I was part of a Music Tank panel about new strategies for music in London last night. Apparently people are just giving the stuff away!

I was invited to come and speak at an event in London, organised by CIDA with assistance from Music Tank. I’d taken issue with some promotion in the past that Music Tank had put out, and was expecting a fairly frosty reception, but everyone was very nice.

While I’m on that, I should say that I maintain that the promotional piece itself was preposterous (”epic industry war against the global menace of illegal filesharing”?), but happily concede that this is not Music Tank’s stock-in-trade. Which I offer here as apology for over-reaction. Sorry, guys.

The seminar was about the problem (opportunity?) of free music, and was keynoted in brief by Guy Parsons. He pretty much ticked all the boxes: Free as in ‘beer’ vs Free as in ’speech’; Creative Commons licensing; confusing ‘music’ with ‘recordings’… and he had lots of parallel insight from the software startup and gaming world, which I think illustrated some good points.

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I went to the Gigbeth conference on Thursday, and met some very nice people who had a range of things to say about the music business and technology — ranging from the insightful to the hilarious.

Peter Jamieson (BPI) celebrates the record industry’s future

Gigbeth is billed as The UK’s most diverse music festival. Well, perhaps, but the interesting bit (at least for my purposes) is what happens to the conference that kicks it off as a result of its connections with the Learning and Skills Council.

A mix of music industry professionals and music educators all end up in the same room together, and have some conversations that, in almost any other context, would completely fail to take place.

I was involved to the extent that I was on one of the panels, and chaired a rather interesting and controversial session in which six teenage girls (young teens, that is — 14 years old for the most part) discussed their music consumption practices. In short — they download, listen for a bit, then delete. Typically no money changes hands.

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Welcome to Swindon, where the future will be happening soon.

Hi. We’re the music people of Swindon. Let’s talk.

One of the things I’ve noticed about different towns and cities that I’ve visited is that there are (as you’d expect) so many of the same concerns and challenges that you find anywhere else — but even more interestingly, there’s a real local flavour to the overall tone of the music sector.

I visited Swindon yesterday, and spoke at a Borough Council organised event called the Swindon Music Symposium to talk about opportunities and developments in the area for musicians and music business. Now, Swindon doesn’t have a really great reputation as a tourist spot — or even particularly as a hotspot for local music. In fact, as towns go, Swindon seems to consider itself as pretty much an ‘also-ran’.

Now while I’d argue that our inferiority complex in Birmingham is bigger and better than theirs, there’s a real self-belief problem that feeds into and off the general perception of Swindon as a bit of a non-place. But here’s what’s interesting: they’re clearly at the beginning of something big.

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I’ll be in New York this week. I suspect it’ll be a busy time, so apologies if that interferes with the speed of my email responses.

I’m off to the CMJ Music Marathon. Here’s what I’m going to be doing:

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Through the Looking Glass: The Near Future of the Music Business
Music industry visionaries discuss their well-informed opinions and predictions for the near future of music and the entertainment business.

MODERATOR:
Jason King NYU, Artistic Director of The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music

PANELISTS:
Andrew Dubber UCE Birmingham, Senior Lecturer in Music Industries
Celia Hirschman One Little Indian, US Representative
Jesse Kirshbaum Nu Universal Entertainment Agency, CEO
Allan Klepfisz Qtrax, CEO & Chairman

VENUE: Kimmel Center: Eisner & Lubin Auditorium
60 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012

DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
TIME: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

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If you’re around, then I hope to see you there. By all means, come and make yourself known. Other than this session there’s no shortage of things to occupy my attention. People to meet, things to attend.

Many thanks to all the people who have made my attendance at this event possible. I’ve had the t-shirt made, as promised, and will wear it at the panel session. Photos will be forthcoming.