MIDEM's director has spoken about the importance of the annual conference for the UK industry with Brexit looming.
As the event kicks off in Cannes (June 4-7), Alexandre Deniot has urged British music executives to use MIDEM as a showcase for the UK industry to “show how powerful and strong the UK market is”.
“We have a very strong relationship with the UK, and we are going to continue to work closely with them to build bridges with the international music community,” he said. “We are the biggest international platform and we will support our UK community.”
While Brexit is on the agenda during the conference via a session exploring its impact on touring, Deniot stressed MIDEM is growing its connections and opportunities beyond Europe. Not only is it partnering with Atlanta’s A3C hip-hop conference, but they have targeted Africa, Latin America and Asia with bespoke events before Cannes.
“We have more delegates from around the world than ever,” said Deniot. “We have 14 new countries coming for the first time including Costa Rica, Thailand and Senegal. The music industry is growing right now, we have high potential markets like Africa, Latin America and Asia that are growing fast. We live in a global music community and MIDEM is the perfect platform to welcome all of them.”
We have more delegates from around the world than ever
Alexandre Deniot
The UK representatives this year include Blur’s Dave Rowntree, who will appear at 3.45pm on Thursday (June 6) in conversation with Music Week editor Mark Sutherland. In another of the week’s hotly-anticipated sessions, outgoing Recording Academy CEO & president Neil Portnow will be quizzed by Music Week's editor at 10.45am on Friday (June 7) in the Worldwide Village.
There also keynotes from Troy Carter and Epic Records' Sylvia Rhone.
Having grown its attendance in 2018, the conference’s first increase in several years, Deniot added that MIDEM is not just aiming to attract executives from more countries, it has a new audience in mind for 2019: artists.
“We are putting artists and creativity at the centre of everything we’re doing,” he explained, outlining a new artist hub which will host speeches, panels and workshop aimed at music creators.
“It’s a fully equipped studio where artists can record live in public,” he added. “Music never sleeps at MIDEM. It is, of course, a place where business is done, but we also wanted to give a bigger voice to artists. It’s very important that we put a light on creativity.”
