24 Jan 2009
midem wrapup
Overall, 2 major themes emerged out of the conferences I attended: Fans and Brands. The power is shifting to the artists (nothing new here) and the relationship with their fans is constantly growing in importance. Brian Message mentioned that he asks his bands to go sell the merch after the show and I agree with him. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs… Fans know so much about the bands these days. It seems natural that they should be able to meet them at a show.
There were also a lot of talks focused around bands partnering up with brands. Bacardi, Coke, Armani A|X are just a few. This is great news for artists as new revenue streams are opening up every day. The artist as a brand has tremendous value and you can now see bands like Groove Armada becoming a lifestyle brand.
Finally, a quick word about 360 deals. Seems like labels hate this term and managers often try to warn artists againt those. What to watch out for? Is your record label purely just dipping into your other revenue streams? or are they actually investing in each one of them. Are they making the merch, booking your gigs, collecting yout royalties? Don’t give away your revenues too easily.
So… how was midem 2009? I learned a lot and met a ton of fantastic people but I did feel a bit let down by some of the talks and by the low turnout. Will I return next year? most likely yes
