Midem 2016 News

3-6 JUNE

2016

midem

CANNES FRANCE MIDEM.COM

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Creative Europe is the European Union’s programme supporting culture and creativity

Opportunities are given to the MUSIC sector through 3 (out of 4) actions of the Culture sub-programme: cooperation between cultural and creative organisations from different countries networks helping the cultural and creative sector to operate competitively and transnationally platforms to promote emerging artists and stimulate European programming Creative Europe also supports the EBBA, the unique EU prize in the field of music. The European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) are about breaking down borders and recognising emerging European rock, pop and dance artists who achieved success in other countries than their own.

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17/05/2016 21:02

048G_FRENCH TECH_PROG_DEM pub_capdigitaljb2.pdf 1 20/05/2016 16:58:30

FRENCH PITCH

By OVH - Digital Launch Pad

« FRENCH PITCH » is the French start-ups event powered by Cap Digital & Irma, in collaboration with La French Tech and supported by OVH - Digital Launch Pad.

For the first time, MIDEM will highlight the hottest French music start-ups (14) through 2 categories, BtoC and BtoB, specialized in: Music Discovery, Recommendation & Creation - Marketing, Social Engagement & Monetization Hardware, Internet of Things & Related Applications.

WHY?

To celebrate MIDEM 50th anniversary, the French Pitch enlightens FRENCH TECH start-ups. Discover: 14 music related start-ups questioned by a professional jury.

The exclusive survey conducted by IRMA: “French Startups in Music Business.

Foundation & Activities Overview 2016”

WHEN/WHERE? FRIDAY THE 3 JUNE 10.30 am to 1 pm Midem PITCH CORNER (Riviera 7) Palais des Festivals, Cannes

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SPEAKERS: 7 DIGITAL 7digital is a B2B digital music and radio services company.

Speaker: Laurent BOUQUET DES CHAUX, VP Business Dev EMEA, France.

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CMJ

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ADN A HiFi HD multiroom hyperconnected amplifier. Easily connect any stereo speakers to any digital multimedia equipment of your living room (Wi-Fi & Bluetooth, USB & SPDIF).

Speaker: Michael TIBERGHIEN, CEO co-fondateur, France.

BLENZIK Blenzik is a platform to Broadcast and monetize your live concerts.

Speaker: Regis VASSAL, France.

BLITZR Specializing in processing, enrichment and harmonization of music metadata, BLITZR provides music services & digital media with smart data & B2B solutions.

Speaker: Bertrand SEBENNE, France.

DIGGERS Factory Diggers Factory is an online community of collaborative vinyl production that enables talented artists to produce and repress their vinyl records without spending 1€. We offer a turnkey solution with professional partners to guide artists at each step of their project.

Speaker: Alexis CASTIEL, CEO & Co-founder, France.

FEELIGO With more than 600 million active users, Feeligo provides the technology for any Artist to enter inside its audience and fans conversations in the most native way possible: Branded Rich Media content such as stickers, Gifs or videos.

Speaker: Jonathan LEVY-BENCHETON, France.

LUCIE LABS Connected, lighting & interactive wristband for creative and innovative entertainment experiences.

Speaker: Yan LEE-DAJOUX, France.

MINUIT UNE The next generation of Lighting effect , when light becomes your new instrument!

Speaker: Eric PHELEP, France.

NILAND niland.io is an AI startup offering high performance music search & recommendation engines to innovative music companies.

Speaker: Damien TARDIEU, CEO, France.

PLAYZER Playzer, watch your music and discover thousands of music video without any ads.

Speaker: Francois PLANQUETTE, France.

SIMBALS Expert on big data for music, Simbals provides unique software solutions for identifying musical content, recommending music and anticipating music-related trends. Simbals smarts up your music data.

Speaker: Matthias ROBINE, France.

SOONVIBES Soonvibes is the music digital incubator. Soonvibes is the n°1 music digital platform for the discovery of emerging artists.

Speaker: Natacha ORDAS, President & Founder.

VINYL IT Vinyl it is a customized vinyl record platform and an online record shop.

Diggers can create their own vinyl record (tracklisting, sticker, sleeve) and record labels can make all their releases available on wax.

Speaker: Pierre CREFF, France.

VRTUOZ Virtuoz is a mobile application that allows to manage a virtual audience by using social functionalities and to monetize it with our ticketing solutions.

Speaker: Gildas DUSSAUZE, France.

Meet all these innovative organisations from 3 to 6 June at the French Tech stand at Midem, Riviera 8, Palais des Festivals IRMA is the national centre for information and ressources about music in France. IRMA has, for many years, invested in surveying, recognition and enhancement of innovative startups and ecosystems in the field of music.

CAP DIGITAL: the business cluster for digital transformation, is dedicated to establishing and fostering exchanges between the digital players in the Paris Region.

OVH - DIGITAL LAUNCH PAD: the ultimate goal of this program is to assist the most innovative startups in joining the OVH Marketplace, giving them visibility to the group’s 1,000,000 customers worldwide. The program consists of three steps: Ideation/Ignition, Build/Launch and Market/Scale. All technological sectors are eligible for the Digital Launch Pad program. www.ovh.com/dlp

SPONSORED BY

CONTENTS Gateway to the world

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With 34 national pavilions and a global line-up of speakers and artists, Midem’s international credentials are as strong as ever as it turns 50 years old

Midem’s 50

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Midem marks its 50 anniversary with a series of celebrations while looking ahead to the next 50 years th

Synchronisation

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Midem panels will confirm that there are more opportunities than ever for music to be heard in a visual context

Artist Accelerator

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Twelve hot new acts have won the chance to play live to an influential music-industry audience

Music from Korea

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The Korea Creative Content Agency presents four fast-rising Korean acts

Jazz and Electronic

6 Midem Awards

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Midem’s programme of live music includes Jazz presented

by Spedidam and a line-up of EDM acts including a night of music curated by DJ Shir Khan

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The inaugural International Midem Awards honour four industry luminaries, an act from Brazil and Midem itself during a gala night at the Carlton

Midem pioneers

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At Meet The Pioneers, Midem is setting up speed-meetings between newcomers and experienced music-industry players

Midemlab

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Now in its ninth year Midemlab has a proven track record as a successful launch pad for music-related startups

Keynote speakers

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WMG’s Stu Bergen and Inigo Zabala, Alibaba’s Gao Xiaosong and Timbaland are this year’s keynote speakers

Legal Summit

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Midem’s Legal Summit is a series of sessions designed to help delegates through music’s legal minefield

Copyright Summit

Calypso Rose

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Trinidad’s queen of calypso, Calypso Rose, headlines the Calypso Sound System show at the Carlton on Saturday

MPAJ and JASRAC

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The Music Publishing Association of Japan presents JASRAC on the Japan stand during Midem 2016

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Midem’s Copyright Summit examines copyright reform, evolution and its impact on rights owners

Music Moves Europe

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The EC is presenting a high-level session, Music Moves Europe, which will explain the Commission’s long-term funding plans for the music business

Video’s new frontiers

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New video platforms are offering new opportunities to artists as well as new ways to engage with fans

Music streaming

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Music industry professionals are witnessing a change in the way fans engage with streaming services

Labels

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Industry experts agree that labels are still essential to the success of the music business

THE OFFICIAL MIDEM NEWS • June 2016 Director of Publications Paul Zilk Director of Communications Mike Williams EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief Julian Newby Deputy Editor Debbie Lincoln Technical Editor in Chief Hervé Traisnel Deputy Technical Editor in Chief Frédéric Beauseigneur Graphic Designers Jordan Carel, Carole Peres Contributing Editors Stuart Dredge, Juliana Koranteng, Gary Smith Editorial management Boutique Editions Ltd. PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Publishing Director Martin Screpel Publishing Manager Amrane Lamiri Publishing Co-ordinators Yovana Filipovic, Emilie Lambert Printer Riccobono Imprimeurs, Le Muy (France) Reed MIDEM, a joint stock company (SAS), with a capital of €310.000, 662 003 557 R.C.S. NANTERRE, having offices located at 27-33 Quai Alphonse Le Gallo - 92100 BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT (FRANCE), VAT number FR91 662 003 557. Contents © 2016, Reed MIDEM Market Publications. Publication registered 2nd quarter 2016. ISSN 1147-6877

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GLOBAL

Midem offers delegates a gateway to the world With 34 national pavilions and a broad international spread of conference speakers and performing artists, Midem is proving once again to be a truly international music industry event. Juliana Koranteng reports

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HIS year’s Midem conferences bring together international industry leaders and decisionmakers debating topics impacting the industry, from copyright reforms in the US and Europe to emerging trends worldwide that will shape the future of music.

Through market focus exploring export opportunities in both mature and developing music markets, as well as best practices in digital, marketing and monetisation strategies, the conferences reflect the fact that in today’s digital era, music is more than ever an international business, with new opportunities for growth being created every day.

According to CISAC, in 2014 alone rights collection worldwide increased by a 2.4%, reaching €6.9bn — both in established and emerging markets, for example South Korea which enjoyed growth of 19.2%, and Latin America, which saw an overall growth of 7.3%.

The global market theme is present throughout Midem, not least as a result of the diverse and multi-national nature of both the Midem Artist Accelerator sessions and Midemlab, further emphasising the global relevance of this year’s event. Midem is also organising speed-meeting sessions with various countries, including South Africa, Germany and Brazil.

Many African companies will be at Midem, which is hosting sessions and events including: Bring Your Catalogue To South Africa!; Tapping Into An Emerging Music Market: Africa; and Ghana Music Week Festival Welcomes You To A New African Sound.

With efforts in copyright protection paying off, global consultancy group PwC predicts Nigeria’s music business could earn a potential $43m a year, while Kenya could bring in $19m. And in April, global trade body IFPI announced COSON, Nigeria’s collective management organisation, is to hike efforts to license music, collect royalties and distribute them.

By providing a gateway to the world, Midem offers a launch pad for international success for both labels and

artists: “I’m impressed with the professionals that Midem has brought together for the Artist Accelerator programme — it includes many of the most innovative people we have in our industry at the moment,” Horst Wiedenmueller, founder and CEO of !K7 Records, said. “I’m looking forward to a 50th Midem packed with great new music and I hope that many professionals who have been going to Cannes for many years will embrace the event’s new initiative and go see a few shows.”

According to Playground Records’ A&R head and label manager Patrik Larsson, there is a lot to be said for being a trusted partner: “When we set up Playground in 1999, the idea was always to create an alternative one-stop shop for labels wanting to trade in Scandinavia and the Baltic States, a region of over 70 million people. Companies that we work with, for example Beggars Banquet and Kobalt, like the fact that that they can get everything done through us.

But at the same time, in order to do our job properly, we have to be operating on a local level in each territory.

The irony is that outside of our region, we effectively don’t exist, but these days, like everyone else, we are pitching our releases to Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc, which are inherently global in their approach.”

Midemlab once again offers startups the chance to pitch their business, find new business partners among decision-makers from the music industry, raise funds and gain international exposure to take their business to the next level. The 20 finalists, chosen through a call-forentry by investment firm in technology Atomico, the open innovation consulting company bluenove and the music business information and strategy company Music Ally, reflect the globe-spanning nature of Midemlab. Those finalists include companies such as Germany’s Mimi Hearing, Flat from the UK, SoundGrabber from France, Tracklib from Sweden, Kombie from Australia, Maestro from the US, Poland’s Plum Research, Revelator from Is-

rael and Tootoot from Slovakia. The jury features Faber Ventures’ partner Felix Petersen, Pandora’s CFO Mike Herring, Google’s senior public policy manager Elisabeth Barges and Kickstarter’s head of music Molly Neuman.

“Since 2009 Kickstarter has hosted more than 22,000 successful music and technology projects, representing a full range of hardware and platforms through to instruments,” Neuman said. “This goes against the widely held belief that the music industry is resistant to innovation. While it is true that structural changes which would benefit acts have been resisted, I see the music industry of today as being very much rooted in the present, and when you compare it to what’s happening in other media industries right now, it is the most up-to-date of them all.”

Commenting on Kickstarter’s modus operandi, Neuman hits on a major home truth: “The fact that we’re so transparent and upfront about money collected makes some people nervous, but we see it as necessary to make Kickstarter work,” she said. “But, looking at it from another angle, if you’re making a record, at some point you are going to have to ask for support, whether it’s about being added to a playlist or getting the music distributed, marketed and acquired. So really there’s little or no difference between that and what we do.”

Playground Records’ Patrik Larsson

Kickstarter’s Molly Neuman

“ I see the music industry

as being very much rooted in the present” Molly Neuman 4

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50TH ANNIVERSARY

Looking ahead to the next 50 years

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IDEM 2016 will see the international music industry trade show celebrating its 50th edition with an event that marks its past success, and with a strong focus on the international music business and its future. Official celebrations include the Midem 50th birthday party on Saturday at the Carlton Beach — open from 19.30 for Midem participants until 21.30, and after that open to the public.

The Midem 50 Fireworks are from 22.45 - 23.00 that same evening.

In its 50-year history, Midem has carved out a place as a unique deal-making platform, enabling representatives from the whole music sector to connect, whether they are from majors, inde-

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pendent labels, publishers, aggregators, distributors, artists, agencies, policy makers, tech superstars or music startups and all on an international level.

In 2016, Midem is offering new, unique tools to its existing matchmaking programme, including individual support to help delegates set up key business meetings in Cannes.

Dag Haggqvist, chairman of Swedish publisher Gazell Music, has attended all 50 Midems, first as international manager for Sonet Records, at the time the leading Scandinavian indie, before it was acquired by PolyGram in 1991. “Midem was always at the centre of everything we did on the international market, both in

my time at Sonet and since then to the present day with Gazell Music. It’s where I do the most international business,” he said.

“Some of the biggest records I picked up in Cannes were what you’d call novelty recordings, including Richard Clayderman’s Ballade Pour Adeline, which until it became a hit was jokingly known around the Sonet offices as ‘Dag’s record’. Then the LP sold 300,000 units around Scandinavia, which even then was a lot.”

Peter Knight Jr, founder of Catalyst Publishing, has also attended all 50 Midems, and back in 1967 at the inaugural event, was working for Pye Records, representing Dionne Warwick, Sammy Davis Jr, Bo Diddley and Chuck

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Berry. “There were less than a thousand people there and we all knew each other. It was a fantastic moment in the industry. We were working with Herb Alpert at the time, and although people knew his standards, when I heard Spanish Flea I insisted we release it as a single. First it was a hit in the UK, then the US released it. That was the release that really kick-started his run of hit singles.”

In 2016 and onwards it’s business as usual. “I’m looking forward to seeing all my licensees and I’ll be there with my latest signing, the Norwegian singer Nuborg.

She has just finished a fantastic LP called Sliding Off The Edge Of The World.”

AWARDS

Publishers honour Midem at inaugural awards evening Four music business leaders will be honoured at the first International Midem Awards on the evening of June 4. Also honoured will be the band Far From Alaska — and Midem itself.

Juliana Koranteng reports

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S PART of the Midem 50th celebrations, music professionals from around the world will be honoured at the inaugural International Midem Awards. This gala dinner and ceremony will pay tribute to those who impact the music industry and will become a regular feature of Midem in the future.

The music industry luminaries to be honoured are Glassnote founder and president Daniel Glass; BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch; producer, singer and songwriter Timbaland; and founder and CEO of Believe Digital, Denis Ladegaillerie.

Daniel Glass’ Glassnote has offices in London, LA, New York and Toronto.

“More than half of our roster are artists from around the world including Phoenix, The Temper Trap and Aurora, and Mumford & Sons have just recorded their latest LP There Will Be Time in Africa, working with local musicians. Plus we send our artists to tour there regularly, and we’re becoming much more active in Latin America as well,” he said. “I’m honoured to be receiving this Award, it means a lot to me.”

Glassnote artist Flo Morrissey will be performing in the Grand Salon of

ICMP’s Andrew Jenkins

the Carlton Hotel on Friday as finalist of the Midem Artist Acceletor.

Masuch is widely admired both for his visionary approach to the re-building of BMG since it was relaunched in 2008, and for his stand on behalf of artists. “Eight years on, BMG is the fourth biggest music publisher in the world, we have the biggest international recording business outside the majors, and our latest service offering, our audiovisual business, is growing fast,” he said.

“But perhaps more importantly, we have been a force for good, and our stance has seen even the most conservative companies in music now feeling obliged to talk about transparency and fairness.”

Denis Ladegaillerie has been working in digital media in Europe and the US since 1999. In 2005 he founded Believe Digital, a leading B2B digital distributor in Europe. From its 30 offices in 30 countries, the company represents the digital rights thousands of independent artists and labels.

Speaking a year ago when the company received a $60m investment from TCV — backer of Vice Media and Spotify — and XAnge, Ladegaillerie said: “Believe Digital aims to

become the global leader in digital distribution and label services. The rapid growth of digital music sales — which now surpass CD sales in many countries — is contributing to making Believe Digital and (USbased digital distributor) TuneCore increasingly attractive alternatives for labels and artists.”

Timothy Z Mosley, better known as Timbaland, is a producer, singer, songwriter and founder of Mosely Music Group (MMG). He has produced hits for artists including Jodeci, Aaliyah, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, One Republic, Ginuwine, Missy Elliott, Destiny’s Child, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Drake, Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Bjork.

He is also on the jury of this year’s Midem Artist Accelerator.

In 2006 Timbaland founded Mosely Music Group (MMG). Open to various artists, MMG debuted Nelly Furtado’s Promiscuous which hit number one, as did her album Loose.

His much-anticipated album Textbook Timbo is soon to be released via MMG, which is distributed by Epic Records in the US and Sony Music Entertainment worldwide.

Summing up his approach to his work,

Glassnote’s Daniel Glass

he said: “I don’t repeat myself and I don’t look back because everything is hard work and the only way forward is to continue to be creative.”

On the same evening, Midem Artist Accelerator Coup de Coeur 2016, Far From Alaska, has been selected by the Midem community to receive an International Midem Award. The Brazilian rock band will play live at the gala evening.

As well as recognising the talent of others, Midem itself has been honoured by the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) with the 2016 ICMP Ralph Peer II Award for Outstanding Contribution to Global Music Publishing. “Midem’s international focus is what makes it so special,” ICMP chairman Andrew Jenkins said. “For all of us, Midem is a wonderful opportunity to meet face-to-face with our business partners from around the world, to explore and conclude new business opportunities, and to discuss the pressing industry issues of the day.

In this respect Midem is unique, and this sharing of ideas is vital to ICMP as it enables us, as the global voice of music publishing, to react appropriately on behalf of our members.”

Ralph Peer II, chairman and CEO of peermusic and an ICMP board member, added: “It’s never been more important for the relationships within the music business community to be global. For 50 years Midem has played a crucial role by creating a space where music-publishing leaders can come together from around the world to connect, share ideas and build relationships that advance our community as a whole. The board of ICMP is proud to honour Midem on its 50th anniversary with this award in recognition of all that it does for music creators.”

BMG’s Hartwig Masuch

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PIONEERS

Words from the wise

At this year’s Meet The Pioneers programme, Midem is setting up face-to-face speedmeetings between novices and the most experienced music industry players. The newcomers will be free to ask the veterans how their businesses and careers thrived as a result of networking and sealing deals on the Croisette and at the Palais during the market’s half a century in existence. Juliana Koranteng asked five veterans why they kept coming back over the 50 years Gerard Davoust: president of Les Editions Raoul Breton/honorary president at French collecting society SACEM (France)

“This year will be my 50th Midem. I also attended three Midem Asia events in Hong Kong and went to Midem Miami three times.

That makes it 56 Midems for me. In this business, you have to work with companies that share your passion and Midem is the best place to find them. When I started working with (the late) Peter Kirsten, who owned Munich-based Global Musikverlage, Midem became essential for finding hit songs and selling our own. One of our biggest finds was Blame It On The Boogie, which later became a global sensation for The Jacksons.”

Photo: ©Jean-Baptiste Millot

“The first Midem was extraordinary. It was possible to meet all the show-business leaders in only five days just by being in Cannes. And the concerts! In just one night, unknown artists could become stars the following day. Incredible as it is in 2016, the whole business is still impacted by Midem, giving everyone the opportunity to save time and money every year.”

Peter Knight Jr: founder/owner of UK-based Catalyst Music Publishing, has represented several international publishing groups over the years, including Munich-based Global Musikverlage — later acquired by Chrysalis Music — and Les Editions Raoul Breton in France. He has administered works by Quincy Jones, will.i.am and DreamWorks’ movie soundtracks (UK).

Sandie Shaw: artist, publisher, the first British artist to win the Eurovision Song Contest and current co-chair of Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) (UK) “When Midem started, there was no connection between Europe and the rest of the world. But I was interested in it because I had already been recording in different languages, so I already had the connection. It opened the door to what was going on across the continent. In the past year, my involvement has been through FAC. As an international organisation, FAC has one of its annual board meetings at Midem.

It also gives FAC an opportunity to bring the rest of the industry up-to-date because people forget that the industry is based on the artists.”

Dag Haggqvist: chairman of Stockholm-based Gazell Records/Gazell Music (Sweden) “When I entered the office [of Gunnar Bergstrom, founder and president of Swedish independent Sonet] to suggest the possibility attending the first Midem, we both thought it was a great idea for us to get together with our international friends in one spot and find new people to work with. Midem immediately became a very important event for the development of the company in Scandinavia, with branches in the UK and France. After Sonet was purchased by PolyGram in 1990, I started Gazell and Midem remained the logical place for me to extend my businesses.”

Seymour Stein, co-founder/chairman of Sire Records, which signed several US punk and rock luminaries, including Blondie, Madonna, Talking Heads and The Ramones. Sire Records is now part of Warner Bros. Records. (US) SEYMOUR Stein says Midem was the source of numerous international acts that had US hits via Sire Records, which is also 50 years old. “Midem was an important factor in Sire’s early development and perhaps even its survival. Although my initial discussions to sign the Dutch band Focus began in the Netherlands, the contract was finally signed at Midem. Focus’ album Moving Waves [aka Focus II] was Sire’s first platinum album, and the 1971 single Hocus Pocus has been used in the new HBO series Vinyl — co-produced by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese. There were so many great acts that we picked up — including Belgium’s Plastic Bertrand; Laid Back from Denmark; Yemenite Israeli singer Ofra Haza. In terms of partnerships, I met Hansa Records and through them I signed Boney M, who had hits with Rivers Of Babylon, Brown Girl In The Ring and more. And, if it weren’t for Midem, I would not have met Ariola, which later became BMG — which Warner Bros. signed a global distribution deal with recently.”

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MIDEMLAB

Midemlab gives music startups a head-start

Midem Memories

Revelator’s Bruno Guez

Atomico’s Carter Adamson

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“ Technological

ESPITE some stormy clouds in the startups world, the 20 finalists in this year’s Midemlab competition are hoping to impress investors and music rights holders alike.

Midemlab is now in its ninth year, and has a proven track record as a successful launch pad for music-related startups. Previous participants have gone on to become key players in their respective fields, including SoundCloud, The Echo Nest, Songkick and Kickstarter. Other Midemlab companies have attracted the attention of online majors. These include BandPage, acquired by YouTube; Next Big Sound, acquired by Pandora; and Soundwave, acquired

by Spotify.

This year’s contest features three categories: music discovery, recommendation and creation services; marketing, social engagement and monetisation; and hardware and the internet of things.

Having made it through a selection process involving more than 150 entrants, the finalists are eager for the next stage. The Midemlab jury includes music and tech experts from leading companies including Kickstarter, Pandora, Sony Music, Deezer, Seedcamp, Google and The Next Web. “Being chosen as finalists for the biggest event in the music industry is a clear sign that we are going in the right direction,” Michele Benincaso, CEO of Mind Music Labs said.

“It’s exciting to be able to showcase Revelator on an international stage, and will be great validation for what we have achieved this year,” Revelator CEO Bruno Guez added.

There’s a buzz around the technical possibilities for music startups in 2016, thanks to new technologies and APIs enabling them to work with the big streaming services.

“We think this is a great moment for music startups. A few of the latest technological advancements really

advancements make this the right time for a big step in the evolution of the music world” Michele Benincaso

make this the right time for a big step in the evolution of the music world,” Benincaso said.

Midemlab partner Atomico has music-startups expertise in-house in the form of executive-in-residence Carter Adamson, who was also a co-founder of streaming service Rdio. He sees that company’s influence in some of this year’s finalists.

“I see a lot more emphasis on following, tastemakers and curated music,” he said. “I still believe that it’s the most natural and effective way to discover new music, versus algorithms.”

Adamson is more measured in his assessment of the music/tech startups world. “The licensing fees to start and run one of these businesses are still way too expensive and prohibitive,” he said, while pointing to artists’ concerns that they are not being appropriately remunerated for streams on those services. “Fortunately, though, these realities have not yet seemed to slow the pace of new music startups. Maybe someone will be able to break on through to the other side one day.”

Revelator’s Guez thinks 2016 is “the most exciting time to be in music tech” but sees Midemlab’s feedback from investors and industry experts as key to helping startups negotiate tricky waters ahead. “Business models are changing, so companies have to adapt to a shifting business landscape,” he said.

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KEYNOTES

ALIBABA’S GAO OFFERS INSIGHT ON CHINA ALIBABA built a giant internet business from e-commerce in China, and in 2016, digital music is firmly on its agenda.

And Alibaba Music Group chairman Gao Xiaosong, in his Midem Keynote, will explain how that came about, drawing on his background as a singer/songwriter and independent-label owner, as well as his current role.

Alibaba is operating in a country that was the 14th biggest recorded-music market in 2015 according to the IFPI; China was ranked ninth for digital revenues that year.

Streaming remains nascent, with paid subscriptions generating $26.6m of revenues in China last year, while ad-supported streams contributed another $66.7m.

Midem is Gao’s first international speaking appearance in his role at Alibaba Music Group, and attendees can expect much insight into the dynamics of the Chinese market, as well as Alibaba’s streaming efforts.

He has promised to “explore how record labels from Western countries need... to differentiate music fans from idol fans” when operating in China.

That may include introducing Alibaba’s latest launch, Alibaba Planet.

The smartphone app went live in April in China as a means for music fans to follow the profiles of their favourite stars, buy merchandise and stream live shows.

Alibaba is planning to launch an English-language version targeting global artists in the second half of 2016.

Streaming key to global success, says Warner

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ARNER Music Group (WMG) sees streaming as the key to breaking artists more quickly around the world, with Danish band Lukas Graham recently using Spotify as the platform for global success.

“Building careers in the streaming environment is new, given the speed at which songs whip around the world to become popular,” said WMG’s CEO of international and global commercial services Stu Bergen, who is giving a keynote speech at Midem. He added: “We used to be able to segment the world and bite it off in chewable pieces; develop an artist in a region, then move on to the next. Streaming is the great accelerant. It happens much more quickly, and poses different challenges — but also great opportunity to build careers.”

Latin America could be the next source for a globally-breaking artist for WMG. Bergen is joined at Midem by Latin America & Iberia president Inigo Zabala and Brazilian artist Anitta.

“Latin America saw the strongest growth in the world last year, while Mexico is now the third market globally by volume for Spotify,” Zabala said. “I think the growth in global streaming services will help artists from Latin America bring their music to world more quickly than ever before. Fans on streaming services want to enjoy great music: they don’t care if it comes from around the corner or around the world.”

Stu Bergen

Inigo Zabala

Timbaland brings his brand to Cannes

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Gao Xiaosong

ROM Jay Z, Nas and Missy Elliott to Madonna and Justin Timberlake, Timothy ‘Timbaland’ Mosley has worked his production magic on a parade of stars.

And he’s no stranger to the worlds of brands and tech startups, and both are likely to feature prominently in his Midem Keynote.

Mosley will also be talking about his work as music supervisor on TV show Empire, and mentoring young musicians in his role as ambassador for the 2016 Midem Artist Accelerator.

The finalists will be able to draw on Mosley’s experience balancing an independent with partnerships, from his own label Mosley Music Group, to his recently announced teaming with Jingle Punks.

The latter will see Mosley involved in a number of projects including brand syncs, sponsorships and soundtracks for TV, film and games, capitalising on a 20-year career that has seen Timbaland become a bona-fide brand in the music world.

Mosley has been one of the most active artists when it comes to investing in music/tech startups, so Midem attendees can expect to hear about his views on this sector.

In 2013, Mosley backed Open Labs, which makes the StageLight music-making software; live-events startup Revd; and video-streaming app Hang w/. More recently, in May 2016, he joined the board of SubPac, a US startup working on a wearable ‘sound vest’.

10

Timothy ‘Timbaland’ Mosley

LEGAL SUMMIT

Summit helps delegates through legal minefield

M

IDEM’s Legal Summit is a series of sessions designed to help delegates negotiate the legal and legislative obstacles raised in the increasingly digitally shaped music business.

Alexander Ross, partner at UKbased law firm Wiggin, is chair of The Legal Update For Entertainment And Technology session.

Speaking about the EC’s plans for a Single Digital Market (SDM), he said: “Copyright is based on territorial laws. Each EU member state has its own copyright laws and we’re supposed to be harmonised at the highest level. But there’s always tension between the harmonised principles and the national

Creators To Major Industry panel.

Liebenson argued that international laws covering music licensing need to be tightened to safeguard rights-owners’ income. “The Safe Harbour provision is currently under review in both Europe and the US where consultations are under way with legislators. There are now 68 million people paying for a music subscription, but ad-supported services have an audience of over 900 million users,” he said. “Yet these ad-supported services contribute only 4% of global music industry revenues. These services can threaten to offer music without licences under the Safe Harbour.

Rights holders hope to address the

“Ad-supported services contribute only 4% of global music industry revenues” Jeff Liebensen laws. That is why the Commission is talking about a single copyright law for the EU.” Legally, you can’t carve up the market so that you license rights in only certain jurisdictions on an absolute basis, he added.

“You can license music from the UK to a French licensee, for example, and prevent the licensee from actively selling in Germany, but you can’t prevent the licensee responding passively to orders from Germany. The question is where passive behaviour becomes active. The film and TV businesses rely on market segregation and selling rights in different jurisdictions. It’s called contractual freedom. The music industry supports this principle,” he said.

Regarding the Collective Rights Management Directive, “rights owners can now join any society in Europe, and it needn’t necessarily be the local one,” he said. “But it also means we could potentially have a more fragmented licensing structure for online rights.”

Jeff Liebenson, president of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers (IAEL), and principal at US-based Liebenson Law, is on the Monetisation Of The Global Music Business – From

resulting value gap in Brussels and Washington by asking for the Safe Harbour to be revised to better balance the interests of rights holders and the platforms.”

Alexander Kisch, executive vice-president, business development and affairs at Vevo, said videos are becoming more than music-promotion tools as social media proliferates. Laws and policies need to address this.

“This is an important topic because of the enormous role visual social media plays in how videos are watched, shared and promoted. At Vevo, nearly half of our users watch their videos on a smartphone and many of them are driven there through promotion of this content on social media. Video is becoming central to social media … and artists and their followers represent a sizable amount of traffic,” Kisch said. “While this presents new opportunities, it also introduces additional risk as our industry comes to terms with the most effective way to police piracy. The lines are blurring which creates both increased opportunities and challenges for artists, the labels and consumers.”

Kisch is on the Visual Social Media: Friend, Foe Or Frenemy panel.

11

EC AND COPYRIGHT

Summit explores key issues concerning music copyright Panel speaker Rolfe Budde, president of Germany-based independent publisher Buddemusic, added: “The market’s value has fallen by 50% since 1999 and the policy makers have been waiting until now to deal with the issue. It is necessary that the politicians come together with the music industry in a closely-knit exchange. For this, Midem can play a vital role.”

Another session called Focus On Latinautor — Getting Around The New Licensing Hubs will centre on the benefits of cross-border licens-

ing for rights owners, collecting societies and digital music platforms in Latin America. The launch of digital services would have been extremely difficult in such a huge region without rights owners’ willingness to license their repertoire on a multi-territory basis.

As Jorge Mejia, president, Latin America & US Latin at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, said, it would have been laborious and expensive for each digital music service to seek the required publishing licences country-by-country.

Photo: © Laura Coppelman

T

HE KEY theme at Midem’s Copyright Summit is the complex but critical business of copyright reform, its evolution and impact on rights owners as more international recordings are distributed digitally.

The summit, which will include discussions about licensing in multi-lingual and multi-territory regions like Europe and Latin America, will be introduced by What Is At Stake With Copyright in 2016, a session presented by Susan Butler of US-based analysis report Music Confidential.

European independent labels trade organisation IMPALA will contribute to the panel called Building Sustainable Growth For The Music Industry — Addressing The Value Gap. The Value Gap refers to the difference between the financial value of music licensed to the growing number of subscription and advertising-funded digital music platforms, and video platforms, and the actual income generated for rights owners.

IFPI notes differing approaches among the online powerhouses when it comes to remuneration. To seal the gap, IFPI, IMPALA and other rights owners have lobbied the European Commission, which is responding by publishing its proposals to revise the original 2001 Copyright Directive this September.

“The EC Copyright [Directive] legislation needs to be reviewed so that all online platforms follow the same licensing obligations,” said Helen Smith, IMPALA’s executive chair.

Buddemusic’s Rolf Budde

Sony/ATV’s Jorge Mejia

Commission sets out funding plans T HE EUROPEAN Commission (EC) has selected Midem’s 50th anniversary to unveil plans to offer greater financial support to Europe’s music industry.

The Commission’s presence in Cannes will focus on Music Moves Europe, a high-level session exclusive to Midem, giving an opportunity for delegates to gain a comprehensive round-up of the EC’s long-term funding plans for the music business. Packed with industry experts, it will include a keynote speech by Martine Reicherts, the Commission’s director general for education and culture.

Discussions will range from backing emerging talent and tech start-ups,

In 2013 publishers embarked on a solution by forming an agreement with Latinautor, which represents 15 national collecting societies in Latin America. Called The Joint Administration Agreement for Online Uses, it enables participating publishers to license their mechanical rights region-wide, and for Latinautor as a group to grant one performance licence for the region. “We have removed an important barrier for DSPs to do business in the region,” Mejia said.

Other Copyright Summit panels include Entering A New Age Of Transparency — about collective rights management.

Jean-Noel Tronc, CEO of French collecting society SACEM and president of Europe’s cross-border licensing organisation Armonia, will also discuss developments in European licensing tools during Getting Around The New Licensing Hubs.

investing in A&R and improving the registration of data and metadata on the digital music landscape.

The EC is seriously in the throes of hiking its financial commitment to music. At present, the industry does receive some aid via the EC’s Creative Europe programme, which supports other creative projects as well. They qualify as long as they meet certain criteria, including being public or private ventures having legally existed for at least two years. They must come from at least three different countries.

These had restrictions. For example, the co-operation project scheme is too rigid for the music industry in

the digital age. It is felt a more flexible tool would be conceived following discussions with the industry.

Now, after intensive dialogues with various sectors of the music business, the Commission is planning to propose a dedicated music-funding scheme, which if accepted by the member states and the European Parliament, would be officially introduced from 2021.

“The model for the ambition is the current MEDIA sub-programme focused on financial support for cinema,” said Karel Bartak, head of unit for the Creative Europe Programme at the EC’s directorate-general education & culture.

Moreover, the EC wants to encour-

12

age highly risk-averse banks to lend to viable music ventures.

“Under the Creative Europe programme we have a financial instrument called Financial Guarantee Facility. This tool is used not for giving grants, but for helping SMEs dealing with culture and creation to get access to bank loans,” Bartak said. “The EU will guarantee 80% of the money borrowed from the bank, thus making the loans to the culture sector less risky and more attractive for the financial institutions.”

The scheme is starting with a €14m budget in 2016 and a total budget of €121m by 2020. It will start later this year in two EU countries before rolling out to other markets.

The European Investment Fund has been selected to sign up the first banks.

VIDEO VR

Online Video’s new frontiers: from fans to virtual reality A range of new video platforms emerging is offering new artistic opportunities to artists as well as new ways to engage with fans

A

S THE arguments over YouTube and safe-harbour legislation show, online video is one of the most controversial topics for the music industry in 2016. But it’s also one of the biggest areas of opportunity.

From vlogs and lyric videos to fan memes, YouTube is about more than official music videos now. New platforms have emerged too.

Facebook was generating more than eight billion daily video views by the end of 2015, while Snapchat has since passed the 10 billion daily-views milestone. Twitter’s Periscope app hosted more than 200 million live broadcasts in its first year, with Twitch and Facebook Live providing competition.

For musicians and labels, this proliferation of platforms is providing lots of scope for experimentation, as well as new ways to connect with fans.

“Online video has reshaped the relationship between fans and artists,” said Romain Becker, director of video at Believe Digital, who will take part in a Midem panel session showing labels how to build their video strategies.

“It has opened up the door to a more engaged relationship, allowing fans to experience events such as sensational behind-the-scenes content, live streaming and new technological developments such as 360 videos and virtual reality.”

The latter is a growing area of experimentation for the music industry, with a flurry of partnerships show-

Snapchat has passed the 10 billion daily-views milestone ing labels’ desire to get to grips with 360-degree video, whether distributed through services like YouTube and Facebook, or via full-blown virtual-reality headsets like Oculus Rift.

In 2016 alone, Universal Music has partnered with iHeartMedia for a series of VR concert streams; Warner Music has started filming artist interviews in 360º for its Pop Flash YouTube channel; and Live Nation has started working with startup NextVR on its own VR concert-streaming plans.

“This is a real new media, and we have to learn how to use it,” said Orange’s senior vice-president of TV and video partnerships and services Guillaume Lacroix at the MIPTV conference in April. His colleague, director of digital content and innovation Morgan Bouchet, will speak in Midem’s VR panel session.

All this experimentation is a counterpoint to the arguments around YouTube, although for VR that service is a potential strong partner for the industry — as it is for video marketing more generally.

“YouTube can turn out to be a friend or a foe. It depends on the place you give to it in your release plan, and the knowledge you have on the platform in order to generate significant audiences and revenue,” said Becker. “Our clients use YouTube as a great discovery tool, and a marketing solution which generates substantial audiences and revenues.”

“ YouTube can turn out to be a friend or a foe” Romain Becker Full-blown virtual-reality headset: Oculus Rift 13

STREAMING

Streaming is ‘future of music consumption’

Music industry professionals are witnessing a change in the way fans engage with streaming services, and the opportunities that brings to the industry. Stuart Dredge reports

Tuned Global’s Con Raso

S

TREAMING services broke records for labels in 2015, with trade revenues up 45.2% to $2.9bn and 68 million paying subscribers by the end of the year, according to the IFPI. The industry is hoping for more growth in 2016. “This year is a significant turning point for the streaming market. Music streaming has really become the future of music consumption, and it is more and more mainstream,” said Gerrit Schumann, chief international officer at Deezer.

“We are moving away from the technology pitch to a product and brand pitch, or even a lifestyle choice. The big appeal of music streaming is not just putting 40 million songs in the room and making that virtual. It’s creating new combinations of music and new approaches to discovering music: that’s the true value.”

From Spotify’s original-video shows to Deezer’s football broadcasts, streaming services are evolving.

Meanwhile, US service Pandora is preparing for global expansion, as well as betting on a combination of streaming, ticket sales and analytics to prove its value to rights holders and creators.

“Revenue from live performance has long been critical for working artists.

If you consider that 40% of tickets to live shows go unsold simply due to lack of awareness, there’s a huge and important opportunity here,” Pandora founder and CEO Tim Westergren said, adding: “By leveraging Pandora’s 80-million-strong monthly audience and preference data (over 65 billion thumbs), we can precisely

Xandrie’s Denis Thebaud

Deezer’s Gerrit Schumann

target fans most likely to buy a ticket to a live show. Everyone wins — the artists, fans, venues, agents and promoters.”

This marketplace brings new opportunities for marketing music and artists, with Pandora touting its Artist Marketing Platform (AMP) as capable of generating streams and ticket sales alike for artists. Spotify, too, has been experimenting with marketing emails

on streaming marketing.

“We’ve yet to see all of the streaming services provide really valuable, granular-level data, which we know they’re collecting. The potential ability to reach out to artists’ top listeners creates a direct point of contact that’s never been available to the industry before.”

Subscriber growth and big data may be key topics, but brands are loom-

“Everyone wins — the

artists, fans, venues, agents and promoters” Tim Westergren to the keenest fans of some artists.

Midem attendees can expect to hear much about the big data that drives these efforts, including demands from artists and managers to get more access to it.

“Along with any current revenue it is generating, the major goldmine for artists, labels and managers is the data created around the consumption,” said Sammy Andrews of Entertainment Intelligence, who will moderate a Midem panel session

ing large in the streaming ecosystem too: as advertising partners to services like Spotify; partnering directly with artists; and in some cases even launching their own streaming services.

“Until now, the music industry has focused mainly on the subscription model when they’ve offered a streaming solution, whereas many brands have identified that music can be a great marketing tool if they offer it for free to their customers,” Con Raso,

14

Pandora’s Tim Westergren

Entertainment Intelligence’s Sammy Andrews managing director of Tuned Global said. “Brands, labels and streaming technology providers should be collaborating much earlier in the piece, as opposed to the supplier/client relationship that exists today.”

These deeper partnerships may ease some of the fears artists have about streaming payouts. HP, for example, has a long-standing relationship with Universal Music that has seen it work — with the artist Ellie Goulding, for example.

“Artists are not making as much money as they used to from record sales. They have had to find other revenue streams,” said Jean-Pierre de Calvez, vice-president, marketing global alliances, partnerships and customer marketing at HP’s personal systems group, who will join Raso on a brands panel at Midem.

“We can make partnerships with artists where we add value to what they’re doing. These are more than one-shot deals: it is about building more of a relationship.”

Quality is key, and not just for brands.

Expect high-resolution streaming to be a talking point at Midem, thanks to the efforts of services including Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz.

“HD streaming will be huge: the new and only standard for every single serious music-lover,” said Denis Thebaud, president and CEO of Qobuz’s parent company Xandrie.

“Customers in every market in the world are always having higher expectations of quality. Look at clothing, food, perfumes. All increase in quality over time, and music will be the same.”

LABELS No Format signing Koki Nakano and Vincent Segal

A Tree In A Field’s Marlon McNeill

Labels are key to music business, experts say As Midem celebrates 50 years, labels are taking centre stage in Cannes, the event bringing together both independents and all three majors, as well as trade organisations including IFPI, IMPALA and WIN. Juliana Koranteng reports

G

LOBAL revenues from recorded music rose more than 3% to $15bn last year, the first significant year-to-year increase in almost 20 years, according to the 2016 IFPI Global Music Report.

Digital revenues alone grew 10.2% to $6.7bn.

“Record labels matter because artists want to work with them for the investment, the support and the skills labels provide in getting music out to a large audience,” IFPI CEO Frances Moore said. “Record labels are the primary source of investment in artists, investing $4.5bn each year in A&R and marketing.”

Midem keynoter Stu Bergen, WMG’s CEO of international and global commercial services, believes the labels’ role in today’s music ecosystem is now getting the recognition it deserves.

“I am optimistic we are working towards a time and a place where we can realise close to the true value of our artists’ music,” he said. “That also means getting the right agreements with the fast-growing digital music platforms. It is the labels that own the music rights and so should benefit fully from any value that emerges from licensing deals.”

Of his keynote presentation We Think The World Of Artists (And Other Strategies For Success)”, he said: “As streaming helps to return our industry to growth, we have a creative and entrepreneurial approach that will enable us to move fast and make the most of this opportunity for artists.”

Martin Goldschmidt, owner and managing director of UK-based independent venture Cooking Vinyl Group, says the symbiotic relationship between artists and labels is even more crucial as digital distribution and marketing become the foundation of music sales.

“On the internet, it is one thing to put out a record, and another thing for people to engage with it.

It might make it easier to make records and get them distributed, but it is really hard to get heard above the white noise. That is why labels matter,” he said.

Midem is ideal for examining related complex issues such as the monetisation of digital music, Goldschmidt said. “[Monetisation] is very fragmented and complicated for someone making records to navigate.

That is why we should be able to say what the future of the business

looks like instead of just accepting scenarios where the value of the music is slowly disappearing.”

An attendee since 1987, Goldschmidt says Midem has been critical to Cooking Vinyl’s success. On the Great Stories Start At Midem video, he said: “It’s helped us get deals; it’s helped us build a worldwide network.”

He added: “When a recording has international potential, you need to know who the various drivers in the different countries are. Midem can help you make those connections.”

Expect to see other key label figureheads in Cannes — Patrik Larsson, of Playground Music Scandinavia; Daniel Miller from Mute Group; and Glassnote Entertainment Group’s Daniel Glass, for example.

Fifteen-year-old IMPALA is bringing the Five Under Fifteen initiative to Midem to highlight the sometimes underestimated influence young independent labels in Europe have internationally. A Tree In A Field (Switzerland), Eskimo Recordings (Belgium), Egyseg Media (Hungary) and Omnichord Records (Portugal), among others, will be at Midem and will share their story on the panel Five Under Fifteen:

15

Cooking Vinyl’s Martin Goldschmidt How The New Generation Does Business.

Marlon McNeill is head of Basel-based A Tree In A Field, whose roster includes the acclaimed Swiss experimental artist Verena von Horsten. He says: “There’s so much exciting music being released by tiny labels that they make quite a difference on what kind of music is generally listened to. If we relied only on the mainstream, we would culturally starve to death in no time.”

Paris-based No Format releases tracks that range from pop-folk to classical Malian music. Founder Laurent Bizot said the ethos of small labels matter to fans. “As a label with a strong visual and musical identity, we have fans as artists do.

Five years ago, we created the Pass No Format Pass, a subscription system to have a direct link to our fans.”

Kristoffer Rom, founder and managing director at six-year-old Tambourhinoceros, which specialises in experimental, punk and electronica, sees Midem as a great opportunity for growth: “The independent artists and labels need an audience to survive. Getting exposed to new people is essential in building more connections to the music fans out there.”

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SYNC

Sync and brands are key targets for artists With so many video platforms active today, there are more opportunities than ever for music to be heard in a visual context.

And Midem this year is once again bringing music supervisors and other experts to Cannes to give advice to artists. Gary Smith reports

T

HE SPOTLIGHT is on the world of synchronisation at Midem 2016 through a series panels including: The Art Of Pitching & Placing Your Artists & Your Catalogue; The Grey Sync Session featuring retail brand T.J.Maxx; Music Supervisors: Tell Me What You Sync – Do’s & Don’ts; The Wonderful Playground Where Music And Brands Meet; and the Global Sync & Brands Summit, which offers a unique opportunity for the top 100 labels and publishers to pitch their music to 10 prominent music supervisors including Microsoft’s Kyle Hopkins and Ricki Askin of Vice Media.

“It’s important that artists understand how their music can best be synced,” Askin said. “In this world, trust comes into play as music supervisors like to go back to the

same, limited group of people who understand the company/brand they’re pitching for and who only send relevant music. Targeted pitches of music — sending music supervisors only what you know they need — also increases the likelihood of breaking through the noise.

Personally, I always listen to music I get from conferences and do spend time on Bandcamp.

Askin pointed to HBO’s Girls as a standout show where visuals perfectly reflect the action: “It always has epic end-credit songs that enhance the messages of the episode without hitting it on the nose,” she said. “Often using irony and breaking unknown artists or taking new, creative spins on popular songs, this is one series in television that very much still breaks new music

in sync. They aired a cover of the famed Bowie track Life On Mars covered by up-and-comer Aurora that was unbelievable.”

Commenting on the Grey Sync Session, Josh Rabinowitz, executive vice-president/director of music, Grey Group, said there has been a fundamental shift in thinking in this area. “Now that the word ‘sync’ has overwhelmingly become the preferred word to ‘license’, and brands are as important in the music industry as sales, we are proud to present our ninth annual Sync Session

SOUND ADVICE MARY Ramos, music supervisor to Quentin Tarantino, offers this to composers wanting to make their music more appealing and relevant to music supervisors: “A composer who is new to the world of sync and wants to be introduced to that arena might want to put out an EP of some of their most dynamic compositions, plus one familiar song with their own take on it to help bring the EP up in searches. More and more productions are looking for composers who are interesting artists, in addition to being able to handle a narrative and compose for film. For examples look at Alex Ebert, Max Richter, Olafur Arnaulds, Slow Moving Millie, Michael Brook, Philip Glass and Craig Armstrong.”

“ The word ‘sync’ has become the preferred word to ‘license” Josh Rabinowitz

Grey’s Josh Rabinowitz

in partnership with Midem. Sync Session results have exceeded our expectations, and at times we’ve received so many great tracks that we’ve broadcast more than one from a contest.”

Warner Music Group’s Tim Miles had some valuable advice for musicians: “Think outside the box, be patient and never give up. There are so many filmmakers on YouTube and other online platforms that there has never been so much content for consumption, and it all needs music. Too many people concentrate on the big wins like the latest hyped drama series, or Nike commercial. The truth is that there is a much wider platform out there and artists need to diversify their ambitions in this area.”

It is a theme that Natasha Baldwin, group president, creative and marketing, Imagem, thoroughly agrees with. “The market really is shifting and there are so many more ways for people like me to find music, but equally there are significantly more opportunities for music placement,” she said. “Video games are changing and they’re looking for more music than ever. For example on Grand Theft Auto now there is a radio in the car and if you get a track on their playlist, you get considerable exposure over the average three hours that people play the game.”

Music supervisor Mary Ramos 17

Imagem’s Natasha Baldwin

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ARTIST ACCELERATOR

Twelve hot acts make final of Midem Artist Accelerator

More than 500 artists entered this year’s Midem Artist Accelerator competition, keen for the chance to showcase their music in Cannes; 12 made it through to the final. Stuart Dredge reports

T

HE ARTISTS who entered this year’s Midem Artist Accelerator competition were drawn by the prospect of playing live to an influential industry audience — and also

the opportunity to experience workshops and coaching sessions by key industry players as well as exclusive networking events during the show.

Spanning genres including EDM,

pop, rock and hip-hop, this year’s finalists are Adee (Sweden), Al Bairre (South Africa), Alysha Brilla (Canada), Bellevue Days (UK), Club cheval (France), Far From Alaska (Brazil), Flo

Photo: © Orinary

Photo: © Dan Monick

Photo: © Chelsea Osborne

THE ARTISTIC COMMITTEE

United Talent Agency’s Christian Bernhardt

UMG’s Ethiopia Habtemariam

Promoter Harvey Goldsmith

!K7 Music’s Horst Weidenmueller

Montreux Jazz Festival’s Mathieu Jaton

Pitchfork’s Chris Kaskie

Snoot’s Laurence Muller

Robomagic’s Rob Hallett

Modern Sky’s Shen Lihui

The Windish Agency’s Tom Windish

Photo: © John von Pamer

Seed Experiences’ Brian Little

Sarkcess Music’s Sarkodie 19

Morrissey (US), Kate Simko & London Electronic Orchestra (UK), Koo Ntakra (Ghana), Malky (Germany), Nvdes (US) and Synapson (France).

“For a rock band singing in English in Brazil to have a sustainable career, it’s mandatory to explore international markets,” said Thiago Endrigo of management company Elemess, which represents Far From Alaska.

“In that sense the Midem Artist Accelerator programme is perfect because it puts the act in the spotlight in a place where all the international music industry is for four days.”

“It’s a great honour to be selected among promising new acts, and we are really looking forward to meeting new artists and producers,” all four members of Club Cheval agreed. And the band is keen to meet one of the star mentors for this year’s accelerator. “We are really excited to shake Timbaland’s hand. He’s been a great musical mentor to look up to.”

Laurence Muller, founder of Management firm Snoot, is another Artist Accelerator jury member. Muller has worked with a number of artists including Phoenix and Nicolas Godin, and she is in no doubt that the 12 finalists will find much to learn.

“The artists and jury members alike are from such a variety of backgrounds in the music business. Our super-diverse experiences and expertise can only complement and enrich one another,” Muller said.

“Accelerator is spot-on vocabulary here: having access in one place to that wide an array of competences is pretty unique.”

Far From Alaska is one of the acts that will be looking for labels, agents and sync agents to work with globally, as well as learning about the latest industry trends — digital included. Far From Alaska’s manager is looking forward to contributing to the Midem debate around music streaming, for example. “Streaming platforms are now a reality, not just a promise. It’s the way music is consumed, and it’s also a great and accessible marketing platform,” Endrigo said.

“On the other hand, we still have the challenges of getting fair royalties for artists, more transparency on how much each play pays, and also another really tough challenge: how to be noticed and get exposure on this infinite shelf, with so much music being constantly uploaded.”

“The fun part about the Midem Artist Accelerator is it’s built on the idea of experimentation and information.

There are no longer any right answers in the music industry, everyone is forging a different path and in control of their own destiny,” president of Pitchfork, Chris Kaskie, said.

He added: “The digital world is a river that is flowing very fast and full of fish. “But if you remain creative and swim, there is room for everyone, and the floaters will be left behind.”

K-POP

Showcase shows Korea is not just about K-Pop

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OURTESY of Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), and organised in the context of the Franco-Korean year 2015-2016, four fast-rising acts will play during this year’s K-Pop Night Out — on Friday night at Carlton Grand Salon — to demonstrate the diversity in Korean popular music.

Ego Function Error is an all-girl punk rock band; Guckkasten is a four-piece indie rock group; Eluphant is a hip-hop duo; and Idiotape is recognised globally for their electronic dance beats.

“Korean music is not only K-Pop. Our

artists play a wide variety of genres from hip-hop to EDM. For example, Idiotape is renowned for its many performances abroad,” said Kim Youngchul, KOCCA’s chief operating officer.

“After Psy’s mega hit, we would like to show a wider variety of Korean music to global music consumers.”

Music, Korean-style, is growing worldwide. For recorded music, South Korea was the world’s eighth largest music market in 2015, compared to the 11th in 2012, according to IFPI figures published in April. It generated $281.3m in 2015, from $250.2m in 2014.

Eluphant 38_CANNES I GET_NEWS_DEM

Guckkasten

When other revenues such as live music and neighbouring rights are added, KOCCA estimates Korea generated KRW (won) 4.3 trillion ($3.9bn) in 2014 (its most recent figures). Year-on-year revenue is expected to grow 7.7% when 2015 revenues are published.

These positive figures are supported by the growing demand for K-Pop overseas. Photogenic K-Pop boy bands like Big Bang and girl bands such as SNSD (Girls’ Generation) and 2NE1 are already carrying the Hallyu (Korean Wave) flag abroad.

A recent study by MyMusicTaste, the Seoul-based crowdsourcing live-concerts platform, and Billboard, calculates 1,456 K-Pop shows were performed outside Korea between 2013 and the first quarter of 2016.

But as Kim emphasised, the world should look out for other types of Korean acts making an impact.

“Each of the four acts participating in Midem has a unique musical

20

Ego Function Error

Idiotape genre and they are getting a good reputation in Korea. Eluphant and Idiotape, for example, were chosen from MU:CON Seoul 2015, the annual international music market.” He added: “Our music industry is growing constantly. And we strongly believe it is important for Korean artists to show their music live at Midem.”

Also look out for the Meet The Koreans speed meetings at Midem for anyone seeking to work with Korean repertoire.

JAZZ ELECTRO

Next-gen French jazz stars in Cannes with Spedidam

M

edges the organisation’s ability to champion emerging artists in France. “It has helped me a lot, giving me the opportunity to play in front of audiences at big festivals and also smaller venues, and to make the right connections in the jazz world, including meeting other musicians and promoters,” he said.

“This contributed to my opening for Sting last summer during Jazz

a Vienne, and us playing live at the Tokyo Jazz Festival.”

For Spedidam manager Guillaume Damerval, bringing these three jazz acts to Cannes is part of the organisation’s mission to work with partners like Midem to get France’s best acts in front of live audiences.

“By launching the Generation Spedidam project with its partners, Spedidam promotes artists of every

Laurent Coulondre in action

Photo: ©Nicolas Roger

IDEM invites delegates to zone-in and chill-out to live jazz music on Sunday night in the Carlton Grand Salon, courtesy of Spedidam, the French performers’ rights collection organisation.

As part of its Generation Spedidam scheme, the organisation is hosting gigs by three acclaimed next-generation French jazz bands: the Agathe Jazz Quartet, who are led by singer-songwriter Agathe Iracema; Aurore Voilque Septet, fronted by singer/violinist Aurore Voilque; and the Laurent Coulondre Trio, which is named after the irrepressible multi-instrumentalist frontman.

They belong to a new wave of young jazz acts that is winning over a younger generation of listeners to the genre.

Coulondre, who is at Midem for the first time, said: “What I know is that I’m trying to play a new kind of music with a lot of groove and fun and, I hope, one that gives a new spin to jazz. As I’m playing all kinds of keyboards, including the organ and piano, I think I’m also creating a new sound.”

In addition to Spedidam’s support at Midem, Coulondre also acknowl-

Midem presents strong electro line-up

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LECTRONIC dance music (EDM) features strongly in the Midem live line-up this year.

Top-flight electronic acts performing

generation who share an undeniable talent on an international scale, an interest in research and a strong sense of the relationship between the artist and the audience,” Damerval said.

Spedidam supports about 40,000 live shows annually, including those performed by its 34,000 registered members. Additionally, it manages the royalties distribution rights for 96,000 artists.

While at Cannes, the association will also present a panel session called Law On ‘Creation’: A Disastrous Legislation For Performers, where Spedidam’s senior executives will debate the future of performers’ rights in France and the European Union.

include Belgian legends 2manydjs, whose particular style and eclectic approach will be on view on the Carlton Beach on Friday. And Etienne de

Crecy, one of the most enduring and emblematic artists of the French Touch scene, will be performing in the same venue on Sunday. There is

DJ Shir Khan — there to warm up the crowd

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also TheSoundYouNeed (TSYN) party in Les Marches Club programmed

by YouTube legend Olivier Dutertre, the founder of Channel TSYN, and Thomas Lefrancois, founder of Allo Floride. “I’m Oliver’s exclusive promoter in France for the shows, and we’ve hugely enjoyed jointly deciding the line-up of artists for Midem,” Lefrancois said.

Another major highlight for fans of electronic music is the Exploited Records night at Les Marches Club on Sunday night. The show kicks off with label founder, producer and DJ Shir Khan. “I’m there to warm the crowd up and then Claptone is on after me, followed by me, Kruse & Nuernberg,” Khan said. “We’re known as a deep-house label but in fact, as people will discover, we are much more eclectic that that. Acts on Exploited include disco and house artists, and some techno as well.”

The huge EDM movement in the US has also influenced Berlin-based Exploited: “EDM fans are listening to very commercial forms of electronic music, but they are also becoming fans of more underground styles, and acts like Claptone are really benefitting from that, his popularity in the US is really growing right now.”

CALYPSO

Midem celebrates 50 years with the Queen of Calypso T

HE CALYPSO Queen Of The World, Calypso Rose, is giving a Midem 50th anniversary performance at the Carlton Beach, 23.00 on Saturday.

Some 10 years ahead of Midem, 2016 marks her 60th anniversary in the business — a year when her career is taking a new step into international recognition. The star from Trinidad & Tobago’s new album Far From Home, featuring special guest French-Spanish musician Manu Chao, is being released by Franceand UK-based Because Music with a campaign involving TV, printed media, radio and live performances. The album is licensed to Because Music worldwide.

“I have great hopes for the album,” she told the Midem News. “Manu did a lot of great work on it. I love his enthusiasm.”

Calypso Rose will perform at the Calypso Sound System party in Cannes, which also features music from multimedia project Pan! The Steeldrum Odyssey, featuring the Calypsociation Steelband.

Her tour promoter is Paris-based Azimuth Productions, whose founder Bernard Batzen was one-time musical director at Midem, who put together the Trini Party, the Opening Night Party for Midem 1996. “It was an incredible event with several bands we brought over from Trinidad & Tobago — thanks to Jean Michel’s restless lobbying with the Trinidadian authorities [Jean-Michel Gibert, managing director of the Caribbean Music Group].” That evening featured a line-up of artists including David Rudder, Shadow, 3 Canal, the Phase II Steel Band and General Grant. “So the two evenings represent an interesting link between the past and present at Midem,” Batzen added.

Calypso Rose was born in 1940, in Bethel, a small village on the island of Tobago which, with Trinidad, is one of the republics of the Caribbe-

Calypso Rose

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The Calypsociation Steelband

to the

Contact MusikWoche: Nina Müller / nina.mueller@buschgroup.com / www.musikwoche.de

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an — and the land of Calypso, one of the most popular musical genres in the world. Born in the 19th century from a mix of African and European music, it became universally known in the Fifties, notably through Harry Belafonte. Back then it was performed mainly by men — until Calypso Rose entered the scene.

There is a campaigning element to some of her lyrics and she promises to perform one of her best-loved songs, No Madam, on Saturday night. The song, protesting about the treatment of domestic staff on Trinidad & Tobago, caused a change in the law on the islands back in the mid-Seventies.

“I used to listen to the cries of servants in the houses,” she told the Midem News. “They had to work so hard, to get a whole family ready in the morning, clean the house, cook — and if the family was entertaining at night the servants would have to be up until the early hours of the morning too and they were only earning $20 a week. That’s not enough to live on. So I wrote the calypso, and a journalist from Italy in Trinidad at that time — during Carnival season — heard the song. Well it opened the eyes and the ears of the journalist and she wrote an article about it. When the late Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams saw the article he called in the cabinet and they pondered on it and the law was changed. After that no domestic servants were allowed to be paid less than $1,200 per month.”

In her 60-year career Calypso Rose has composed approaching 800 songs, having started writing at the age of 13. She spent 17 years singing on cruise ships for the New York-based company Celebration At Sea, before making it to the legendary stages of the Apollo and Madison Square Garden with two of the greatest exponents of Calypso, Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow.

Pan! The Steeldrum Odyssey is a multimedia project that includes a film, CD and a book celebrating the music of the pan, or the steel drum — invented Trinidad & Tobago in the Forties and whose sound is known all over the world. The project brings together modern and classic interpretations of the music and will be brought to life at the Carlton Beach by the Calypsociation Steelband.

MPAJ

Get to know JASRAC at the Japan stand Speaking to the Midem News, Kagenobu Kuwahata, chairman of the Music Publishers Association of Japan (MPAJ), offered his insights on the current status of streaming services in Japan and the opportunities for the country’s collection societies and artists

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HAIRMAN of Music Publishers Association of Japan (MPAJ) Kagenobu Kuwahata is attending Midem to continue the Association’s mission to promote Japanese music and its industry on the international market.

One topic that is high on the agenda for the association is the proliferation of streaming services in the Japanese market.

“Spotify is expected to launch soon in Japan, and Apple Music is already launched. These, combined with several local Japanese services including Line Music and AWA, have given streaming a foothold in the Japanese market.”

According to the RIAJ [Recording Industry Association of Japan], on a value basis subscriptions services grew by 58% in 2015 over the previous year and now make up about 26% of digital revenue in Japan.

“Together with the other music publishers which make up the MPAJ, I have championed the need for a better subscription service streaming rate, and this year we were successful in raising that rate from 7.7% to 12%, which I believe brings Japan more in line with a worldwide average rate of about 10.5%,” Kuwahata said. “The negotiations were tough, but with the co-operation of JASRAC [Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers]; NMRC [Network Music Rights Conference], which represents many of the key digital services in Japan; and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, we were able to establish a more competitive rate for these growing services.”

JASRAC is also attending Midem this year and the MPAJ is providing a forum for the 75-year-old society — that represents nearly 98% of the copyrights in the Japanese market — to offer an insight into how the society works for the publishers and songwriters around the world in Asia’s largest music market.

“JASRAC is a society that is respected and well-recognised around the world, but I think how JASRAC

MPAJ chairman Kagenobu Kuwahata

actually works, as well as some of the unique characteristics of the Japanese market, are not brought into the spotlight that often. I believe the forum we are providing to JASRAC gives them an excellent opportunity to communicate to the many publishers and songwriters around the world that they represent how it is aggressively working for them, and to shed some light on collection issues that may seem puzzling to those outside of Japan.

An exchange of views also provides JASRAC with a great chance to gain a better understanding of some of the concerns the publishers and songwriters they represent have. If the MPAJ can help to facilitate that kind of dialogue, I think it is something that will serve in all of our best interests.”

“ The key message we have been trying to send is that the Japanese market is open and accessible” Kagenobu Kuwahata

tail its business operations, as well as discuss a wide range of issues from the collection and distribution of royalties, to piracy problems and the nature of NextTone’s continuing relationship with JASRAC, which will continue to collect performance income on NextTone’s behalf,” Kuwahata said.

“In the case of both this symposium and the forum we are providing for JASRAC, the key message we have been trying to send is that the Japanese market is open and accessible, rather than the seemingly closed reputation that it currently seems to carry,” he added.

In March the MPAJ sponsored a symposium to offer Japan’s new copyright society, NexTone, an opportunity to explain their goals and strategies. “More than 400 music publishers and songwriters, as well as 30 artists, attended and were able to hear NexTone map out in de-

Kuwahata further elaborated on the recent success of Japanese artists in markets outside of Japan — singling out the success of girl pop/

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rock band Babymetal — and the importance of establishing income collection resources for those artists.

“Whether it be touring or digital releases there is an encouraging trend of more and more opportunities for Japanese artists. However, we really do not have in place a tracking function that will allow us efficiently to collect royalties from such performances, particularly where performance royalties for songwriters are concerned. We need to make sure that the proper collection and distribution of royalties to songwriters is being followed-up at the same pace as the successful opportunities that Japanese artists are currently enjoying outside of Japan. It is an area that we cannot fall behind on, and is something that we must take action on right away.”

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