I write this early on the morning after the Music Week Sync Awards. Maybe it’s the hangover, maybe it’s the flood of joyful tweets from last night’s winners or maybe it’s just Taylor Swift’s lost emo classic Speak Now playing on the office stereo (Back To December gets me every time), but there are definitely some fuzzy feelings flying around the biz.
Music Week held two events last week, our pre-Women In Music meet-up and the aforementioned sync shindig.
At both, the prevailing mood was collaboration and cooperation rather than competition.
At the Sync Awards, execs from Universal and Sony embraced, having worked together on winning placements.
And at Women In Music, you couldn’t help but note the support network around past, present and future honourees.
Like all businesses, the music industry needs a competitive edge in the struggle for chart positions, headline slots and the big sync deals. But it’s clear that the industry’s best work often comes when different sectors and companies combine.
As the feelgood factor returns to the biz after a run of upwardly mobile sales figures, the pressure for success may well increase, but hopefully the potential for teamwork will remain.
After all, there are still a number of challenges ahead – Brexit, YouTube, secondary ticketing – that will require the biz to stick together rather than fall out.
So if we can hang on to those fuzzy feelings after the hangover fades, the benefits will be there for all. And Taylor’s lyrics about not having to be mean will ring truer than ever.
Mark Sutherland, Editor
msutherland@nbmedia.com
FOLLOW 
