Despite an aggressive effort to include tech, brands, ad agencies and live music alongside the core music business, attendance at Midem 2013 was down 7% from 2012 to 6400, according to festival organizers. At it's peak in 2005, 9,230 delegates registered for the event.
Commenting on the attendance, Midem Director, Bruno Crolot said, "“attendance this year reflects the current difficult economic climate in certain parts of the world, continued uncertainty as the music industry reinvents its business models and a tightening of public-spending budgets which has impacted on certain national pavilions."
But there were also some hopeful signs. "What has been noticeable is that in
some regions, where the economies are stronger, such as Asia we have seen
increased activity with new national pavilions from Malaysia and Korea," said Crolot. "In
total, Midem welcomed 5 new country pavilions, in addition to the numerous
countries that all returned.” China and Russia have also committed to expand their presence in 2014, and Brazil will be the fcous of a number of special events.
