Midem Charts A New Course, Without MidemNet

Producer Reed Midem is shifting gears at its signature music industry mega-convention Midem. Presumably in response to a shrinking pool of label, distribution and publishing attendees, the conference is spinning an "all-new midem" (new logo to left) that adds more "D.I.Y., technology and brands" to the mix. Gone is popular decade old sub-conference MidemNet, which had become an essential gathering for the global music tech community.

With tech no longer an outlier, but rather shaping the industry's future, why not absorb music tech into the larger conference?  But will attendees who had enjoyed two days of more intimate meetings agree?

Reed Midem admits that "music startups and hackers were the talk of midem 2011 and will remain so…", and hopes to broaden participation to include non music-specific services like Kickstarter and tumblr that musicians also use.

Midem is also working to appeal to D.I.Y. artists who previously found a trip to Cannes out of reach and the conference overwhelming. D.I.Y. artists have been attending gatherings like The New Music Seminar and PopKomm. But Midem hopes to attract their share of a market they estimate at 3 million and growing with "a wealth of tips and advice from the sector’s top experts" and offering a "place for key insight on new ways to reach new consumers and fans (D2F)". The conference is offering special artist pricing 200€ lower than industry attendees.

Connecting music and brands is also at the core of the new Midem. As much as 50% of music revenues could soon come from brands, according to Midem; and they hope be at the center of that shift. "Our Brands category will cover not only sync/music for images, but all types of new music+brand interactions," according to the revamped midemblog.

Taking a page from the SXSW playbook a new American Express “Unstaged” concert series and music festival will provide more performance opportunities during the convention.

Watch the official "midem 2012: connected by music" video and share what you think of the new midem in the comments section below.