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Global Digital Markets strand added to The Great Escape, Dan Le Sac and CMU to survey artist community on all things digital

By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 21 February 2014

Following this week’s stats from the BPI confirming that half of the UK music industry’s recorded music income now pretty much comes from digital, let’s have some details about the second CMU Insights-programmed convention strand taking place at The Great Escape in Brighton this coming May: Global Digital Markets.

This half-day session will explore how digital is performing in all the key markets around the world, with insights on what kinds of digital services – download v streams, subscription v ads, web v mobile – are making an impact where, in terms of both users and revenues. A focus will also fall on two of the big questions of the moment: ‘Are streaming services simply too expensive to go mass market?’ and ‘What do artists really think about digital?’

To answer the latter question, CMU Insights is teaming up with artist and producer Dan Le Sac to conduct an exclusive survey on the UK artist and manager community over the next two months, questioning creators about royalties, upsell and other digital matters. Le Sac will then present the findings as part of the Global Digital Markets strand in May.

Says Le Sac: “Whether or not you agree with Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, the debate they initiated in the artist community about Spotify et al has been an important one. As new digital services rush to sign up labels and publishers, the artist community often gets left out of the conversation. I look forward to finding out what digital issues concern artists and managers in 2014, and where the artist community sees the opportunities as digital becomes the primary way we distribute our music”.

Leading the debate on whether streaming can now go mass market will be the founders of two digital services who reckon their alternative approaches have more mainstream potential, Oleg Fomenko, founder of Bloom.fm, and Chris Gorman, founder of O2 Tracks operator MusicQubed. After which a panel of experts from across the music community will discuss the digital challenges and opportunities they anticipate in the next five years.

Officially announcing the latest convention strand, TGE Director Kat Morris told CMU: “In the eight years since The Great Escape launched, digital music has evolved rapidly, those changes being documented each year in our convention. With digital now accounting for half of the record industry’s income in the UK, and even more in a number of other markets, we look forward to discussing where it’s all heading next this May, and in ensuring artists are part of that debate”.

As previously reported, CMU Insights will present six half-day strands as part of this year’s TGE Convention, including the already announced Maximising Music Rights, supported by PPL and PRS For Music. On top of that there will be a programme of conversations and networking events, plus, of course, the small matter of the parties, showcases and 400+ great new bands that will play in Brighton over three days. A delegates pass getting you entry to all this is currently available at the special early bird rate of £145, but not for much longer, so get yours today here.