The Great Escape 2011

TGE Previews: The music company of the future

By | Published on Wednesday 20 April 2011

The Great Escape

Every day in CMU this month we are previewing a different session taking place at this year’s CMU-programmed Great Escape convention, which takes place from 12-14 May at the Brighton Dome.

One of our big panels this year will consider what the music company of the future will look like. With record companies moving into live, merchandising and brand partnerships, while distributors and management agencies launch labels, it seems clear that music companies moving forward will have more diverse operations than in the past (so much so, the term ‘record company’ becomes arguably defunct). But how will these diverse companies work? And what will their relationships with artists be? Will artists sign to these new look companies outright, will deals look like traditional record contracts, or will they be more like business deals or JV arrangements?

Providing their input will be an excellent panel coming from both record company and management backgrounds. Former EMI Music UK & Ireland chief Tony Wadsworth, who has been speaking to other senior industry people about this very issue of late, will lead the debate with a keynote. Then offering their viewpoints will be, from the indie sector, Cooking Vinyl boss Martin Goldschmidt, and from the management side UK-based Iain Watt and Australia-based Catherine Haridy, both of whom have set up incubator labels.

This panel takes place on the Friday of the convention. To get into it, plus to attend all the other great panels, sessions, parties and gigs taking place at The Great Escape this year, get your delegates pass from escapegreat.com.



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