Midem 2015 quick review by MIDEM

JUNE 2015

QUICK REVIEW

“Engagement is more important than numbers”. Epic Records CEO — and Midem Artist Accelerator Artistic Committee member — L.A. Reid could not have better summarised the new, summery Midem. With convergence between technology and music at its peak, what counts is not the number of plays, but the quality of artists connection with their fans.

Armenia Country of Honour

Midem Artist Accelerator

Midem in Photos

Music Business Wrap

Technology Wrap

Brands Wrap

Discover countless more industry insights and musical highlights from the 49th edition of Midem, in this, our official post-show review. And see you next year, for our 50th edition!

Discovery Zone Wrap

Artists Wrap

Midem Social Media Analysis

The Midem 2015 Quick Review was written by Rhian Jones and coordinated by Pierre Ziemniak, Midem’s Community Manager. Layout: Frédéric Beauseigneur, Reed MIDEM. Photos: Image & Co

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Armenia Country of Honour

Armenia was Midem 2015’s Country of Honour. A series of events throughout the four days in Cannes celebrated the country’s vibrant cultural diversity, starting with Midem’s Opening Party, June 5. Guests were welcomed to the Carlton Hotel firstly by a troupe of traditional dancers who wowed the Croisette with their acrobatic choreography; and then, on entering the party, by gift-bearing hostesses. A warm greeting indeed!

Reed MIDEM’s Paul Zilk (right) welcomed the Armenian delegation at the Midem Opening Party, with President Serzh Sargsyan (centre)

Rock band Dorians, who represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 with the song Lonely Planet, co-written by Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), play during the Midem Opening Party concert Revellers party into the night during an evening of Armenian music by the beach

Classical music took centre stage courtesy of the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia

Armenia also invited key Midem guests to a VIP dinner, on June 6. Pictured here (left to right) are Armenian director Alain Terzian; Franco-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour; Armenia’s Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan; composer Krzysztof Penderecki; conductor Sergey Smbatyan; and Fleur Pellerin, France’s Minister of Culture

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Midem Artist Accelerator New this year, the Midem Artist Accelerator (MAA) is designed to support managers, agents, labels and publishers as they look to grow their artists’ profiles globally. In partnership with Pepsi and Deezer, the programme had its own Artistic Committee, featuring industry heavyweights such as Epic Records’ LA Reid; The Agency Group’s Natalia Nastaskin; world-renowned concert promoter and producer Harvey Goldsmith; and Pitchfork’s Christopher Kaskie (below). The Committee selected 14 finalists from nearly 500 submissions from around 50 countries, and provided the selected acts with hands-on mentoring during Midem. All bands performed on the Midem Festival open-air stage while being supported by a consistent promotional plan before, during and after Midem. The finalists also benefitted from access to the Global Sync & Brands Summit, free legal services, industry experts, tailor-made workshops and unique networking opportunities. All in all, a career-changing experience for them all! This first edition saw fourteen up and coming new acts play live on the Midem Festival open-air stage. Listen to them all here! And discover highlights below...

Experimental London singer-songwriter Andreya Triana, also a Midem Artist Accelerator act, played on the Palais’ main steps on June 7

Hungarian alt-rock outfit Middlemist Red rocked the Pantiero stage on Midem’s first day

Learning and coaching sessions were part of the MAA programme

Live electronic music band Alo Wala employed a host of global influences on their sonic palette

The artisted received a selection of curated networking, here during the Global Sync and Brands Summit

Akua Naru (here) and all the other finalists attended the Pepsi-sponsored breakfast with exclusive presence of L.A Reid (here), Frank Cooper III and Kate Thornton

The MAA finalists on top of the Palais with Christopher Kaskie

Pitchfork President Christopher Kaskie hosted a special mentoring session for MAA finalists on Midem’s last day.

Danish electronic act Brynjolfur made Midem’s last night one to remember

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Midem in Photos

Midem’s first ever summer edition took place under the azure blue sky of Cannes. New atmosphere, new vibe, new Midem!

The showfloor was packed with stands from the world over; the Malaysia Pavilion was just one of many Palais destinations to host four days of back-to-back meetings

From Left: Matt Emerman (CFO & Global Head of Corp Dev), Jaikaran Sawhney (Senior Product Manager), Teresa Bigelow (PR Director), Rishi Malhotra (Co-Founder & CEO), Paramdeep Singh (Co-Founder & Executive Chairman), Gaurav Sharma (Lead Data Scientist)

It was the first year at Midem for Indian streaming service, Saavn, that has spent the past five years creating an attractive alternative to piracy in India, and now has 15 million users. “India is just getting on the map in a big way from a digital perspective,” said Saavn co-founder and CEO, Rishi Malhotra. “We are maybe already the third largest music service in the world, in another two years we may be the largest, just by the sheer market of India. It was really important for us to have a presence at Midem this year. Deezer is here, Spotify is here, we are the companies that are streaming the most and changing the economy of music. Getting shared perspectives together is really important.”

Sony Music CEO Doug Morris was the honouree at the Billboard Breakfast during the third day of Midem this year, which was sponsored by music retail website PeerTracks. Before Morris was interviewed on-stage, Billboard writer and editor, Jem Aswad paid tribute to the exec in front of an audience comprised of the music industry elite, including fellow veteran record label men, Seymour Stein and LA Reid. “As someone who was worked for both Billboard and Atlantic Records, I’ve been writing about Doug Morris for 20 years,” said Aswad. “At Billboard, I don’t think there’s anyone we’ve written about more often, and no-one in this room needs to ask why. When you look at the great record men, others may have done things earlier and louder than Doug has, but no one has done as much as well for as long as him. Doug, thank you for honouring us this morning, coming here to be with us to receive this honour and congratulations from all of us.”

Techno music legend Juan Atkins treated Midem attendees to an exclusive DJ set at Les Marches Club on June 7 PPL’s Mark Douglas, Record of the Day’s Paul Scaife and BPI’s Kiaron Whitehead successfully cycled the 900 miles back from Midem in Cannes over six days to raise money for Nordoff Robbins, Teenage Cancer Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Mind

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Midem in Photos Celebrating 30 years in business in 2015, French independent electronic music label, Happy Music, has survived the last three decades on passion, said its president, Pierre Forgacs. There was no time for celebrations at Midem though, “I am too preoccupied by the music, to find the right track and the right song,” he explained. Finding new partners for sync deals in film, TV and advertising was on high on his agenda this year.

Hackers hard at work as 25 developers from around the world battle it out over 48 hours to develop the best music app at Midem Hack Day

The French Minister of Culture and Communication, Fleur Pellerin, dropped in to Midem to check out the latest in tech and innovation and meet industry folks

Deals being made at the British Stand at Midem

Becky Stewart was crowned winner of Midem Hack Day 2015 with her Festival Bag - an “augmented handbag” that connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth, then lights up to signify notifications. Its beads and tassles can also be used to reply via the phone

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Music Business

Streaming will nurse music industry back to full health, says Sony’s Doug Morris Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug Morris used his keynote speech at Midem to offer some encouraging predictions for the future of the music industry, saying he’s expecting it to return to the $30 billion business it was 10 years ago. While that figure has halved in the last decade thanks to the switch from digital to physical, piracy and now streaming, Morris was hopeful of a return to the industry’s glory days of yore. It’s not ad-supported streaming tiers that will get it there, however, it’s Apple launching a premium-only service, he said. Apple’s “great advantage of having $178 billion in the bank” plus the details of 800 million of its users’ credit cards will result in a “rising tide that lifts all ships”, said Morris. “Spotify has never really advertised, because it’s still not profitable. I think that Apple will advertise and the result of this will have halo effect on the entire streaming service [market]. It’s

the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry and I think everyone that lives in the industry is going to benefit. In the future, I believe most of the consumption of music will be done through streaming.” Morris said his most important contribution to music over the past five decades was taking on the internet service providers, when battling to make sure artists got paid for their videos being hosted on websites like Yahoo. Refusing to accept that websites were offering free promotion

Mastering a Music City Solutions to issues faced by the music economies of cities like New York, Berlin and London led the discussion during a panel made up of festival, publishing and municipal execs on the third day of Midem. The concept of ‘music cities’ is championed by the IFPI and Music Canada after conducting research into how communities can foster artist development and support creators - the results of which were revealed in a report at Midem (which you can download here). A music city is defined as a community of any size with a vibrant music economy. The Great Escape co-founder, Martin Elbourne (centre), has

spent time in Adelaide in Australia working as a consultant to try and improve the city’s music scene. “There seems to be a growing consensus with regions around the world realising that music is a very important part of their cities’ fabric, not just cultural-

to artists, while not sharing any money they earned from advertising with the creators, Morris, working at Universal at the time, removed the videos, a move that was swiftly mirrored by Sony Music. He explained: “You could see the ISPs’ audience go down immediately. Three days later, they called us and everyone paid us. In that one month, we turned videos, which were huge and cost tens of millions of dollars of expenditure to promote the artist, into a tremendous pot of something which was increasing every day, it was a wonderful victory for the industry.” Parting with some words of wisdom for the packed audience, Morris said those wanting to work in the industry must know where their talent lies. You have to first look at what you think your strength is. When you are doing something that you love, it’s fun, and when something is fun you’ll get good at it.”

ly, but economically,” he said. Initiatives to preserve venues, like asking developers to sound-proof flats that might be built next to long-established nearby clubs — the ‘Agent of Change’ principle — bringing festivals to previously badly developed areas, as well as working more closely with tourism offices, are just some of the measures being taken today. Justin Kalifowitz of Downtown Music Publishing (second left) is heavily involved in preserving the music scene of New York after seeing songwriters, producers and artists leaving the city due to rising living costs. “Music is such an important part of the US economy. But we recognised that the music industry in New York was not organised, despite its being home to the top 10 music publishers, ASCAP, Sony, Warner and over 120 indie record labels.”

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Music Business

BPI launches open-access Making it in Malaysia copyright protection portal The BPI launched its Copyright Protection Portal during a press conference on the first day of Midem. The portal aims to help labels, musicians and music businesses see where copies of their music are being made available illegally online, and track how the organisation is responding. Commenting at the launch, Dave Wood (photo), Director of Copyright Protection at the BPI, said: “The daily updating of this portal will be critical in helping us to protect more music repertoire than ever before and we hope that the industry will work with us to ensure it does the job it has been set up to do.” Building Malaysia into a South East Asian hub for music and creativity is the mission Norman Abdul Halim (photo), chairman of the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia, has been tasked with over the last few years. Halim comes to Midem (for the third time in 2015) to meet potential partners from around the world and learn about new technologies that might affect the music business.The knowledge has enabled him to engage with government agencies to look at music as a viable way to build a social, cultural and economic contribution to the nation. “Right now, the Government of Malaysia is trying to diversify the economy from being just an exporter of oil and gas to drive the economy into other sectors, especially the creative and content industry,” Halim explained. “We hope that music will continue to contribute to the economy on a long term basis.”

Worldwide copyright legislation and piracy measures take centre stage The “host of problems” created by US policy and the effectiveness of EU copyright law were discussed at length by a number of digital, music and government executives at Midem. Moderating a panel on the current developments in copyright and licensing legislation in the USA, music lawyer Dina LaPolt said that the “US is the biggest recorded music market in the world, yet we treat our creative people the worst.” However, getting government involved in rate-setting is dangerous territory, said RIAA chairman Cary Sherman, who instead proposed that the music industry work together with the digital services to reach an agreement. “We can’t separate publishers from record labels, we’re all part of

the same ecosystem, and we all have a stake in the success of digital service providers. We really ought to be working all of this out as an industry, rather than leaving it to government.” Speaking separately on the last day of Midem, the European Commission’s

vice-president of the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip (photo) said EU copyright law is making music consumers more likely to turn to piracy due to geoblocking (that restricts access to content based upon the user’s geographical location). “In the EU, our creators are losing huge amounts of money because of piracy. Somehow our legislation is pushing people to steal, but we can say that if somebody is able to provide a service with better quality and higher speed, people prefer to act as honest people,” said Ansip. “They are ready to pay, they don’t want to steal. We have to provide legal access to digital content to everyone and then it will be more fruitful to tackle piracy.”

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Music Business

Harvey Goldsmith raises concerns over lack of new festival headliners Renowned live music promoter Harvey Goldsmith discussed the future of the music industry during a keynote on the last day of Midem. He raised concerns over the lack of new stadium-filling rock acts and future festival headliners, and why the music industry is not collaborating better on these issues. Harvey recalled stand-out memories from his illustrious career, from booking his first tour aged 22, to working with Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rolling Stones, George Michael, and launching Live Aid with Bob Geldof. However, it was the problems he’s witnessed the music industry going through that led his speech. Record companies that “don’t en-

gage with the live business” and are at war with publishers and collection societies, while promoters “moan about agents” and managers “watch everyone fight each other” results in a needlessly fragmented business, he said, all the while, “a gaping hole” is appearing on the horizon due to lack of resource and attention going on developing the festival headliners of the future. “Where are the new global rock acts? Where is the long term development?” Goldsmith asked. “The age of pop and dance is with us but it’s still transient. Downloads are being surpassed by streaming, with diminishing artist returns; and live shows are too expensive.”

However, as long as there are good performers and songwriters, the business will manage to “cut through all the crap”, said Goldsmith.”

Vivendi ‘very proud’ to own Universal Music Group

WIN further strengthens network in Cannes

Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine wants to grow the value of Universal Music Group from €8 billion to €25bn, and said the music label is a big part of the firm’s future during an interview on the second day of Midem. “Universal Music Group is an amazing company with an amazing track record, I’m very proud to have UMG within the Vivendi family.” de Puyfontaine’s vision for the future is about growing streaming subscription, capitalising on the potential of new territories (like Africa) and finding the Sam Smiths and Aloe Blaccs of tomorrow. “Music is like this sleeping beauty that needs a charming prince to create a wonderful new family,” he said. “Music is something everyone in the world shares, it creates emotion. In this new era, there will be platforms, opportunities and expertise [that create the] right formula to start this amazing story.”

The Worldwide Independent Network met over two sessions during Midem and planned collaboration between other trade associations, so that all label members will have more support available to draw from. The projects agreed include sharing resources, offering help on performance rights and anti-piracy, and new services such as the ‘Friends of’ scheme. Said chair of WIN Alison Wenham: “Over twenty countries attended and the sessions, the first of their kind, were a measure of how strongly the independent sector is growing through a shared vision of the role of trade associations. In the years to come, WIN will have created the strongest network for indie labels ever seen.”

Photo taken at Midem 2014

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Tech Wrap

Premium, freemium and fan engagement in the streaming age Streaming music was the hottest topic at Midem this year, as the industry geared up to welcome the arrival of Apple Music, on June 8. Both Deezer and Tidal took to the stage to reveal their vision for the future, and whether they feel threatened by the imminent competition. CEO of Deezer, Hans-Holger Albrecht (left), didn’t sound too worried. “In some ways, Apple will help us a lot to educate the market,” he explained. “With Apple coming in and penetration going up to higher levels, the tide hits everyone. It will increase the opportunity for Tidal and Spotify too. [We’ll all] find [our] place and market segments. I’m not concerned, it’s a positive thing.” Focusing on local curated content, as well as non-music features, will mean Deezer stands its ground, he said. On the issue of free subscription tiers vs. paid, Albrecht said there’s no point doing away with “something that’s working. We are converting free to paid on all sides. Yes, we have to optimise freemium, but before we stop something that’s working, let’s wait until we have something to replace it with,” he said. Sitting on the other side of the fence, music industry analyst Mark Mulligan wasn’t so sure that convincing free streaming users to shell out $9.99 a month for a subscription will save the business. It’s the music aficionados that efforts should be focused on in-

stead, he said, during a talk on how to capitalise the artist and super-fan relationship.17% of music consumers, who are willing to spend above the average amount of money and time on music, count for two thirds of money spent, Mulligan explained. According to his analysis, last year, 72% of the money that was lost in the decline of recorded music sales was down to a change in behaviour in that small group of people. So how do you get them to pay over $9.99? “Connection, curation and engagement”, Mulligan concluded. “Experience is the product, that is what we’re selling. When Taylor Swift invites fans to come to her house and her mum makes them cupcakes, that moment is far more important than any amount of time listening to [her music]. Capitalising on the artist-fan relationship is what Jay Z‘s newly-launched

streaming service, Tidal, is trying to do, said chief investment officer, Vania Schlogel (right). Generally speaking, the average streaming customer is currently male, tech savvy, aged 25 – 34, and from an urban area, she explained. Reaching all those that just “dig music” will be through unique content, early access ticketing, live events and culture, all enhanced by artist involvement. Combating negativity around what they do (a lot of post-launch headlines suggested the service was out to grow the bottom line of already wealthy artists), she said there was “a lot of misinformation out there. One of the things unfairly said about us was that we didn’t care about independent and emerging artists. That comment actually hurts. But then we launched (new talent programmes) Tidal Rising and Tidal Discovery. Actions speak louder than words.”

SoundCloud: “The future of music is mobile; the rest are extras” Focusing on mobile is the priority for the future of SoundCloud, “everything else is extra, mobile is the thing that matters,” said the streaming platform’s co-founder Alexander Ljung on the last day of Midem. Since winning the Midemlab startup competition six years ago, SoundCloud has grown into a huge global music streaming platform, with over 175 million unique monthly users, and is currently developing revenue generation tools. “Cool things can happen when you put the creators in control. We’ve got some amazing artists using the

flexibility of SoundCloud and the openness of it, and now they can generate revenue from [their work too],” said Ljung. Discussing the future of streaming services, Ljung said those offering a combination of ad-supported and subscription tiers will help grow the music business. “For me, it’s very clear that it’s a combination of both, and that’s for a few reasons. Firstly, music has an incredible power to connect every person on the planet and part of it is about how you share that experience. There needs to be openness around the shareability. There are 3 bil-

lion people online, you’re never going to all get those into subscription. You get the people that are willing to pay for a sub into a sub and the others into an advertising model. It’s really about how you draw the line between the two.”

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Tech Wrap

News in brief Hi-res revolution is waiting to happen

Discussing the potential impact of high resolution audio on the music industry during a panel on day three of Midem, SVP of digital content and media solutions at audio solution firm DTS, Geir Skaaden (third right), said: “The fact that ecosystem is rising is a core issue. It’s a real trade off between high and low quality files. Next gen smartphones now have this capability built in. There’s no question in my mind that high-res is a true ‘wow’; consumers will hear the difference. So the labels will find the economics to produce high-res recordings.”

Midemlab winners A huge part of Midem every year is discovering the companies set to shape the future of the music business. This year was no exception, as the 2015 edition of Midem’s startup competition proved. The three winners of Midemlab this year were Israel based Fusic, German company Rescued Ideas with The Basslet and French/US firm Unique Sound. Fusic won the music discovery, recommendation & creation category, with its app that

allows music fans to instantly star in their own video clips with selfies. Honoured in the hardware/internet of things category, The Basslet is a wristband that lets wearers experience music in 3D by feeling the beats through their body. Crowned winner of the marketing, social engagement & monetisation solutions category, Unique Sound aims to hook up composers with content creators looking for music for their projects. The 2015 Midemlab was sponsored by Pepsi and Vivendi

Music’s new value hinges on innovation

Emotion is what Altimeter analyst Brian Solis believes is the future of a harmonious relationship between music and technology, he explained during a talk questioning the value of music. In order to capitalise on that, companies have to “change what could be” instead of “building upon the setting that was”. “We either do the same old shit, or we do the crazy new shit. The value of music is not what it used to be and that’s where innovation starts,” he said.

Qobuz’s high-definition revenues doubled last year

Yves Riesel, CEO at French high resolution music streaming and downloading service, Qobuz, has been coming to Midem for 26 years. Qobuz launched in 2008 and the firm has more than doubled its turnover during the last year. Pictured here, Riesel meets with labels and bands to establish relationships that could result in future additions to Qobuz’ catalogue.

Left to right: Vivendi’s Corinne Bach; winners Fusic’s Liat Sade-Sternberg; Daniel Büttner, The Basslet; Romain Cochet, Unique Sound; Seedcamp’s Dave Haynes; Pepsi’s Ellen Healy; and Musically’s Paul Brindley

YouTube: be organised and think outside the box It’s the artists that do something different and approach their YouTube channel with a marketing strategy that stand out from the 1 billion other users, according to Eduard Castello, YouTube’s Music Partnerships Manager (left, with colleague Candice Morrissey). The exec gave some words of wisdom for managers and creators on how to make the best of the video-sharing platform during a panel on the second day of Midem. Managers should be creating content calendars and strategically releasing content to keep fans engaged ahead of an album release, he said, while original programming is far more likely to resonate with fans. “We’ve done really cool stuff with artists where we’ll have them come and cook their parent’s favourite dish. We’ll give them $50 to go to the grocery

store and make food for their team.” For artists that don’t yet have the resources to build a digital team around them, using fans as ambassadors could be a surprisingly useful alternative. “Your fans are going to be your biggest promoters, more than the label. If you give as much power as you can to the fans, they are going to help the artist grow, on every level,” he added.

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Brands

LA Reid: ‘Engagement is more important than numbers’ While brand partnerships are a good opportunity to break independent artists, being a musician is still “all about the hustle” said chairman and CEO of Epic Records, LA Reid (left) during a Pepsi-sponsored breakfast on the second day of Midem. Sitting with the former chief marketing officer of global consumer engagement at PepsiCo, Frank Cooper III (right), the two discussed the relationship between artists and brands after announcing the 14 finalists (whittled down from 472 submissions) of the Midem 2015 Artist Accelerator Programme, in partnership with Pepsi and Deezer. Reid recalled the early days in the careers of Outkast and Toni Braxton, whose popularity spread by word of mouth. While there are more opportunities to break artists than ever before, “engagement is more important than numbers. Once you have the following, it’s about what you do with it,” he said. When asked why brand partnerships go wrong, Reid and Cooper recalled U2’s deal with Apple that saw their new album being given away to millions of people for free last year (that frontman

Bono has since admitted was “megalomania”). “I think sometimes we, the record industry, particularly artists of that stature, think that big is better,” said Reid. “The fans that have supported U2 for all those years feel a special relationship with U2, and that singular move took that away. Sometimes we think that brands or platforms give us a better way to reach everybody, when in fact we don’t want to

reach everybody. How I feel as a fan, as a consumer, is ‘treat me special’. It’s not free and it’s not for everybody. Be careful with the more is more; less is more.” Cooper agreed, saying it was a mistake to so flippantly give away a body of work. “I think what they lost in that move was the idea that this album is music, it’s art, it’s special and that’s a bad thing to do.”

Endorsements must see stars truly involved in projects, brand panels agree The will.i.am and Lexus brand partnership is an example of what advertising campaigns featuring artists should look like in the future, according to a panel of marketing and agency executives, who discussed how the project came to life during the first day of Midem. Lexus Europe and will.i.am came together to launch the new Lexus NX, a car aimed at reaching a younger, more aspirational audience that Lexus weren’t previously competing for, explained Chris Taylor, Head of European Marketing at Lexus. As part of the collaboration, will.i.am designed his own bespoke NX car, and also starred in the Lexus ‘Striking Angles’ advertising campaign, which champions bold design and technology.

The multi-layered idea added credibility to the project, said Malcolm Peters, who developed the launch for the campaign. “The idea of just taking a celebrity and popping them in an advert and expecting that to get results is a very old model,” he said. “If you’re going to include talent, make sure they are part of the creative process.” Later on during day three of Midem, the merits of partnering with up and coming artists were discussed during a panel profiling a global mixed-media music partnership created by Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky and Boiler Room: ‘Stay True Journeys’. Steven Appleyard, Business Director at Boiler Room, said a combination of new talent alongside US DJ Seth Trox-

Boiler Room Ballantine (Left to right: August & Debouzy’s Sophie Goossens, Ballantine’s Tom Elton, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment’s Alex Wilkinson and Boiler Room’s Steven Appleyard)

ler ensured the campaign has stood the test of time. “The danger with working with big artists is that they do so many brand partnerships, you get a spike in engagement and it drops off straight away. So we went in with Seth Troxler as a tour guide - a face to get through to people at the start to then be able to tell the story of these underground artists.”

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Brands

Midem Marketing Competition 2015: all the winners

Designed to honour creative and brilliance in music marketing and advertising, Midem’s Marketing Competition 2015 awarded three exceptional ideas. Judged by an international jury composed of music professionals, executives from renowned brands, marketing and advertising agencies and media specialists, the winners were announced on day three of Midem. Ahead of announcing the shortlist, Ruth Mortimer, content director for Centaur Marketing, said a successful marketing campaign is all about product, price, promotion, place and partnership. “It’s only a real partnership if you genuinely create something real and authentic to consumers,” she added. David Guetta played a starring role in the Bronze award winner, which was the world’s first double screen music video created by agency My Love Affair for champagne brand Mumm - official sponsor of the Formula 1 Championship for the past 10 years. The double screen experience allows the viewer to use their mobile phone to interact with the video in a unique, revolutionary way, unlocking a new piece of video content from David Guetta’s track made especially for two screens. The experience is further en-

Midem Marketing Competition Left to right: UNICEF’s Jim Calberg; Marketing Week’s Ruth Mortimer; Jed Lewis of Converse: My Love Affair’s Raphael Aflalo; and Olle Isaaksen, of Edelman Deportivo

riched by allowing the user to place their phone on several ‘hot’ spots over the screen to discover and unveil several interactive features between the two screens. Awarded with the Silver medal was UNICEF’s charity campaign, Press Play To Give, raising funds to support young girls in third world countries. In 1979, ABBA donated parts of their royalties for the song Chiquitita to the charity, and creative agency Edelman Deportivo last year partnered with the ABBA Museum to reignite the initiative. Swedish artist Laleh was

invited to make a reinterpretation of the song, which reached 100 million people worldwide and became the most-downloaded song on iTunes in Sweden within a few days. Crowned with the highest honour of all - the Gold award - was the Converse Rubber Tracks Sample Library. Created in partnership with Indaba Music, the online resource allows musicians from all over the world to download and use samples recorded by the likes of Otis Brown III, Cory Henry, the late Franky Knuckles and Captain Kirk to create new music

Sync big Getting a track synced to a film, TV programme or advert has become an important income stream for many artists in recent years, and a number of executives at Midem shared tips on how to perfect that winning pitch. During the first day of Midem, Kyle Hopkins, Head of Music Supervision for Xbox (Microsoft, left), said having a strong identity around the music you represent is vital. It will “help you to build your brand so music supervisors know what to expect when they reach out to you,” he said. Rachel Wood, owner and Creative Director at Woodwork Music (right) added: “Look at what your catalogue is, and focus on the people that are most likely to license your music.” Word to the wise!

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Discovery Zone

Discovery Zone opens public to innovation New for 2015, Midem’s Discovery Zone was awash with startups, creators and brands showcasing the latest innovative projects, to both conference attendees and – for the first time ever at Midem – the general public. As well as those pictured, car manufacturer Mazda offered test drives of its new SUV, the CX-3, equipped with its connected service MZD Connect, British company Lasgo Chrysalis promoted the latest vinyl products for sale, together with online vinyl spe-

cialist Hands And Arms and Lucie Labs demoed its connected bracelet allowing users to interact during concerts and events. “The Discovery Zone is an important new addition to the Midem experience. New technology is helping consumers engage with music and is being adopted by major groups, such as Orange or Mazda. The fact that we opened up this exhibition area to the general public was clearly appreciated,” said Midem director Bruno Crolot.

ORANGE

MASH MACHINE

Table football fans battled it out in French telco Orange’s “connected space” — a mockup of a web-connected home — to showcase its network capabilities

Interactive activity designers The Mo’Joes organised DJ battles using its Mash Machine. The high-tech “musical table” turns amateur music makers into professionals using drum, bass, melody and vocal samples to control and master any music genre within minutes, regardless of age and skill

BERKLEE VALENCIA Students from Berklee College of Music apps and a range of fun interactive pro(Valencia) displayed their fresh musical jects. Pictured here, the Sing Song Table is a project by student Luke Dennis that transforms a Ping Pong table into a powerful synthesizer and sequencer. A range of contact and motion sensors pick up the players’ movements and the impulses of the ball and send them to a computer programme, making the game into an original song

JARRE TECHNOLOGIES

FINDSPIRE

Visitors sampled what’s on offer from Jarre Technologies, a range of high-end audio electronics developed by legendary electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre

Creative discovery platform Findspire hosted a recording studio, with live performances throughout Midem. Here Midem Artist Accelerator Finalist Akua Naru rehearses her live session

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Artists Wrap

Breaking down barriers

Ryan Leslie, US artist, producer and co-founder & CEO of Disruptive Multimedia, was one of the stars of Midem this year, discussing his direct-to-fan business model. A Harvard graduate, Leslie has used his business nous to forge a highly successful eco-system without the need for a major label record deal based on sending text messages to fans. “I’m interested in building the infrastructure and platform so everyone who can have control of their audience. We don’t own our audience, other platforms manage it for us. Those platforms are great, but not necessarily very efficient. What’s the point in spending all this time building up a social following that’s not returning anything of significant value to me? Until those platforms open up, Disruptive is creating a different one based on text messaging. Using his smartphone to communicate with fans directly (he regularly gives his number out), Leslie made $2 million in revenue by sending an invite to those who hadn’t yet bought his album. Having such a personal and direct relationship with his fanbase has allowed him to earn money from limited edition scarves that came with an invite to his New Years’ Eve party (sold at $420 each) and bringing fans into the studio to listen to him record (making between $2,500 – $4,000 for each session). “It’s 100% about experiences,” he said. “The only thing that is priceless in this world is time.” Own that relationship between you and your fans. Then if they want to support you, don’t give them a barrier.”

Juan Atkins: “The industry should not try and dictate music taste”

Rounding off the third day of Midem in style was the ‘Godfather of techno’ and founder of record label, Metroplex, Juan Atkins (left, with moderator Bill Werde). During an interview discussing his early career finding his innovative musical style and influences, Atkins offered some opinions on the so-called EDM explosion. The mainstream rise in popularity of the dance genre hasn’t had much effect on Atkins, and rather than creating a funnel through which fans might discover more niche genres, it’s made it harder to cut through the noise than ever before, he said. “I don’t play to too many empty rooms and my numbers are pretty much the same as they’ve always been. I [don’t really listen to EDM], the downside is that there’s so much music coming out it’s hard to concentrate on one artist.” Parting with some words of advice for those stuck in the past, Atkins added: “Kids aren’t going out buying drums and guitars any more, they are buying Ableton 9 and Native Instruments. What the industry and people should realise is the internet is making artists and young kids more creative than ever. People should open their mind a bit more and not let the industry force-feed what they think.”

News in brief British/Brazilian pop/dance singer Beatrice Sallis flew over to Midem from Canada to find distribution and publishing partners ahead of releasing an EP later this year. “The atmosphere in Cannes is absolutely beautiful, it’s my first time in France, the people, the food, the energy, it’s just incredible,” she said. Connecting with people from all over the world, as well as learning about the industry, made her Midem a valuable experience. “Like any industry, music evolves and there are so many different things that are going on. The connections have been great, people network and once making an offer have introduced me to others who they think I’d be be a good fit for too.”

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Artists Wrap

Paul Williams: “Songwriters are not an endangered species” Fighting for change on behalf of songwriters and creators during the third day of Midem was ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board, composer and songwriter Paul Williams, who said it’s not the kids that need to be educated about the value of music, it’s the digital distributors. “Companies behind the delivery platforms and devices know that demand for music will continue to grow globally. It’s time for them to recognise that respecting the work of songwriters/composers is essential to their future,” he said. The music industry – publishers, la-

bels and artists – need to “work together and stop shoving each other to get a slice of the pie“. And that’s happening, said Williams, “songwriters are not an endangered species, at 74-years-old this guy is still excited about doing the work.” Giving some words of advice to fellow creators, Williams added: “Be authentic, be yourself, but become aware of the world you’re stepping into and become an advocate for the work you intend to do. Help yourself as well as everyone around you. “Now is the time to recognise the work of songwriters and compos-

ers. 20 years from now when you look at yourself in the mirror and go, ‘What did I do today to insure that young John Lennon has a shot?’ You can make a difference.”

360 degree management The dwindling need for a record label deal in the digital age was the main topic of discussion during a panel positioning artist managers as entrepreneurs on the first day of Midem. Ron Stone, president of Gold Mountain Entertainment (USA), and Emily White, co-founder and manager at Whitesmith Entertainment, revealed their “360 degree” approach to artist’s careers. These days, a manager is the “CEO of the artist company” said Stone, “you have all the divisions of labour; marketing, promotion, sales, accounting and quality control. It’s the same as any company, except you have a crazy person as the chairman of the board!”

Making sure artists own their masters is the priority for White, who said publishing is becoming the most important revenue stream. “I can count on my publishers to invest in my band more than a label. With my artists owning their masters, when they land syncs, they get that money. There’s a wide variety of revenue streams available to artists right now.” So what exactly is the role of the record label going forward? If an artist has a chance of sustaining a long career, “there’s no upside to taking out a record deal whatsoever,” said Stone. “[At major labels] you’re dealing with someone who wants short term returns on their investment, is tremendously impatient because

The success stories of K-POP artists at Midem are mounting up after South Korean quartet Rock N Roll Radio played to a packed crowd during the K-POP Night Out this year. After the show, they headed to Paris to record an EP with French producer and ex member of Modjo (remember “Lady...hear me tonight”?), Romain Tranchart. The band’s talent and influences is what convinced Tranchart to get involved. “They are pretty incredibly talented, they play really well,” he explained. “The demo they sent us has got this David Bowie very funky and disco feel. The goal is to make the music sound as big as we can, as modern as we can and add an electronic feel.” Being a country famed for its track record in electronic music, of course, the French influence should give the band a head-start. Last year, Korean hip-hop twosome Dynamic Duo enjoyed a sold out gig in Paris post Midem and worked with DJ Premier.

they get paid in Q4, and their bonus is based on the income of that company. And after two bad years, they are gone. Why would you want to spend time getting into business with someone that has no expectation of longevity?” White still works with labels, but it’s usually them who approach her first, rather than the other way around. “Labels are not a partner I’ve cared about or felt I had to rely on,” she said. “We do things on our own and they come to us, that allows us to do smarter deals and have the artist retain their rights. Traditionally, the relationship between label and management might not be so great, but we have more in common now than ever.

Taiwan rocked the Ambassadeurs Lounge with a showcase on the third day of Midem, receiving lots of attention from international media, music labels, manager and industry professionals. The three artists that played were all winners and nominees of the annual Taiwanese music award, the Golden Melody Awards. Pictured here is pop/rock hip-hop act Magic Power, who played a storming set alongside hip-hop artist Miss Ko, and indie/rock band My Skin Against Your Skin (MSAYS).

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Social Media Analysis

music media

french media

#1 Billboard

tech media

#1 le monde

#1 HYPEbot #2 strategies

#2 music business world

#2 venturebeat

#3 france info

#3 Music week

#3 the verge

TOP 5 COUNTRIES (except france) TOP Speakers Doug Morris

A. DE puyfontaine Alexander ljung

#CANADA #ARMENIA #UK

#japan

#Korea

TOP 5 language

TOP 5 catalog

#english 67,5%

rock/Alternative Pop

#french 17,4% #russian 3,1%

RNb/hip-hop/Urban eletronic dance

#spanish 2,4% #german 1,3%

latin

Ĵrćvt Data collected from 5 june to 8 june from Ekimetrics & Focusmatic tvćrĴ

Midem QUICK REVIEW • Social Media Analysis

TOP MIDEMLAB

Top 3 frenchtech startup supported by

music discovery fusic soundsgood

the best song

Market monetisation uniquesound firechat

music innovation topics

#1 streaming

LINKFIRE

#2 licensing

iot & wearable

#3 net neutrality

phonotonic fretx

#4 monetisation #5 iot & wearable

lucielabs

top influencers tatiana grace

noush mostaghimi

marianne rollet

daniel findikian

Emily Gonneau

Ĵrćvt Data collected from 5 june to 8 june from Ekimetrics & Focusmatic tvćrĴ

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