The ultimate destination for the electronic music industry this week was in Brighton. Thursday 14th and Friday 15th took place the 3rd edition of the well known and respected Brighton Music Conference. With daily programme of panels and discussions and night programme with quality electronic music events BMC is slowly shaping to be the must attend conference of the year in the picturesque and magical surrounding of Brighton that is a lively city with great music scene and beautiful scenery that travel your mind to faraway places.
The 2nd day of the Brighton Music Conference was equally interesting, inspiring, stimulating as the 1st day. The first panel of Charles Fitzgerald (Global Head of Sync & Brand; PIAS) | Gary Welch (Music Supervisor; Eye Hear) in the academy theatre have explained what artists and record labels should know about how Sync licensing works.
The first panel at the professional theatre have discussed in depth the state of the electronic music media in UK with Eamonn Forde (Journalist; Music Ally/The Guardian) who have published one of the most influential PhD's in Music Journalism,|| Carly Wilford (Presenter, DJ & Creator; IAmMusic & Sister) who has managed to develop her career from blogger into a viable music bussiness consultant, | Damian Lepp (Owner; Decoded) from Australia who talked about their successful publication,| Mikey Maguire (Publisher; Wunderground) who was the focus of many questions from the audience as his web site Wunderground attempts to treat electronic music scene with satirical point of view that many Dj's doesn't seem to understand their humour and they have many complaints from certain artists and | Ralph Moore (Editor; Mixmag & Moore Media) who has explained how Mixmag has manage to diversify into other outlets with influential soundcloud and YouTube channel with live dj sets. The outcome of this great discussion was the belief that we are leaving through very exciting times that print media and digital media seems to complement each other rather than the digital media eradicating the print media as many may have feared. Still djs and electronic music artists want to see themselves in the cover of music magazines.
The 2nd panel of the day Jamie Hughes (Director of Partnerships; Songkick) || Farhana Aboo (Marketing Manager; AEI Media) | Mark Mulligan (Founder, MD & Analyst; Midia Research) | Rosie Foster (Director of Marketing; 100 Management) | Terry Weerasinghe (Beatport; VP of Music Services) at the professional theatre have discussed the opportunities that streaming offers to the music industry and what companies and artists can learn from the wide volume of data usage of their music from their digital customers.
Next very important panel was The Commercial Conundrum at the academy theatre. The panel of experts Nick Halkes (Managing Director; Incentive Music Management) || Funkagenda (Artist) | Marcus Nasty (A&R/DJ; Rinse) | Rob Baldwin (Booking Manager; Deltic Group) | Tim Binns (A&R Director; New State Entertainment) | Yousef (Artist) have discussed if commercial success and underground credibility are still vital concepts in the electronic music scene and they have demonstrated that being commercially successful doesn't mean artists and DJs loose their touch with the electronic music subculture.
Next on the academy theatre Chris Goss (Managing Director; Hospital Records) || Cooly G (Artist) | Hyroglifics (Artist) | Marcus Nasty (A&R/DJ; Rinse) | Pavan Mukhi (Foreign Beggars / Brapp TV) have explored what it takes to move from being a bedroom dj to become a mainstage superstar dj. Very revealing insights were offered to the audience from the personal experiences of the panelists who have attempted to tell things as they are and offer some guidance and advice to the upcoming talents.
On the professional theatre top experts have explained how the licensing of sampled parts in any electronic music works and the procedure that any artist should follow in order to get the permission from the original artist to use parts of his original track. The distinguished panel of Dean Marsh (Managing Director; Creative Law & Business) || Alison Hook (Head of Sampling & Copyright Infringement; EMI/Sony Music Publishing) | Andrew Sharland (Leading Partner; Clintons) | Jules O’Riordan aka Judge Jules (DJ/Lawyer; Sheridans) | Nadav Poraz (CEO; Who Sampled) | Peter Oxendale (Forensic Musicologist; Peter Oxendale Musical Services) | Saranne Reid (GM; Crown Manangement & Managing Director; Sample Clearance Service) have explored sampling from wide variety of angles and offered clear and concise guidance to artists and record labels.
One of the most talk about issues came up in the next panel at the professional theatre and that was gender equality and particularly the actions that women should take in order to make stronger their presence in the music industry. The panel of Carly Wilford (Presenter, DJ & Creator; IAmMusic & Sister) || Alison Wenham (CEO; AIM) | Halina Wielogorska (Solicitor; Clintons) | Lucy Blair (Director; Motive Unknown) | Ralf Kollmann (Founder & Managing Director; Mobilee) described the working conditions for women in the music industry and the right of women to be able to raise their children and continue their successful careers by combining their two vital roles.
The 2nd day keynote panel at the professional theatre Mark Lawrence (CEO; AFEM) || Francis Gane (Director; Demo Box) | Herman Verkade (Owner; Musiqware) | Paul Hamill (Chief Navigator; Inflyte) | Tristan Hunt (Business Development & Marketing Manager; Audio Lock) | Yuri Dokter (CEO; DJ Monitor) have discussed the opportunities and the challenges that digital technology offers to artists and record labels mainly for monetising the usage of their music in dj sets at clubs and festivals.
On the academy theatre with simply terminology Tina Hart (Membership & Outreach Manager; MPA) ||Helen Papaleontiou (Manager of Samples & Copyright Infringement; Sony/ATV Music Publishing | Justin Perry (Managing Director; Proof Songs) | Simon Harris (Managing Director; Minds On Fire) have discussed what music publishers can provide for artists and how artists and labels can make better use of music publishers services.
The very varied panel of Carly Wilford (Presenter, DJ & Creator; IAmMusic & Sister) || Applebottom (Artist) | Cooly G (Artist) | De$ignated (Artist) | Hyroglifics (Artist) | Lauren Lo Sung (Artist) | Yousef (Artist) discussed with the audience about the challenges that DJ's come across in their careers and what kind of strategies they should adopt in order to reach their goals.
The extremely vital subject of Video Marketing was discussed next in the professional theatre with Mark Mulligan (Founder, MD & Analyst; Midia Research) || Claire Mass (Head of Digital; Communication Music Group) | Farhana Aboo (Marketing Manager; AEI Media) | Patrick Ross (Head of Digital Marketing; AWAL & Kobalt Label Services) | Paul Chivers (Brand Partnership Manager; Twitter) exploring the incredible opportunities that music video streaming services offer to artists and the difficulty of music video hosting services like YouTube to offer the right share of their profits to artists and labels.
The final panel in the professional theatre of Mark Lawrence (CEO; AFEM) || Chris Goss (Managing Director; Hospital Records) | Duncan King (Partner; Tempo Music Management) | Halina Wielogorska (Solicitor; Clintons) | Terry Weerasinghe (VP of Music Services; Beatport) discussed the pros and cons of EDM as music genre and explored the rise of the fall of it.
The final panel in the academy theatre Nick Dunn (CEO; Horus Music) || Darren Braddick (Partner; Krafted Music) | Jules O’Riordan aka Judge Jules (DJ/Lawyer; Sheridans) have attempted to navigate the future of electronic music scene with topics such as digital downloads, streaming and even the rise of vinyl sales mainly for special pressings like picturediscs from mainstream artists.
On the igloo theater during the whole 2nd day djs had the chance to experience demonstration of the latest equipment and learn the tips and tricks for better creative dj experience behind the decks.
Finally the globally loved and respected Toolroom records during the 2nd day at the venue DeadWax Social had demo drop sessions, productions demonstration, careers panel and finally dj sets from their fantastic rooster of artists.
Brighton Music Conference has definitely made considerable improvements from the previous two years and have raised the standards for the next year. It is definitely one of the conferences that you should put in your diary to attend in order to learn, get inspired and connect with professionals who can advance your career in the next level.
Here you can read the review of the 1st day at the Brighton Music Conference
Here you can read the review of the 1st day at the Brighton Music Conference
Thanks to James, Matt at Alchemy and the Brighton Music Conference organisation comitte for having me as press at Brighton Music Conference.
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