As I think we just mentioned, it was the International Live
Music Conference in London this weekend, and CMU took part in a debate organised by MusicTank on the state of the student gig circuit.
CMU surveyed numerous people working in students' union entertainments regarding their live music programmes - to see whether the college gig circuit that former Virgin Records President Paul Conroy reminisced of in his key note address at the session still existed, and if not whether it was worth recreating.
CMU's survey found that, while the college gig circuit was nothing like its seventies and eighties heyday, mainly due to increased competition and a changing student demographic, live music on campus is back on the up and, with a little bit of coordination, college venues could still provide artists with a valuable touring circuit.
As it happens, the NUS's commercial division NUS Services is currently working on creating such a network and, while everyone agreed there were many challenges in delivering such a network, there was some real support for such a network to exist.
Anyway, to get the full lowdown you really should go to http://www.cmumusic network.co.uk/alwaysreadthelabel where you will find the report
CMU prepared for the seminar.