library of 3,000 loops and beats and/or user‐recorded tracks. They are currently working with artists, like Major Lazer, to run remix contests, allowing musicians to engage with their fans on a creative level.

Awdio (France)
Awdio is the first internet platform enabling you to listen to clubs and venues in real‐time from all around the world. With more than 5000 Events broadcast per mMonth from more than 150 TOP clubs and venues worldwide, Awdio aim to become an alternative to music piracy by offering a real‐time music experience, with both an ad‐supported model, and a premium‐paid model.

BandCentral (UK)
BandCentral is revolutionising band management for a new music industry by helping bands to manage themselves online. BandCentral gives bands their very own online ‘Band HUB’ with all the tools they need to communicate with each other, store files, manage gigs, merch, music, money, fans, contacts and everything else associated with their band in one central, secure and instantly accessible place.

Band Metrics (USA)
Band Metrics is a data analytics and decision support system for the music industry that provides comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analytics with in‐depth geographical reporting on social, radio and fan segmentation.

DigiClef/Release Consulting (UK) ‐
DigiClef is a brand new way of retailing sheet music via smartphones. Our mobile apps display legal professional quality tabs with touch‐sensitive controls that allow Musicians to adjust the tempo of the music easily. DigiClef unlocks the value held in sheet musical arrangements, packages it in state‐of‐the‐art technology, and then delivers it directly to musicians on their iPhones.

GoMix (UK)
GoMix is an interactive music format that lets users create personalized remixes of major artist’s songs. Distributed via Social Networks and digital album bundles, GoMix brings labels new revenue and promotional opportunities through advertising and digital retail products. In 2009 GoMix has been adopted by a succession of major artists and advertisers. 2010 will see very significant evolution, adding virtual goods, a mobile platform and a game changing User Generated Content approach.

Kickstarter (USA)
Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects and ambitious endeavors that’s radically different from traditional funding channels. Kickstarter is not about investment or philanthropy. Instead, people get rewards and share experiences that are unique to each project. Kickstarter launched in April 2009 and is based in Brooklyn, NY.

Pops Worldwide (Vietnam)
POPS develops, aggregates, and distributes media content, delivering it through cross‐media platforms in Vietnam. They offer digital music to mobile users through a range of WVAS platforms over mobile networks and the Internet. POPS markets its services online and offline through telecom operators, as well as through non‐operator channels, such as online stores, handset vendor partnerships and mobile retail chains. POPS launched the first digital music kiosk throughout Vietnam.

Radionomy (Belgium)
With Radionomy, everyone can create its webradio for his community. It’s easy, free and fun. It’s easy because Radionomy provides free software to create and manage the radio, vast music, jingles and content libraries. The Radio Creator can integrate his own music, creations & audio content. It’s free. Radionomy covers Streaming and Rights. Radionomy inserts 4 minutes of advertising in the radio to cover its costs.

Silence Media (UK)
Silence Media is a cost per engagement (CPE) advertising network for banner advertising. Its clients only pay when people engage with their banner ads by rolling over them. Silence works with Europe’s and America’s leading entertainment websites and was responsible for them working with the CPE model for the first time. Its clients include Sony, Universal, EMI, Beggars and PIAS.

Songkick (UK)
Songkick is the home for live music online. Fans can track their favorite artists and we email them tour alerts with links to buy tickets. After the gig, they can see and share photos, videos, posters, and setlists. Songkick is the largest database of concert information in the world with over 1.2 million concerts from 1960 to the present day.

Streamjam/The Electric Sheep Company (USA)
The Electric Sheep Company’s latest product, StreamJam is a free application for putting live concerts and music events online. Fans need no plugins or downloads to enter 3D virtual clubs, meet other fans, dance, and watch, hear, and interact with their favorite artists. Event holders, at no cost, generate new revenue from virtual goods, tips, and tickets.

Thesixtyone (USA)
Thesixtyone is a fun way to explore new music: artists submit their work, but rather than allowing a boardroom to decide what’s cool, the listeners do. We’ll help you discover new artists and let you earn reputation and unlock achievements for recommending songs that other may enjoy. On thesixtyone, experiencing new music becomes spontaneous, engaging, and trackable.

Tracksandfields (Germany) ‐
Tracks and Fields is the web service that connects musicians, producers and the music industry to work on new projects. Artists from all over the world find the right people to write, produce or remix music and collaborate through dedicated tools. Companies post briefings for remixes, film, game scores or production jobs, receive custom‐made pitches and hire professionals with a few clicks. Tracksandfields.com has been in beta through 2009 and officially launches on the MIDEM 2010.

Tunewiki (US)
TuneWiki is the internationally award‐winning social media music player with the largest legally‐licensed lyrics database in the world. TuneWiki is revolutionizing the mobile music experience by combining subtitled lyrics with music and music videos, lyrics translations into over 40 languages, real‐time mapping, geographical charting and social networking. Our lyrics centric mobile games create new music monetization opportunities to music owners.

MySpace's Owen Van Natta for MidemNet 2010

Monetisation will be the buzzword this year at MidemNet. And topping the list of must-attend conferences will be the keynote address by Owen Van Natta CEO of MySpace.  He will be there to outline MySpace’s vision of the future of musical content on digital platforms, the evolution of the company as a next generation content distribution platform and the new revenue opportunities for MySpace and its partners (many of whom will be sitting in the Palais des Festivals listening to him).

The reason, of course, is that after establishing itself as one of the foremost music addresses on the web, MySpace has to make serious headway to monetise its traffic. It recently launched MySpace Music Videos and a comprehensive back-office function for artists and labels on MySpace. Will this be enough? What else will he announce at MidemNet?

Currently, most monetisation on MySpace occurs through gaming (see the developer’s open platform). In music, MySpace is up against both Google and Facebook, who are about to launch direct music sales using their massive subscriber and user base. So many people will be carefully watching Van Natta at MidemNet and his template for music on the web.

Lastly, if you attended last year, October 31 is also the last day you will be able to access the MidemWorld database. The new database will start to be implemented the day after, becoming functional again on November 3. So if you have been meaning to connect with any people through the database, it’s now or never. Click here to access MidemWorld.

Incidentally, if you are looking to reduce the overall cost of Midem, there are a few deals you should be aware of. People that attended last year can bring extra people this year and pay 30% less for each additional participant. People under the age of 26 that are attending for the first time pay only €280 if they register online. For full details about these deals, visit the Midem participant page. All prices are subject to 19.6% VAT, a proportion of which you can recover if you attend from outside France. Sign up up to our Twitter account to be kept informed of these and other deals.

Click through for his full biography.

David Renzer, Universal Music Publishing Group

At the helm of the music industry’s leading global music publishing operation, David Renzer, Chairman & CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group, is responsible for overseeing the activities of over 50 offices in 43 territories worldwide.

Since Renzer joined the company (then called MCA Music Publishing) in 1996, UMPG has grown exponentially through both direct signings and catalogue acquisitions, which include most notably the BMG Music Publishing, Zomba, Polygram, and Rondor catalogues. UMPG is also a global leader in the areas of Production Music, Christian and Classical Music. In 2008, UMPG became the first major publisher to offer their clients online access to their royalty accounts with RoyaltyWindow.com.

Recent accolades under Renzer’s leadership include: No. 1 Global Market Leader by Informa; Publisher of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Producer of the Year, and Song of the Year at the BMI Urban Music Awards; Publisher of the Year and Songwriter of the Year at the BMI Pop Awards; Publisher of the Year and Songwriter of the Year at the SESAC awards; Songwriter of the Year at the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards; Publisher of the Year and Songwriter of the Year at the BMI Christian Music Awards; Music Week’s Albums Publisher of the Year; and a publishing interest in 27 GRAMMY awards in 2009.

Renzer sits on the Boards of ASCAP, NMPA, the International Music Publishers Association, and the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. He also serves as Chairman of the Music and Entertainment Division of the City of Hope, and founded the Songs of Hope events which have raised over $1,000,000 for the City of Hope.

African Dope Offerings by africandope