The 12th annual MUSEXPO (www.musexpo.net) is set to take place this April from the 17^th – 20^th, returning to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. As N. America’s leading globally focused music business and boutique showcase event, MUSEXPO draws some of the most influential executive and creative minds from all sectors of the music, media and technology businesses. This year’s event has confirmed some of the leading visionaries from across the global musical landscape. Among those in attendance will be an inspiring group of leading executives from labels, publishers, live entertainment platforms, booking agencies, law firms, digital companies, music supervision platforms and brands, from both independent and major sectors, who will participate across the event’s programming for 2016. Collectively, the group has been responsible for the world’s most successful artists, events, media platforms and more.

 

This year, MUSEXPO is also teaming up with music and media platform, WorldArts, as the official presenting partner for MUSEXPO 2016 and exclusive showcase submission platform for the events’ artist showcases. WorldArts is a global resource for music artists to connect directly with fans, brands, and industry leaders. Alongside WorldArts, MUSEXPO and its team will be selecting several dozen artists for showcase opportunities across MUSEXPO events.

 

MUSEXPO’s Global Keynote will kick-off with legendary TV newsman Larry King moderating a forum featuring leading music supervisor Alex Patsavas – Founder, Chop Shop Music Supervision and Chris Barton – Head of Mobile Operator Development, Dropbox and Co-Founder of Shazam, as well as others to be announced.

 

Among the programs other speakers are included leading minds from all sectors of the global music industry including A&R, publishing, radio, live, digital/tech, film/TV, brands and more. Already confirmed to attend are: Kevin Weatherly – Sr. VP/Programming, CBS Radio & Program Director, KROQ/JACK-FM/AMP RADIO Los Angeles, who will also be receiving MUSEXPO’s highly-coveted “International Music Industry Person of the Year” award; Ben Weeden – COO, House Of Blues Entertainment (A Live Nation Company); Byron Cooke – Presenter, SCA’s Hit Network (Australia); Daniel Kuypers – Director Of Music, ENERGY BBDO; Emmanuel Legrand – U.S. Editor, Music Week; Evan Lamberg – President, N. America, Universal Music Publishing Group; Jason Fielding – CEO, The Sound Campaign; Jay Cooper – Vice Chair, Global Media & Entertainment Practice, Greenberg Traurig, LLP; Jens-Markus Wegener – Managing Director, Imagem Music Publishing (Germany); Kathy Spanberger – President/COO, peermusic; Kyle Hopkins – Head of Music Supervision, Xbox/Microsoft; Mamie Coleman – VP of Music & Production, FOX Broadcasting Company; Mandar Thakur – COO, Times India; Marisa Baldi – Co-Founder, Zync Music; Mike Knobloch – President/Film Music & Publishing, Universal Pictures; Neil Warnock – Head Of Worldwide Music, United Talent Agency; Peter Szabo – SVP/Head Of Music & U.S. Ad Sales, Shazam; Ralph Simon – CEO & Founder, Mobilium Global; Ritch Esra – Publisher, The Music Registry; Ron Fair – President & Founder, Faircraft Music; Scott Burnell – Global Lead, Business Development & Partner Management, Ford Motor Company; Seymour Stein – Co-Founder/Chairman, Sire Records; Steve Knill – EVP, Global Sports & Ent’t Consulting, GMR Marketing; and many more to be announced!

 

MUSEXPO 2016 will kick-off once again with the A&R Expo taking place on Sunday, April 17^th. This year’s edition will once again bring together leading A&R minds to provide their insight into the future of artist and song development worldwide and finding creative and commercial success. The A&R Expo will be open to all registered MUSEXPO delegates.

 

Additionally, MUSEXPO 2016 will host the return of the Global Synch & Brands Summit which, over the past six years has resulted in 1,000+ synch licenses for its attendees. Past participation has included music supervisors from film, TV, gaming, ad agencies and brands such as: Pepsi, Glee, C.S.I., Nike, Coca-Cola, EA Games, FOX TV, NBC Television, Universal Pictures, Disney Films, The Weinstein Film Co., Sundance Film Festival, Activision/Blizzard, Trailer Park, Hit The Ground Running Music Supervision, Grey Advertising, Houlihan Film Music, Lionsgate, GMR Brand Marketing, Omnicom, Viacom, Chop Shop Music Supervision, Ford Motor Co., Red Bull, The Engine 360 Motion Picture Music Supervision, Sizzer Music Supervision and many others.

 

Also returning for its 3rd edition is the annual “International Music Industry Awards,” presented in partnership with Shazam, which will take place on April 20th as part of the MUSEXPO 2016 program. These awards have no territorial boundaries and recognize the work and vision of leaders and creators from all sectors connected to music from communities in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, Australia and beyond – be it the emerging, independent or major executives, or sector, of our industry.

 

Thousands of global music industry citizens have cast votes for their nominations for the most inspiring, visionary and best in class for various sectors of the international music industry. Voting is now open for the industry to choose who they feel is most deserving of the “International Music Industry Award” from each of the categories listed based on the nominations. The final voting period closes at 12:00PM PST on Friday, February 26th 2016. The voting form can be accessed by clicking HERE (http://www.allaccess.com/anrw/vote).

 

 

The selected winner/s from each category will be announced at the formal “International Music Industry Awards” gala dinner at MUSEXPO Los Angeles on Wednesday, April 20th 2016 in the same ballroom that gave birth to The Oscars at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
For more information and to register for MUSEXPO 2016, the Global Synch & Brands Summit and the “International Music Industry Awards” gala dinner, log on to www.musexpo.net or reach out to Tyler Polzin at tyler@anrworldwide.com.

„Michael Leahy is a platinum lyricist that first attended Midem in 1997 tying to pimp digital services to labels. He has since done business development for African labels, marketing for Midem itself and pitched projects at the Cannes Film Festival. He has also coached music and movie people in the fine art of networking. He wrote the Cannes Starter Guide last year as a mind-map for getting results at Midem.”

 

 

 

 

What do you hope to achieve?

If the music business can be said to exist in any one place, it would most likely be Midem. For the past 50 years, the industry has come to meet in Cannes every year to meet, discover new “product”, do deals and celebrate. For the past 10 years, the celebrations have been scaled down – as has the quantity of deals – but is still represents place where many labels and increasingly artists and music tech companies break internationally. For me, there are only two questions – each as important as the other: when should I go? And when should I not go?

When should I go?

Midem is a worldwide market. The companies and people that do best here are ones that already have a level of business and want to bring it to the next level by finding international partners. This could be labels with a few releases that are actually selling, with artists that are actually touring and some publishing rolling in. The same is true of managers and publishers. If they are on a roll, Midem could bring in sub-publishing deals, contacts with other artists or connections with major brands for sponsorship deals or festivals.

The same is also true of artists that have a level of success on their own (even though I really do recommend having a personal or business manager for a whole bunch of reasons). I regularly meet professional songwriters there, although I always feel they are taking a bit of a gamble. But if you are an organised professional that can pimp your material without being either a nuisance or a drama queen, it might be worth considering.

If you are lucky enough to have some sort of back catalogue, such as all the work of a given songwriter, or compilations of 20/70s music or whatever, you can meet compilers or music libraries. Or you can meet people that can put the whole lot online and monetize the catalogue for you.

When should I not go?

Don’t go if you only have a few demos of your songs, no matter how nice you think they are. It might be an idea to work your local market before. Why? Because scale matters at Midem. Labels want to meet other labels, or managers of bands with some back catalogue and some activity already. Or songwriters with a few hits under their belts. Don’t go if your label only has one or two releases of local bands, unless you are willing to use the trip as a learning experience (it certainly is that!). You might pick up some contacts, but will you be in a position to exploit them?

In short, don’t go until you know what you want and who can bring it to you

You need a perfect vision to get the most from Cannes. What are your short and mid-term priorities? Who will help you get there? Attending Cannes is an investment in time, energy and money. Setting priorities is absolutely essential. If you are attending on your own, this should be quite easy to define, such as “Licensing my product in XX number of territories, including at least two major ones”. If you are attending as a company or team, sit down and draw up a series of priorities and ensure everyone subscribes to them.

You also have to put in the time. It’s not just four days of networking. Count another week of mining the database to find likely partners, plus the follow-up. There are a lot of music-related businesses out there, many you will not have heard of. You have to do your homework.

Does this sound like hard work? If so, you need a business manager (see?). There is a shortcut: the Cannes Starter Guide: 17 years of Midem experience for under $7 [link]. And over the coming weeks, I will be providing the outline of a plan for getting the most out of Midem. Start planning now by shooting off any questions you have.

 

Links:     Cannes Starter Guide: http://amzn.to/1C4H07H

Midem 2015 Cheat Sheet: http://amzn.to/1DUCGp8

Cannes or Bust: First time in Cannes http://cannes-or-bust.com/first-time-in-cannes/

Midem: http://www.midem.com/