Just back from MIDEM. I will write a separate post about my experience at the event, but I wanted to share on my blog an op-ed I wrote for the MIDEM site shortly before Barack Obama was inaugurated.

I had the experience of watching the inauguration while at MIDEM, on big screens at the American Association of Independent Music booth (A2IM). The tradeshow literally came to a standstill during the speech. See photos above.

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MidemNet Op-Ed: Music In The Obama Cabinet?

I’ve been going to MIDEM for years and I’ve always been impressed by the enormous presence that various government-funded offices have at the tradeshow. The UK, Norway, Denmark, Spain, even small Switzerland all have big booths promoting music, musicians and music companies from their countries. I assume all of them spend major money because they realize that music is a viable and profitable exporting good (or is it a service)?

Can you really separate music from the culture that created it? Bjork is quintessentially Icelandic; ABBA is every bit as Swedish as SAAB; and every artist that’s ever come out of the UK, sounds, well… British.

At the Sonicbids showcases at Magic Mirrors we have music from 10 different countries ranging from the Faroe Islands to South Africa. I can assure you that every one of these artists carries with them a part of their cultural identity that is embodied in their music.

That cultural identity not only shapes our perception of the music that we hear, but also our perception of the “brand” of the very country that the music is originating from. In marketing parlance, this is called “brand transference”. Michael Jordan is Nike; and Nike is Michael Jordan. The Beatles are British; and 1960’s Britain is the Beatles.

Conspicuously absent from MIDEM in an official capacity is the USA. There are plenty of American companies attending of course (including Sonicbids) and there is an “American” stand at A2IM, but nothing really “official”. It’s the elephant that’s not in the room.

That’s because the US government has always been blind to what makes the USA, American. No, it’s not the economic or military might that this outgoing administration has brandished unabashedly over the past eight years. For millions of people (including me, growing up in Cyprus), America is pop culture and music. It’s Elvis, and Springsteen, and Miles Davis; it’s Madonna, and Nirvana and Tupac and yes, Britney Spears (I could go on and on).

It’s amazing to me that even though millions of people’s perception of the US is shaped by American pop culture, the US government has historically chosen to all but ignore music and the arts as a strategic imperative. There are few official programs that young American bands can tap into to help export their music to another country. There is almost no assistance provided to emerging American music companies that can help them compete in what is an increasingly global marketplace.

So, if music and culture are so darn important for brand America, why has the US Government all but ignored it? My guess is that like with many other “nuanced” issues, it gets caught up in all kinds of political wrangling. Brushed aside as too mushy or too fuzzy or too lefty.

Maybe the incoming Obama administration — one that I am hoping is more astute and more sensitive to what makes American culture and music so prevalent and so beloved – will finally give American music the prominence that it deserves in US foreign policy.

A US Secretary of Culture anyone?

Panos

January is usually a get-back-on-the-saddle-month for most but at Sonicbids it’s always a run-run-run one from the get-go. That’s because it kicks off an intense schedule of back-to back conferences all the way from now until South By Southwest in mid-March. Lot’s of fun music ahead though — that’s what keeps me going.

Anyway, I am heading over to Europe tomorrow to attend two of my favorite events: Eurosonic (Netherlands) and MIDEM (France). There are a number of Sonicbids artists performing at both events and two of them (Ghost from Faroe Islands; and Hjaltalin from Iceland) and playing at both. Wow.

I am especially proud of the fact that at Eurosonic we are helping pay part of the travel costs for the 8 Sonicbids artists playing; and at MIDEM, we are co-sponsoring a state-of-the-art stage with Activision/Blizzard’s Guitar Hero called Magic Mirrors. (Worth noting that prior to our involvement dating back to 2005, MIDEM did not have a dedicated stage to emerging talent). There are another 16 Sonicbids artist playing on that stage.

Here are the names of the bands (check them out):

FOR EUROSONIC:

Nina Kinert (Sweden)

The Ghost (The Faroe Islands)

Baskery (Sweden)

Sharko (Belgium)

Vincent Van Go Go (Denmark)

KAKKMADDAFAKKA (Norway)

Lonely Drifter Karen (Austria)

Hjaltalin (Iceland)

FOR MIDEM

Yodelice (France)

Scott McKeon (UK)

Sliimy (France)

The Ghost (The Faroe Islands)

Monica Giraldo (Colombia)

Matthew Andrae (USA)

Ndidi Onukwulu (Canada)

Mamas Gun (UK)

Charlie Winston (France)

Blue October (USA)

John Shannon (USA)

HOGNI (Denmark)

The Parlotones (South Africa)

Hjaltalin (Iceland)

Magnifico (Slovenia)

Rotary Downs (USA)

I am also speaking at Eurosonic on a panel about (what else?) music conferences, so if you are around pop by. Also, do visit our booth at MIDEM if you are attending. We’d love to see you.

More from the road.

Panos

I downloaded Shazam for my iPhone a few weeks ago and man, I love this app.

If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a simple little application for your mobile phone that enables you to discover new music. Say a song’s played on the radio and you want to know who it is. Just point your phone towards the speaker and.. Shazam! You know the band name, album title, bio for the artist, etc. You can even link to iTunes and download the song right then and there. I’ve found out about some great music from Glasvegas, The Script and an awesome Paul Oakenfold remix of Elvis stuff in the past couple of days.

Anyway, check it out. I think there’s some cool stuff that we can do with them here at Sonicbids. Proof that once again, innovation in the music business is coming from people outside the industry.

Panos

Happy New Year. It’s always fun to look ahead at the next 364 days and attempt to predict what’s in store. (This of course always leads to the inevitable mea culpa at the end of the year, but that’s half the fun).

Here we go:

•    The Artistic Middle Class will further expand. OK, I’m expected to say this. But we already see it at Sonicbids. As everyone is looking to cut costs, from movie studios and festivals, to advertising agencies and video game publishers, the pendulum will swing even further to lower-cost, high-quality, authentic-minded independent artists.

•    360 dealmakers will do a 180. Much has been said this past year about Live Nation and 360 deals including this blog. They just don’t make any sense. Look out for a high profile 360 deal to fall through before the end of the year.

•    Myriads of niche charts will render Billboard’s obsolete. There used to be a time when we were all slaves to Billboard’s charts. But who’s more influential today when it comes to breaking artists, Billboard or Stereogum? Billboard’s top 100 chart or iTunes’s top single downloads? Billboard’s top 200 or Last.fm?

•    It all comes down to Three. When I was in college it was the big six. Now it’s the lumbering four (Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony-BMG). Terra Firma, who bought EMI back in May 2007 is struggling to meet debt obligations. My prediction is that Warner Bros. will give a merger another go.

•    Bad Economy? Great music ahead. I get asked all the time if I think that the music business will be affected by the economy. Yes, but the artistic creation will actually be helped. Take a look at all the great music that’s been created in other tumultuous times like all the jazz during the great depression; the boundary-pushing music in the 60’s and 70’s; and the grunge movement in the early 90’s. Great music’s in store for the year.

•    An independent artist will win an Oscar. Oh, wait. That already happened last year with Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s “Falling Slowly” from “Once”. Maybe now NARAS (who organizes the Grammys) will actually wake up and recognize independent music.

An a totally gratuitous, non-music business one:

•    Arsenal will win the English Football Premier League. I said it was gratuitous.

Panos