Tag: music2deal

Interviews · music business · music industry · music industry interview

Interview with Alexandre Deniot, Midem Director by Mario Christiani (CEO, Music2Deal)

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Alexandre-Deniot - MIDEM © Koria

Mario Christiani:  Hi Alexandre. So what exactly do you do at MIDEM?

Alexandre Deniot:  I am the director of Midem.  So, I’m in charge of this event globally. I manage all the teams from the conference team to all the partnership teams and I make sure that we provide the best service to our music community.

 

Mario Christiani:  Please tell us more about the upcoming MIDEM 2019

Alexandre Deniot:  This year’s Midem will see multiple initiatives putting artists and creation centre stage as the beating heart of the 2019 edition. These will include the opening of the Artist Hub, a brand new area dedicated to artists and talent development, the fresh addition of Midem Studio Sessions by Dynaudio, a fully-equipped studio where international artists will record live in public. Regarding our conference program, our lineup is just amazing with the heavy players of the industry like the music mogul Troy Carter, (CEO and Founder, Atom factory), Sylvia Rhone (CEO & President of Epic Records) or the Nigerian Artist Maleek Beery just to mention few of them!

 

Mario Christiani:  Is there anything else you’d like to mention that will also be a special focus at MIDEM this year?

Alexandre Deniot:  Also the competition for upcoming artists, the Midem Artist Accelerator, we celebrate this year the 5th anniversary,  the second edition of the Midem Songwriting Camp and over 30 live concerts on the Midem Beach. Midem will also welcome this year the Jamaican project Inna de Yard, celebrating the work of reggae legends, Ken Boothe, Cedric Myton, Winston McAnuff, Kiddus. We will host the premiere of their music documentary. Midem delegates will also be treated to a live show by the Inna De Yard artists, when they light up the Midem Beach, opening their European concert tour.

 

Mario Christiani:  Hopefully the weather will be fine since there are so many artists playing at the MIDEM beach. Last time the weather was even better in Hamburg, which is not often [laughs].

Alexandre Deniot:  We´ll see. We can only pray! [laughing]

 

Mario Christiani:  Why is it an absolute must for every music professional to attend the festival?

Alexandre Deniot:  MIDEM is the leading international music event for professionals. It´s a good way for music professionals to save time and money because we have more than 80 countries, about 2,000 companies, 5,000 attendees from the global ecosystem (artist’s entrepreneurs to tech companies). It is the largest international music platform in the world – and it’s growing. And this year we’re going to add 14 new countries at Midem. We provide opportunities for business opportunities and also artistic opportunities for the professionals.

 

AlexandreDeniot_04-®Koria

Mario Christiani:  I remember those MIDEM events in January in the early 90s, a time in the music business when those types of events were so crowded. I think I prefer the events in recent years when it’s a more comfortable group of people and maybe even easier to gain the right connections. Do you think it´s just due to the change of the music industry or are there other reasons like the change of the date to summer?

Alexandre Deniot: I think mainly it´s due to the trend, for the last 10 years, of the music industry and the decrease of the people in this industry, of course.  But now it’s a turning point, as we now see a very positive trend right now and it’s a really great and exciting time. I think for the music industry, in general, and we here truly embrace it and to accompany all of the music professionals from around the world to one place.

 

Mario Christiani:  Last question… How do you want MIDEM to develop and are there already any specific plans for MIDEM 2020?

Alexandre Deniot: What we are doing right now is to extend the activity outside Cannes and that’s why we did the events in Africa, in Latin America, and will soon in Asia. We want to increase the number of opportunities for our international community. That’s why we launched these initiatives around high-potential markets. So MIDEM is going to be, more than ever, global and even more international.

 

Mario Christiani: But I hope that I can still add my holidays after MIDEM in Cannes.

Alexandre Deniot: Cannes is a great place for Midem, our International community is enjoying it for already 53 years and it’s only the beginning!

 

Mario Christiani: So, my holidays are saved and I am happy about that [smiling]. Thank you for the interesting chat and nice talking with you.

 

For more information on how to register for the conference and other related information, please follow below:

Midem registration
https://www.midem.com/visit/

 

Hotel information
https://midem.bnetwork.com//Home.aspx

 

Practical info
https://www.midem.com/practical-information/

 

Interviews · music business · music industry · music industry interview · Music2Deal.com

Interview: Mario Christiani – CEO/Owner of Music2Deal

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Professional Update 2019 & Additional Member Benefits Coming Soon!
Interviewed by Peter Fosso – Head of U.S. Operations, Music2Deal

 

peter fosso & me (2)
(Peter Fosso, Mario Christiani)

PF: Hi, Mario. So I hear that there will be a Music2Deal update happening in January 2019. What types of benefits can we expect?

MC: Well, we’ve noticed that there are many members who still are not benefiting as much as they can from our system so we’re helping them in this new update. For example, many members haven’t uploaded a Music (Song) Offer even though it´s free with a Basic Membership. Or sometimes they post their music in the wrong section. Although we tried with former updates to optimized the usability, members often don´t know the right steps to do on Music2Deal.

So the idea of Music2Deal is great and a lot of people are already doing good business on Music2Deal. But to be honest, sometimes it´s just a matter of having the right knowledge. For example, someone who is working in the music business should know about the differences between the song copyrights and the performance protection rights, so that they know in which section they should post their music offer. When I look at these sections I sometimes see members who don´t have this knowledge. But sometimes, it´s also a question of how the website supports his members in the way of using the website. And in this case, we see a lot of potential to make things better, which we wish to accomplish with this coming update.

You know…when I talk with people at those conferences, like MIDEM, they see the advantages of using the Music2Deal platform, that it makes sense to stay in contact with their business friends about music opportunities and that LinkedIn, Facebook & Co can’t really offer this. It´s like using Excel to do your accounting and not using an accounting program.

 

PF: Can you tell us more about how to solve those problems? Maybe give us an example?

MC: With this update, so that we can improve the user experience for each of our members, we are implementing better user communication and usability. For example, if you are a Publisher and your registration was accepted, upon first login you’ll see a short “1st-LogIn-Tour”. Currently, after completing your profile, you’ll see a page to post a Music Offer, choosing from 4 sections. These 4 choices are too much at the 1st time login on Music2Deal and then continuing with a further page. And a Publisher would unlikely need to post a Vocalist Offer. So, we assume that they’d prefer to post a Song Offer. In the case of an Artist, they would post mostly post an Artist Offer, and so forth. If you’re an Artist, who hasn’t yet posted a Music Offer, we’ll suggest it to you.

Or if you’re A&R, to post an Artists Want, etc. We simply want to see our members get the most so that they don´t miss business opportunities. We will also inform a member if they have enough credits for a free upgrade. We’re also adding guided tours and a new “how it works” page for a better understanding of how to use Music2Deal in the best way for their business.

The-Professional-Update

PF: There was already an update announced in 2018. What happened?

MC: Once we started really getting to know the needs of our members we realized there was much more to do to incorporate their ideas – now further improvement that can be enjoyed by our community of music professionals.

 

PF: Is this the reason why this update is called “The Professional Update 2019?

MC: Yes, that´s right. Just two features, as an example. Now a member will be able to send a new song first to just their friend circle, getting initial feedback prior to deciding whether to publish the song. Additionally, you’ll be able to filter the members who can contact you. For example, it makes no sense if you are a Booking Agent and a Songwriter contacts you that is not a live performer. These mismatches are time-consuming and, of course, most music professionals would like to avoid this. Therefore, we’ll be providing this feature.

 

PF: Will you announce all features of the Professional Update 2019?

MC: Yes, we’ll be announcing the update’s features here on the blog as well as in our news section on Music2Deal.

 

PF: And finally… When will the update happen?

MC: Good question :-) Look for the update to happen in the beginning of 2019.