Talking of EMI, the boss of the music firm's struggling recorded music division, Elio Leoni-Sceti, has been talking about, erm, well, stuff. The need to innovate and listen to consumers mainly.
The EMI man has been giving his thoughts about the state of the music industry ten years on from the arrival of the original Napster, following confirmation he will take part in the first big Creativity And Business International Network conference, or c&binet for short, which will take place somewhere in Hertfordshire in October. This, in case you wondered, is the big networking bash for the creative industries, which was set up by former Culture Minister Andy Burnham who kept on saying it was going to be like a cultural version of Davos, not realising that to most people in the creative industries 'Davos' is just a misspelling of The Doctor's biggest foe, and not a big annual Alpine shindig for credit crunch causing capitalists.
Anyway, here's what Elio wrote: "Britain's creative businesses are world leaders when it comes to nurturing creative talent and working with innovative artists, but we must complement our artists' creativity with our own skills in innovation. That means listening to the desires and needs of consumers and delivering new products and services that they want to buy".
He continues: "Looking at the music industry, which has become something of a bellwether for other media businesses, we have a situation where 70% of music consumption is digital and yet only about 20% of music company revenues are derived from digital. Music is in demand and the demand is growing all the time, but we've clearly lost touch with our consumers. I passionately believe that if we listen to our consumers, this gap will become our opportunity. I very much look forward to hearing the views of creative industry leaders at the c&binet forum and, of course, those of government who have a crucial role in creating an environment where both technology companies and content investors will thrive".
So that's nice. There's more about c&binet at www.cabinetforum.org. The boss of Universal Music owners Vivendi, Jean-Bernard Levy, has also been confirmed as a speaker.