One Movement for Music: GLOBAL KEY NOTE – The Future of the Worldwide Music Business.

This opening keynote checked the pulse of the international music biz from the perspective of some of its most respected players, moderated by the highly-amusing cheeky chap Andy Phillips.

Speakers:
• Dave Holmes, Founder, 3D Artist Management (US)
• Dann Bowley, Founder, International Institute of Entertainment (US)
• Mark Poston, Country Chairman & SVP Marketing, EMI Australia (AUS)
• Ralph Simon, Americas Chairman, Mobile Entertainment Forum (UK)
• Steve Strange, Director, X-Ray Touring (UK)

This panel’s more interesting comments came from Dave Holmes and Dann Bowley. Bowley expounded at length on the future of management and money. Holmes talked in short spurts about tech.

Each panelist was given 30 seconds to – œsoapbox’ before discussion kicked off. Here’s some snippets:

Ralph Simon: “You could be developing something right here in Perth and have the world as your oyster, provided you think cross-platform: web, mobile, television … finding ways of getting your audience behind you. (But with) five million bands on MySpace, how do you rise above the clutter? Big, big issue.”

Mark Poston: “There is so much more appetite for music now than there’s ever been in history … I think music companies and labels, more than ever before, need to say – œyes’ more than – œno’, go with freedom and testing and see what works, rather than being closed-minded and sticking to old ways of thought.”

Dann Bowley: “Management, to me, is the new label. Dave Holmes is in a position with Coldplay where he’s telling the label what needs to be done. He doesn’t even need the label … because production has shifted … Talented musicians all over the world have not just the production capability but they have the distribution capability and the marketing capability.”

Dave Holmes: “I think we’re under the impression that the answers are going to come from our business but they’re not. They’re tech-driven issues. It’s going to come from the tech industry. That’s what I think we’re going to have to accept: that we don’t have the kind of brain power in the music business to solve the problems.”

Dave Holmes shortly afterwards: “I don’t Twitter, I don’t MySpace, I don’t Facebook.”

Each panelist was asked what they’ve done recently that they’re most proud of. Dave Holmes’ response was a cracker. “I would say I’m most proud of the fact that I talked Coldplay into doing the iTunes commercial. They didn’t want to. The band felt it was selling out in a way I guess and I had to convince them that it was going to really help them, more than you could imagine. And I did, eventually. It took a couple of weeks … they didn’t realise what a great opportunity it was.”

Things then moved forward into general discussion…
Dann Bowley’s opinions seemed logical and persuasive, but not everyone agreed with him. Bowley’s argument was that – œ360 degree management companies’ – the band managers – will supplant labels as a power structure in the digital age. His point runs something like this:

•Labels used to provide funds to acts for recording in expensive studios and to manufacture large runs of records / cassettes / CDs. But now, good recording is a fraction of the cost and distribution is digital. Labels-as-financiers is a dead model.

•Managers (and their companies) who work with a stable of bands they believe in, booking tours, running the online marketing and web presence, dealing with the main digital distributors etc, will hold the power that labels had previously.

•Advertisers who pay for spots on music radio are starting to realise that punters are finding their own music online, not relying on terrestrial radio – œpushing’ of major -label artists. That money can be invested elsewhere in the music biz.

Bowley: “I see people in this business creating these aggregates. Managers with boots on the ground and artists they believe in, working together, creating 360 degree deals and that’s where the future is. The new labels will be aggregates of management companies … because they get what’s happening. They can respond faster. The old-school hierarchy of a conglomerate label is just done.”

“The leading edge financial people, at least in the United States, are starting to understand that there is a new model to be had and they want to be a part of it. We’ve convinced two of the biggest advertising agencies in the U.S. that advertising needs to change; there’s no more – œpush’ advertising where they throw it down your neck. It’s now – œpull advertising’. That’s who the new consumer is. They want choice, those – œTivo’ people who don’t listen to your ads at all. They’re leading the way for the money. Once money can see where money is coming from – and in our case it’s coming from – œpull advertising’ – we can talk about a new business model.”

Moderator Andy Phillips asked the panelists what they thought Australia was offering the world wide music industry.

Steve Strange: “This country has produced some great talent over the years … it’s very much based on good live playing. For a very big country with a small population, it has an incredible wealth of talent.”

Ralph Simon: “One of the things Australia has always been good at – and this continues – it’s a fantastic breeding ground for bands to perfect their craft with the touring circuit … and be able to get their chops to understand the ethic of strong performance and audience reach. It’s a wonderful place where it’s relatively cheap to do it; if you were going to be doing it in England, there aren’t as many live opportunities.”

Dave Holmes: “I think on the tech side especially, this is the region where all the new trends are emerging.”

From there things moved into Q & A and a discussion about India (a very hot topic all weekend) which was too general and wide-ranging to address here – see FL’s coverage of the Incredible India panel to get a flavour of what the industry thinks the future will hold…