Any comments from those who attended in the pouring rain?
I seem to have deserted it in favour of the Film Festival.

It is even more technology-based than before. But some of the technology is fascinating. I saw a demo that matched locations of file-sharing with tour schedules. The idea being that if you know you have loads of file-sharing of your material taking place in Sheffield, Bolton and Inverness, they are pretty good candidates for doing shows. Easy.

Another company was demoing their applications that tracks radio plays worldwide. Both very interesting and tools that can be put to very practical uses in different ways that I won't give away for free. ;- )

The conferences were also very good. I didn't hear so much music, but then we get music from other sources these days anyway. Most people I spoke to were satisfied. But it must be said: this depends on the quality of the meetings more than the quality of the conferences. As long as you can still meet licensors, promoters and labels from around the world, it will hold up. Attendance was up nearly 13%.

Thank you Michael; I trust you thought of me as you sipped a coffee at the Grand.

The tour/file sharing idea is brilliant!

Not sure I believe Midem's attendance up figures, in all the 20 plus previous visits, I've never seen the Restaurants, Bars or Hotels so empty. OK the torrential and continuous rain from Sat am to Mon am, then back again on Tues along with snow at the airport, didn't help. However the Martinez and corner bar were literally deserted in the evenings, in fact the corner bar was actually shut, two years ago you could hardly stand inside or outside. The Palais obviously feels very different being upstairs only and the entrance round the back just seems wrong, after descending the front steps for so many years.

That said it's still the best place to meet a myriad of contacts from across the World, in one place but I'm convinced without a very major re think, they are going to suffer badly. The hotels and restaurants are ridiculously overpriced 14 euros for a bottle of beer, 40 euros for a sandwich (obviously you can go to the Station Tavern or restaurants further back for better deals) and the 'event' itself is stupidly over priced, despite all their new 'better' deals for different sectors. I actually only ventured into the Palais itself twice, once for 20 mins and then for 10 mins, so could quite easily not bothered at all. All my business is done in the hotels/bars throughout the day and evenings and quite a few people were convinced we are near to seeing the end of the event, unless it's radically overhauled. Personally I think it will continue but it definitely needs to get in touch with the climate of the Industry itself and the financial climate around the World.

I'm terribly tempted to start some new things.

A music convention somewhere in North Africa - easy to get to; miles cheaper; virtually guaranteed sunshine; modern thinking and networking... great concerts and gigs...

A proper music awards show to demolish Brits and Grammies and give real televisual entertainment.

A chain of entertainment stores selling downloads alongside vinyl and posters and DVDs and books...

But, at 67, can I be bothered?

JK2006 wrote:
I'm terribly tempted to start some new things.

A music convention somewhere in North Africa - easy to get to; miles cheaper; virtually guaranteed sunshine; modern thinking and networking... great concerts and gigs...

A proper music awards show to demolish Brits and Grammies and give real televisual entertainment.

A chain of entertainment stores selling downloads alongside vinyl and posters and DVDs and books...

But, at 67, can I be bothered?

SXSW but in North Africa?

A bit SXSW, a bit MIDEM, a bit Popkomm, a bit Grammies/Brits (lots of TV, radio and online), a bit Ibiza, a bit ROTY, a bit Superbowl halftime, a bit Entertainment Hawaii... an entire weekend covered for 48 non stop hours on a TV channel like Ch5... huge crowds, small gigs, meetings, seminars, auctions, movies - oh, I'm tempted... so easy; such a money spinner for an investor looking for a safe gamble...

There has very definitely been a change of the guard at Midem attendance. Thank god the ritual of standing in the Martinez lobby to drink poor beer at 5-star prices seems to have gone. Morrison's is a better venue, given the new price-wary industry. I was also invited to a number of semi-private receptions in restaurants, which solved the bar tab issue to a large degree and further drained the lobbies.

Concerning a new event. I wouldn't hold it in Morocco and hope to have the same people. I'd hold it in Qatar or Bahrain and attract the Asian and Emirate business with a combination of music, mobile, games and filmed entertainment. This is where the growth is. Turkey is another good candidate for this.