Ted Cohen, in his MidemNet convention introduction set the tone well with a call for total music ubiquity and an industry shift "from vendor like relationships to a partnership" between music services, the labels and the fans. Next, Paul of Digital Music News moderated the first panel "Marketing to Fans – The New Mix". A few highlights:
- Artists are being asked to "rise up an an replace all that has been lost" in the music business and I'm not sure that's a reasonable expectation," said Eric Garland of Big Champagne. "We're so preoccupied with measuring social connections…. But there is often no correlation between the number of social connections and making money."
- So many bands are doing social media that it begins to loose meaning. "We have to help artists tell their story and make social media part of their art." – Jeremy Welt, SVP New Media at Warner Bros Records. "It's about connecting everything an artist is doing."
- "It's almost not about what you do, but rather about what you don't do… But can you make money?" – Michael Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation
- Examples worth watching: OK Go, Arcade Fire
The Midem blog has official coverage here with a bit of exclusive help from Music Ally.
