The tenth edition of the digital bit of European music business conference Midem will take place from the 17-18 Jan next year, and ten years on the main debate will be on why Midem continue to have a separate conference for digital music, when digital is now such an integral part of the music business, everything discussed at the main Midem conference is pretty irrelevant without digital considerations.
No, not really. On the bill for MidemNet 2009 will be the founder of early download platform MP3.com, Michael Robertson; the former chair of the Recording Industry Association Of America, Hilary Rosen, who has become much more enlightened on all things digital since leaving the 'sue em till they die' trade association; and Eric Nicoli, the former EMI chief who, if the major's new owners are to be believed, made a pretty shabby effort of running a flagging music firm in the digital age. Still, he was the first major label chief to drop digital rights management, and for that he deserves some credit.
Confirming the line up, Midem Director Dominique Leguern told reporters: "Hilary Rosen, Eric Nicoli and Michael Robertson are emblematic figures of the decade, each of whom in very varied fields - at the head of an institution, of a major and in technological innovation - have left their imprint on the history of the industry. We are honoured that these major players have accepted to return to deliver keynotes for the 10th MidemNet so they can give their analysis of the past changes and the future direction of the sector".
For more info on Midem, I'd be going to this URL: www.midem.com