MIDEM to launch as a live festival

Live music is in the news with Midem. The annual music trade fair had cut back on its live concerts somewhat over the past few year. Yet it has just announced that Midem will also feature a live festival at the upcoming show in January 2012.

The news is interesting, and is good news for the town of Cannes as well, as it will provide concert-goers from across the south of France with a reason to visit the town. Until this year, the concerts – though often very impressive – were mostly for delegates only.

The concert industry in 2012

It will be interesting to see if this changes Midem’s standing in the industry, as promoters usually chose between attending Eurosonic in the Netherlands just prior to Midem or the Cannes event. If they were primarily in the live concert business, that wasn’t much of a choice; Cannes was losing every year. Yet as Midem itself was always anxious to underline, live music has become one of the most solid foundations in a very weakened industry. Much of an artist’s career revolves around concerts in one way or another. Midem had created special events for live music professionals and artist managers.

The other major axis on which Midem has invested heavily over the past few years is the digital sphere, with incubator events such as MidemLab creating bridges between the developer community and the music business.

The live concerts will be produced by the French company Alias, which has built its reputation on high-profile events such as Les Inrocks as well as concerts by Adele and Muse. In addition to major concerts, there will be a series of smaller “off-Midem” showcase gigs held around  town which will surely bring an extra vibe to the whole event.

Photo of Ct4l Swap playing in Cannes by Jean Sébastien Zanchi

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