Midem updates: A business keynote, TuneCore’s CEO, and an indie label report

Here’s a collection of some noteworthy developments emerging from Cannes, where the music industry has descended for the Midem conference.

The opening keynote for the event gathered several industry leaders to talk about the future of music. The discussion had a heavy bent toward business, with interest in streaming. “They’re not a consumer goods business, they’re really an intellectual property business. You can’t judge them as you would judge Amazon,” said Joel Katz, Greenberg Traurig’s global entertainment and media group chairman. YouTube was also a point of note for the participants. “By the end of the summer I think you’ll see a new system or monetary compensation package that people will be much happier with,” Glassnote Entertainment Group President Daniel Glass said, adding that with any big change, “The revolution doesn’t begin at the top. The revolution always begins at the bottom.”

TuneCore CEO Scott Ackerman also addressed the role of YouTube in his session. He offered a different perspective on what the goals might be for digital channels. “For most of our artists, that is their number one thing – they want their music heard. It’s not about money,” he said. That’s not to say there aren’t financial channels, which he acknowledged, but framed it as “almost like found money.” Ackerman also offered some international projections, such as streaming making inroads in Japan and potentially China with the right approach.

The Worldwide Independent Network released a report about the financial impact of indies on the music market. The global market share for indie record labels was 37.6%, and valued at $5.6 billion in 2015. Market share can impact negotiations with music platforms from Apple, Google, and Spotify. The report also noted that indie labels play a part in assisting artists with to navigate the current digital marketplace outside of the mainstream models.

Anna Washenko