MIDEM(Net) Blog

Bruce Houghton: Fan Data Resources

At the end of our MidemNet panel on data last week, we promised to list some resources here.  With the help of our great panelists here are some resources to help you explore the wonderful (and important) world of artist and fan data.

Duncan Freeman of music industry analytics provider Band Metrics mentioned two books during our discussion:

• Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
• The Numerati by Stephen Baker

Neil Cartwright of online music marketer Million suggests keeping an eye on these data sources and trends:

• Crowd sourcing / collaboration ( i.e. Kluster) 
• New forms of ticketing (i.e. CrowdSurge, Eventbrite) 

We will all get to watch fellow panelist Cory Ondrejka's theories and experience come to life on EMI.com and across the label group's digital efforts as he settles in as the SVP, Digital Strategy of EMI Music.

Unfortunately, Eric Korman could not join us at Midemnet, but as the President of Ticketmaster he knows a lot about artist and fan data.  He wrote with these data suggestions:

Video: Bacardi/Groove Armada case study

In April 2008, Groove Armada eschewed the traditional record label model signing to Bacardi for a ground-breaking global multifaceted partnership covering recordings, live and promotion. At MIDEM 2009, all stakeholders involved in this partnership discussed key outcomes for the brand and artists, as well as the innovative new B-LIVE Records music distribution model they launched at MIDEM the same day. Speakers included Andy Cato and Tom Findlay from Groove Armada.

Marketing music on social networks – the MidemNet audience said ...

About 250-300 people attended my seminar at MidemNet last Sunday on Social Media, hopefully with rapt attention..!

As with previous years, we focussed the session on a hot topic affecting the music industry - this year with an additional emphasis on the artist-fan relationship. Social Media is by no means a new phenomenon, but is becoming well proven now as an avenue for marketing music and other media to a young, tech-savvy audience.

I ran through the current structure of the Social Media sector as we define it on StrategyEye, with a whistlestop tour of the deals and emerging players that we are tracking worldwide. Shelley Taylor of AllDigDown followed up with a great overview of their late-beta service – looking forward to this coming out of beta during this year!

It was billed as an Interactive Session, so the audience had to be on their toes. As well as the usual Q&A, everyone had a voting widget for immediate, live voting on a few key questions. Here are the results in full:

Eun lends support for labels

GOOGLE vice-president of content partnerships David Eun called for more and closer partnership initiatives with record labels during his MidemNet Keynote. “Record labels are still a very important part of the process of bringing on artists,” he said. “And there are plenty of things that they are very good at. If I was representing an artist I would be looking to sign them to the right label.”

Elsewhere at MIDEM, Eun says he is looking to meet with future partners. “Although we are not a music streaming site we probably stream more videos containing music than any other site,” he said. “That is because we offer both produced content from our music partners and user-generated content incorporating licensed music tracks.”

On the subject of music and brands, one of today’s conference themes, Eun said: “Brands will likely increasingly fund the production of music and music videos, but users and artists have to be open to such commercial arrangements.

This and more in the MIDEM daily News, now online!

The Message is ‘no rules’

“FLEXIBILITY is the key. There are no rules anymore,” Brian Message, co-manager of Faithless, Kate Nash and Radiohead told delegates in his keynote address. He said record labels were still a part of the equation, along with numerous other options, to boost an artist career.

Free music was also an essential element in the whole equation, he said,citing Radiohead’s successful online music campaign. “The key word is value. Free music is a valuable part of the artist proposition,” Message said. “It doesn’t mean that you just deliver free recorded music. If however we need to get a market in some part of the world where we don’t have a base, we can do something with free music to stimulate interest.”

Message was instrumental in launching the Featured Artist Coalition. “The idea is that artists need to have a voice and take responsibility. We don’t want legal rulings or even commercial decisions being made that will affect their careers without their being able to have a voice in it,” he said.

This and more in the MIDEM daily News, now online!

Taking music to mobile divides delegates on money matters

THE ISSUE of mobile phone firms touting “all you can eat” offers of music for free, raised the temperature in a crowded Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) workshop.

Tim Clark, manager of Robbie Williams and managing director of ie:music, slated record companies and publishers for taking too large a slice of the revenue pie: “How can the major record companies justify taking 90% of the revenue and leaving the artist with less than 10%?”

Switching fire to handset makers, he asked: “Who is the richest man in the record industry?” His answer: Steve Jobs. Liz Schimel of Nokia defended the publishers, saying there was a “sea change” in the way they worked, and pointed out that handset manufacturers were seeking to create a bigger pie.

But Rob Lewis of Omnifone lashed out at the amount of red tape involved in licensing. Ian Henderson of Sony Music Entertainment said the real value of the music offer was for telcos because it reduced customer churn — consumers were able to personalise their accounts and so stuck with a network. But Lewis said it also gave an opportunity to handset makes to provide products that are “fun to use”.

This and more in the MIDEM daily News, now online!

Finding that tribal vibe

NEW AND lucrative ways for artists, bands, distributors and labels to reach music fans were the hot topic in a MidemNet analyst session entitled Innovative Connection Points Between Artists & Fans.

Denzyl Feigelson, founder and CEO of awal.com expained his mission to help artists without a label not only build and maintain their web campaigns but also profit from them: “One of the most important things is that at least one band member is ‘always on’,” he said. “Somebody has to be completely wired and dedicated to finding their tribe.”

Feigelson highlighted the changes in the music industry model; how contemporary artists have to work harder than ever to differentiate themselves using the endless streams of digital marketing platforms available.

“Artists need to create compelling sites and killer applications,” said Feigelson. “This is a new era of authenticity and prolific, fearless creativity.”

This and more in the MIDEM daily News, now online!

Experts add heat to digital debate

MEMBERS of the MidemNet Visionary Chair Committee closed the two-day digital-music forum with a heated debate on the future of music creativity.

The future is not with fans interacting with artists’ recordings, nor with mobile distribution, insisted Harvey Goldsmith, the UK concert impresario and managing director of Artiste Management Productions. “Nobody is worrying about who owns what. But the moment someone has success, there will be a bun fight for ownership,” he said. “I think rock music is not about pleasing people; it’s about being edgy and having something to say. Fuck it! If it is strong and edgy, the fans will find it.”

Regarding mobile distribution, he added: “Not one of the mobile companies that have had conversations with us has a strategy for selling music.” But Terry McBride, CEO of Canada’s Nettwerk Music Group, reminded Goldsmith the industry is changing. He cited circumstances where fans use digital tools to contribute to an act’s studio recording.

With more mobile operators and handset makers hiring experts from record labels, the mobile sector will increasingly influence the music industry, responded co-panelist Ralph Simon, the MEF’s founder.

This and more in the MIDEM daily News, now online!

Video: Conversation with Michael Eaton & Bruce Flohr

Michael Eaton, Business Manager of Eric Clapton and CEO of MusicLore and Bruce Flohr, Executive, Red Light Management / partner, ATO Records discussed the evolution of artist management, January 19, 2009. The IMMF's Peter Jenner moderated.

David Smith's (theGFF) presentation at MidemNet 2009: Change. Now.

David Smith is the CEO of the Global Futures Forum, and I was delighted to have him join me at the MidemNet Future Scenarios panel,  along with the brilliant and snappy Mark "Herdmeister" Earls (I will hopefully add his slides here, shortly, too). David did a great job presenting the key future trends to the MIDEM audience; so here is the PDF!  Enjoy.
Download David Smith - www.thegff.com - MidemNet 2009

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• Compensation not Control: Music 2.0 (my presentation at the MidemNet event in Cannes)