Chart toppers Coldplay summed up the music industry's struggle to cross into the 21st century in the lyrics of their hit song "The Scientist": "Nobody said it was easy".
But the music and digital worlds are starting to sing the same tune, industry watchers said at the influential MIDEM music trade fair that closes doors here Thursday. Huge numbers of new ways of enjoying music are opening up on a plethora of devices and the hottest new mobile music genre to look out for could be the music video.
"There was a feeling of great activity and business" at this year's MIDEM, Dominique Leguern, the event's director, said at a press conference Wednesday."We've seen so many things happen but there is still a lot of progress to be made yet," Leguern told AFP. What's happened in the music business around the globe has been a revolution not an evolution, Leguern said. "Everything has changed" in the past three years but the way forward is clear now, she emphasised.
The music world was cautious to start out and didn't want a repeat of the "dot.com" bubble, Leguern said. But it was starting to throw off caution as digital proves itself to be the only way to go, she added.
Mobile and digital were the buzzwords at this year's MIDEM music extravaganza as industry insiders were joined by the largest turnout ever of the movers and shakers from the digital world.
Leguern said the sense of urgency to move increasingly into the digital arena was demonstrated by the huge success of the two-day MidemNet high-tech conferences that took place on the eve of the five-day MIDEM, which opened Sunday.
The MidemNet event was a sell-out and the organisers even had to turn people away. The enormous demand to participate in the new technology conferences, which Reed MIDEM expanded from one to two days to reflect the new trends, was also due to high quality of the speakers, Leguern said.
With 200 top-flight speakers from 35 countries, including digital and mobile leaders Japan and Korea, and the huge-potential Chinese and Indian markets, people were clamouring to get in on the act.
Mobile phone giants Nokia and Sony Ericsson -- which launched its Walkman music phone in last year -- came to MIDEM to show their wares for the first time. They were also joined by some of the biggest names in the online music business, including Apple's iTunes and Sony.
Nokia used the MIDEM opportunity to push its latest all-singing, all-dancing N91 multimedia phone, which will hold up to 3,000 of a music lover's favourite tracks.
And after ring tones, music downloads and the brand-new radio addition, music video downloads could be the next hot addition on mobile phones, Midem director Leguern told AFP.
The latest generation of high-speed 3G mobile phones are starting to take off around the world and changing the way we get content on the mobile, Leguern said.
"Who knows where it will lead?" she added. "Perhaps we will be able to download and watch live concerts next," was her prediction.
Leguern said that a total of 9,766 participants had signed up for the event as of January 24 -- six percent up from the same time last year -- and the final number could be close to 10,000, the organisers said.
More companies around the globe came to the event. In all, 4,635 attended from 93 countries attended -- also a six-percent rise from last year.
There was a particularly big turn out from the United States, which notched up 1,004 participants, whilst 260 flew in from Asia and scores more from other regions. — AFP Chart toppers Coldplay summed up the music industry's struggle to cross into the 21st century in the lyrics of their hit song "The Scientist": "Nobody said it was easy".
But the music and digital worlds are starting to sing the same tune, industry watchers said at the influential MIDEM music trade fair that closes doors here Thursday.
Huge numbers of new ways of enjoying music are opening up on a plethora of devices and the hottest new mobile music genre to look out for could be the music video.
"There was a feeling of great activity and business" at this year's MIDEM, Dominique Leguern, the event's director, said at a press conference Wednesday.
"We've seen so many things happen but there is still a lot of progress to be made yet," Leguern told AFP. What's happened in the music business around the globe has been a revolution not an evolution, Leguern said. "Everything has changed" in the past three years but the way forward is clear now, she emphasised.
The music world was cautious to start out and didn't want a repeat of the "dot.com" bubble, Leguern said. But it was starting to throw off caution as digital proves itself to be the only way to go, she added.
Mobile and digital were the buzzwords at this year's MIDEM music extravaganza as industry insiders were joined by the largest turnout ever of the movers and shakers from the digital world.
Leguern said the sense of urgency to move increasingly into the digital arena was demonstrated by the huge success of the two-day MidemNet high-tech conferences that took place on the eve of the five-day MIDEM, which opened Sunday.
The MidemNet event was a sell-out and the organisers even had to turn people away. The enormous demand to participate in the new technology conferences, which Reed MIDEM expanded from one to two days to reflect the new trends, was also due to high quality of the speakers, Leguern said.
With 200 top-flight speakers from 35 countries, including digital and mobile leaders Japan and Korea, and the huge-potential Chinese and Indian markets, people were clamouring to get in on the act.
Mobile phone giants Nokia and Sony Ericsson -- which launched its Walkman music phone in last year -- came to MIDEM to show their wares for the first time. They were also joined by some of the biggest names in the online music business, including Apple's iTunes and Sony.
Nokia used the MIDEM opportunity to push its latest all-singing, all-dancing N91 multimedia phone, which will hold up to 3,000 of a music lover's favourite tracks.
And after ring tones, music downloads and the brand-new radio addition, music video downloads could be the next hot addition on mobile phones, Midem director Leguern told AFP.
The latest generation of high-speed 3G mobile phones are starting to take off around the world and changing the way we get content on the mobile, Leguern said.
"Who knows where it will lead?" she added. "Perhaps we will be able to download and watch live concerts next," was her prediction.
Leguern said that a total of 9,766 participants had signed up for the event as of January 24 -- six percent up from the same time last year -- and the final number could be close to 10,000, the organisers said.
More companies around the globe came to the event. In all, 4,635 attended from 93 countries attended -- also a six-percent rise from last year.
There was a particularly big turn out from the United States, which notched up 1,004 participants, whilst 260 flew in from Asia and scores more from other regions.
Source: http://www.todayonline.com
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