Face to Face with the Millenials
Event Info
Thu 17 Jul, 2008 - Thu 1 Jan, 1970 from 12:30pm - 1:00am
Imagination Gallery
South Cresent, 25 Store Street
London, UK
Cost: standard = £99.88, trade-body members = £82.25, members = £64.63
Description
Following the recently acclaimed ‘Meet The Millennials’ report, MusicTank has invited its author and Nettwerk Music Group’s Co-Founder & CEO Terry McBride to the UK to take part in a very special music business initiative. Challenged to put his philosophy into practice, Terry will not only debate his ideas with fellow professionals but in a unique experiment, be confronted with an up and coming British act for whom he will roadmap a path to success live on stage. With nowhere to hide this will be the ultimate test of Terry’s beliefs and skills.Delivering the keynote address, Terry will expound on his report’s findings, delivering a valuable insight into the minds of those he has dubbed ‘Millennials’ and who hold the future of the music business in their hands. How do we connect with this generation, where do they congregate online, what do they regard as a fair price for music and what do they think of bands’ interactions with brands? All these issues and more will be looked at in detail as we take stock of a day and age where the Millennials are no longer content to just sit back and passively consume music. We’ll also consider whether, with over 11 million downloads last year of tracks for the Rock Band and Guitar Hero III games alone, getting that record deal should still be the be all and end all of an aspiring band’s career.
Following Terry’s address we will open the debate up to the delegates, with those present having a chance to quiz Terry in detail. And since we’re all desperately trying to read the minds of the ‘Millennial’ generation we also figured that we should hear directly from them. To which end we’ve assembled a panel ranging in age from 15 to 23 to tell us, unfiltered by marketing departments or research groups, exactly what they think of Terry’s views. Does this outspoken Canadian really get what British teenagers want from their favourite acts? What do they really think of Myspace, Facebook et al? Would it bother them if the next album they bought had a Nike Swoosh on the back rather than a Universal globe? Only one way to find out…
The conference will conclude with the start of a unique music business experiment: would Terry’s more ‘out-there’ ideas work in the real world and would they work with an up and coming act that doesn’t yet have an established fan-base or label behind them? We’ll find out when we unveil an act whom in collaboration with invited representatives from digital marketing companies, e-tailers, digital distributors, brand specialists and games companies, Terry will work with to create a 360-degree, mould-breaking roadmap for a successful year ahead.
Together we’ll look at ways of converting the act’s ‘tribe’ of fans into active agents working towards the artist’s success, the benefits of releasing stems and experimenting with fan mixes, price tipping points, deals with brands, even ways of sidestepping the industry altogether and releasing repertoire via the fan base, P2P communities or in conjunction with non music industry companies – with lessons to be learned for acts of all genres and stages of their career.
The experiment won’t stop here though and with a year long plan of action set out we’ll be closely monitoring the band’s progress over the months ahead to see exactly how much use experimental ideas are in the real world.
The day also sees us celebrate MusicTank’s fifth anniversary, so the serious business of reshaping the future of the music industry will be followed by the even more serious business of drinking and celebrating.
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