I enjoy the Midem conference each year and feel that the event continues to be a valuable point of contact for certain parts of the ever-evolving music business.
In many ways Midem has mirrored the changes in our Industry`s evolution and mindset moving away from a throwing of money to a much leaner relationship with newly emerging market forces and players geared towards tech and start-up culture. Technology has become an important part of the successive Internet-driven revolution that has impacted this business of music monetisation and sales, dramatically. From Napster to Apple and Spotify – we know this period of change has not ended.
This year, Midem’s second occurrence in the Summer, was particularly challenged by the simultaneous programming of Indie Week in NYC. Nevertheless, our presence at Midem has always been festive and outward reaching, best emphasized by the fact that our annual party has now become a regular and not-to-be-missed stalwart date in the calendar for almost 20% of Midem attendees!
At our event, we host the `makers and shakers` for a fun and influential networking session. Many ‘seamless’ details actually take a lot of behind the scenes preparation for everyone to eat, drink and be merry in the best possible way.
After our kick-off party, the meetings properly commence. I found myself once again surrounded by an interesting snapshot of the dynamic music business including at least four new start-ups for music consumption and a growing attendance from the African continent.
Of course, meeting with labels is a huge part of the Midem experience. Midem acts as a beautiful central location to answer questions and talk music with our partners. We were able to discuss streaming and ad campaign collaborations with prestigious labels before Rachael Cain began spinning as DJ on the beach opposite the Carlton Hotel.
Many of our regional leaders were present including Albert Torres, Laura Tesoriero, Ines Sapochnik, Miki Tunis and Metin Uzelli. Our staff was able to benefit by meeting with extremely key players that come together from around the world (Midem attracts people from South Africa to Finland as well as India and Mexico). As always, Scott Cohen and Nikoo Sadr kept the audiences enthralled within the Palais, speaking to their digital wizardry and vision on the panels.
This Orchard team rocked and we shall continue to shine even more in the coming years as we showcase and celebrate our unprecedented level of service offerings to all our labels including those we are currently working with and those we will be welcoming into our family in this coming year from RED, Red Essential, fineTunes and Phonofile.
All in all, Midem 2017 was filled with good business and fun times, combined!
