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Business News Education & Events The Great Escape 2011
TGE: Chat with Convention Programmer Chris Cooke
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 6 May 2011
CMU Business Editor and TGE Convention Programmer Chris Cooke answers some questions about this year’s Great Escape.
Q: What’s your role in The Great Escape?
A: I’m overseeing the programming of the convention side of things – liaising with all our various content partners, and directly programming about a third of the sessions. It’s the first time The Great Escape has had one person coordinating all the content of the convention. The TGE team felt that, as the convention grows in size each year, there was an increasing need for someone to fill that role. As a result, all the events in the convention progamme should slot together better, and whichever part of the industry you come from, and whatever your interests, you should find a healthy selection of our sessions are of interest to you, and that there is a logical way you can navigate what’s on offer.
Q: Why have you joined with The Great Escape this year?
A: In the thirteen years since we set up CMU we’ve often talked about launching our own conference for music business people. Reporting on all aspects of the music business, and the music world at large, on a daily basis, means we have a unique perspective on how this industry is evolving after a decade of turmoil and change, and it’s great to have the opportunity to share that viewpoint, and bring together the people we most admire who are crafting the new music business.
But it seemed silly to set up something new when there was such a great event already in everyone’s diaries, just one hour from my desk, that was already bringing together all the key people in music, not to mention putting on the best programme of new bands I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, when Team TGE approached us about getting involved it didn’t take long to work out this was the perfect partnership!
Q: What are the key themes at the TGE convention?
A: I suppose the over-riding theme this year – as with all years really – is how can we go about monetising, and therefore launching and developing, new music and new artists in the digital age? The answers to that question are probably to be found in the grass roots industry, where the change has already happened and new approaches are being employed. Our convention this year is a celebration of those new approaches, and the people devising, testing and leading them.
There are a number of other content themes that appear in our programme.
The direct to fan phenomenon will come up a number of times, not least with Will Page’s keynote involving Topspin, Bandcamp and Soundcloud. We’ll also look at the future of ticketing, and selling tickets direct to fans, plus we have case studies on how Musicmetrics and Mobile Roadie are helping artists understand and engage their fanbases.
Digital is, of course, an important topic. I’m really looking forward to Duncan Geere from Wired magazine’s review of where we are at with regards digital music, and the panel looking at the different kinds of digital services out there and asking the all important question: which ones of these will stay the distance? And the big issue for me in the digital world is licensing – have we got digital licensing right? Probably not. I’ll be chairing a debate (and possibly a fist fight, it’s a contentious topic) on this very issue.
There’ll be an international flavour to the proceedings as usual – The Great Escape being very much about linking the UK, European and global music industries. PPL will host a panel offering practical advice on taking your projects global, while we’ll have specific sessions on the US and Eastern European markets. For those specifically interested in the live sector, look out for our sessions on ticketing, touring the USA, and HMV boss Simon Fox’s keynote, which will focus on all things live.
And finally, some of our sessions will be looking at how music companies, and the artist label relationship, is changing. In particular, looking out for BPI Chair Tony Wadsworth’s Music Tank keynote on this very topic, and the panel that will follow it.
Q: The music business has been through a difficult decade, are you optimistic about the future?
A: As Business Editor of CMU Daily I am frequently asked for comments by other media on the music business. Usually it’s when more gloom has crossed over into the mainstream news agenda – piracy is up, record sales are down, revenues are falling, music businesses are struggling, major record companies are being repossessed.
And yet, probably to the annoyance of a doom-hungry news media, I remain stubbornly optimistic about the future of the music business. Artists continue to innovate while fans continue to be thrilled by musical innovation, and, despite what you hear, most of them are still willing to pay to be part of our party. It’s just that they want to spend their money via different routes, and we, as the business that exists to enable musicians to develop their sound, reach an audience and live off their art, have to get better at identifying where the money is, and how to link that income to new talent investment.
It’s sounds complicated, I know, but people are already doing it, and it’s this ‘new music business’ that we are here to discuss, discover and celebrate at The Great Escape. We have over 100 leaders and innovators speaking, and we hope that by listening to them our delegates will be inspired, informed and motivated to continue scouting, developing, funding, distributing, promoting, producing, making, marketing and enjoying great new music.
