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The Popkomm Primer: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Once again, Berlin is playing host to the annual Popkomm, a blended festival, conference, and music marketplace. The mega-event always attracts a strong European crowd, though Americans, Australians, Africans, and Asians are also part of the action. Just like Midem, that creates a more international tone, and offers something fresh for those trudging through repetitive conferences in the United States.
On the ground, the weather has been mostly crisp in Berlin, and the rains appear mostly gone for the week. Expect average daily temperatures in the 50s Fahrenheit (10s Celsius), with some cloud cover and fog. That sounds like fall, though anyone spoiled by warm climes like Miami, Los Angeles, or the Mediterranean will undoubtedly have to adjust.
Of course, markets are getting roiled, investments are going south, and credit pipelines are freezing. Is anyone coming to this thing? According to the conference organizers, Popkomm will host 843 exhibitors from more than 50 countries, though preliminary attendee figures were unavailable. That is down slightly from last year, when exhibitors totaled 886, while attendees reached 15,400.
This year may also be healthy. Most booked their flights months ago, and it still remains unclear how the economy will ripple through the music industry - positively or negatively.
That uncertainty affects startups, a group that always finds itself battling against a portfolio of problems. Popkomm is featuring a slate of startups as part of a face-off called IMEA (Innovation in Music and Entertainment Award), which takes place today. Startups will present, judges will judge, and everyone will experience some fresh faces and concepts. This year, IMEA will feature Rawrip, Kyte, Independent IP, Roccatune, The Filter, and BMAT.
What else? On the panel side, the slate includes all-too-familiar topics like online monetization and Radiohead, though the schedule also features debates on pan-European rights licensing, shifting legal terrains, secondary ticketing, automotive dashboards, and Asian and Eastern European markets. Keynotes include BigChampagne cofounder Eric Garland; violin virtuoso Daniel Hope; movie director Wim Wenders; CISAC president Robin Gibb; IMMF chairman Petri Lunden; and Jamie Kantrowitz, senior vice president of Marketing and Content International for MySpace.
YouTube Trying eCommerce; iTunes, Amazon On Board
Labels are having an increasingly difficult time hating YouTube. The Google-owned video behemoth is now jumping into ecommerce, starting with music. Initial partners include Apple and Amazon, and the first crop of products include music downloads and games. "This is a first step towards building a broader ecommerce platform for content partners and users on YouTube," the company explained in a morning briefing.
In that developmental light, the YouTube eCommerce Platform will soon include a broad range of partners across music, film, TV, and publishing. The move represents a monetization stab beyond advertising, and the notoriously low CPMs that the site attracts.
The initial platform is being rolled out in the United States, though an international expansion will happen within months, according to the company. In a typical scenario, videos viewed within the EMI Music channel would be accompanied by purchase links, both from the iTunes Store and AmazonMP3. "Those partners who use YouTube's content identification and management system can also enable retail links on claimed videos that they choose to leave up on the site," the company explained in preliminary details.
Story by news analyst Alexandra Osorio.
[all articles by Digital Music News]
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