Music Tech Continues Lead Role At Midem 2012

Tech will continue its takeover of the music industry at this year's midem conference taking place January 28 – 31 in Cannes. Music tech startups, sponsors, hackers and bloggers will all be in attendance and capturing as much attention as possible. Music tech events will occur daily, from Visionary Monday to midemlab's startup competition to midem Hack Day, with a variety of panels and resources to boot.

This year's midem gathering seems designed to emphasize that music tech is not simply a bunch of new communication tools but a transformational force in the industry.

Tech-related attendees are expected to include, according to a recent midem communique, tech companies as diverse as Amazon, Microsoft, Spotify and Facebook as well as The Echo Nest, Webdoc, Soundcloud and ReverbNation.

Visionary Monday will feature such participants as GigaOm's Om Malik, Angry Birds creator Mikael Hed and Facebook's Dan Rose.

midem Hack Day will gather 30 hackers for a 48 hour process of creation sponsored by BlueVia.  Many will be exploring ideas suggested by midem attendees.

midemlab will present 30 music tech startups pitching their companies and services to a panel of expert judges.

On the final day, a Bloggers' Wrap featuring Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm and Sansom Will of Contagious Communications will give the "lowdown on midem’s hottest industry trends."

Bloggers will not only have the last word but will also have their own "zone", the Bloggers' Club, a "buzzing zone where professional and non-professional bloggers reach the world and spread the words throughout the community." The Club will provide internet access and a "chill out area."

In addition, media partners will include bloggers from such well-known tech blogs as The Next Web, FrenchWeb, Evolver.fm and GigaOm while midem's own blog will offer "liveblogging, video reports and live video streaming."

Many of the music tech events will take place in a zone dubbed the Innovation Factory. However, a quick glance at midem tech sessions reveals that related activities will also occur in the Direct2Fan Camp and the Hub.

Even if they wanted to, attendees at midem 2012 will find it difficult to escape the presence of current developments in music and technology.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.