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Business News Education & Events Gigs & Festivals The Great Escape 2011 Top Stories
The Great Escape kicks off in Brighton
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 12 May 2011
So, The Great Escape is go, people. Europe’s leading festival for new music and the UK’s biggest music business convention is up and running as you read this. Taking over Brighton for three days, hundreds of bands from across the world will play, while on the convention side over 100 industry leaders and innovators will speak.
As much previously plugged, Team CMU have programmed the TGE convention this year. Speaking ahead of the convention’s kick off this morning, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke said this…
“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”.
So, there you have it. The Great Escape runs until Saturday. You’ll find more information at www.escapegreat.com, and you can check out the full convention programme and all our coverage of the event as it unfolds at www.theCMUwebsite.com/thegreatescape
