“Are You Ready To Innovate In The Digital Marketplace?”

There is one Golden Rule in business: in times of dramatic market transition, only those able to innovate in order to tap into the ensuing opportunities while facing down the challenges will succeed. The music industry is no less immune to this Golden Rule than is any other business.

MusicDish LLC founder Eric de Fontenay and MusicDish.com Editor on Chief Anne Freeman will be giving a workshop entitled “Are You Ready To Innovate In The Digital Marketplace?” during the MIDEM 2007 conference on January 24th 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM in Auditorium K of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. The workshop will examine the implications of the digital revolution on the media and retail markets - the very channels relied upon to reach consumers - and how rightsholders are developing new models and strategies to reach the marketplace.

An official media sponsor of MIDEM 2007, MusicDish LLC will be representing an exciting roster of acts covering World, Reggae/ Calypso, Folk, Country, Dance/Pop, Electro-Groove Rock and Classic Rock. More information is available at http://www.musicdish.net/midem/

About The Workshop
There is broad consensus that progressive digitization of the music industry, from the studio to the retail product and finally the marketplace itself, is transforming the way music is produced, packaged and distributed. At the same time, digitization is changing traditional media markets. With the explosion in new distribution platforms, from satellite radio to MySpace, consumers are enjoying greater flexibility, choice and control over music products, a process that started with the 8-Track and has culminated in peer-to-peer file sharing and the iPod.

But there is much less consensus with regard to how the industry must react and transform in response to these market changes, in part because technological changes are challenging the industry’s fundamental approach to marketing and selling music. For example, the shift from broadcast platforms (radio/TV) to digital platforms, such as social network sites, has fundamentally changed the flow of communication between music providers and music consumers. What once was a one-to-many, unidirectional monologue controlled by music providers has transformed into a to many-to-many, multidirectional conversation between music providers and music consumers as well as between music consumers, and no one appears to have much control.

One important byproduct of the digitalization of the music industry is the rising power and importance of niche markets. Traditional marketing strategies to reach mass markets will prove inadequate in an increasingly fragmented market of niche sectors. The importance of advertising thus wanes as guerilla and viral marketing allow artist and labels to reach consumers directly and more cost effectively.

The workshop will go beyond a synthesis of the market changes created by digitization to a discussion about how labels, artists and others in the music industry must now approach marketing and selling music during a dramatic market transition. Concrete and practical strategies on how to tackle some of the important choices facing today’s music industry decision maker will be presented. As such, the workshop is meant to provide a framework for decision makers considering how to internally innovate to succeed.

Specifically, the workshop will examine issues related to:

(i) The cost of marketing and the trade-off between DIY & capital;
(ii) Brand and content development;
(iii) New distribution and retail models;
(iv) Saturated marketing through syndication and street teaming;
and,
(v) Relationship marketing through social networks.

http://www.musicdish.com