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Brands & Merch Business News Education & Events Labels & Publishers The Great Escape 2013
Artist brands and the challenges of communicating copyright tackled at Great Escape IP-themed sessions
By CMU @ TGE | Published on Tuesday 14 May 2013
Music rights will once again go under the spotlight at The Great Escape this year, though possibly in different ways than you might expect.
On Thursday the focus will be on artist brands, which means the intellectual property being considered will be trademarks. The session, ‘Managing The B[r]and’ is being presented by ACUMEDIA, the year-round programme of networking, panels and live music organised by Brighton-based ACUMEN Media Law, and ACUMEN’s Josh Little (pictured) will be explaining how trademarks work, what can be trademarked, and how artists might going about protecting this IP.
He will be joined by a panel of industry experts bringing insights on how artists can develop, extend and commercialise their brands, whether through a more sophisticated approach to merchandise, or by developing new spin-off products, or by forming brand partnerships. AMP’s Louise Minter, Signature Brew’s Sam McGregor and Universal Music’s Jennifer Hills will all take part in the session, that kicks off at 11am in Dukes@Komedia 2, with ACUMEDIA networking in the Dukes Bar afterwards.
On Friday at 2.30pm in Dukes@Komedia 1, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke will lead a debate on the challenges of ‘communicating copyright’, with Sentric Music’s Chris Meehan, Henley Business School’s Helen Gammons, First Column Management’s Phil Nelson and the Music Managers’ Forum’s John Webster.
Says Cooke: “Everyone agrees that any punitive anti-piracy measures should be backed up by education programmes, to educate the public on the rights and wrongs, and maybe even the benefits of copyright. But what does that mean? Are we talking the school curriculum, or ISPs writing to their customers, or massive PR campaigns? And given what a dry subject intellectual property can be, is the idea that piracy can be stopped through education a little bit idealistic? I look forward to mulling this over with a great panel on Friday”.
The Great Escape, with its CMU Insights-programmed convention, kicks off at 10.30am on Thursday. Festival tickets and delegate passes have now completely sold out, though some stand-alone tickets are still available for the programme of shows at the Brighton Dome and Concorde 2 – details here.
