digitalmusic.org | Digital Music

We’ve taken our event across the country and listened to your feedback. We’ve prioritized our workgroup’s hot button issues. Thus, we’ve organized the following three panels and know that with your help these sessions can help educate today and tomorrow’s music biz leaders.

See panel descriptions and voter links below:

Panel 1 (Interactive)
Music Startup Academy: Biz Dev Basics

Want Lady Gaga for your game? App? Music service? Just having cool product isn’t enough. The Music Startup Academy: Biz Dev Basics class provides the necessary fundamentals of the industry for entrepreneurs. The session is designed to de-mystify the arcane licensing processes for both labels & publishers, and provide the essential tools on content acquisition issues for young companies who want to build great apps or games around music. Join digitalmusic.org and our panel of licensing and deal making professionals to talk about what you’re company is doing, and the best way to acquire the content you want to build your business.

• Why do I need to get licenses? (Explanation of master, publishing, and name/likeness rights and copyright.)
• What are the different types of licenses I need for my type of service? (interactive vs. non-interactive streams, downloads, synchronization, etc.)
• What does a label or publisher need from me to convince them to give me licenses to use their music? What kind of documents or technical information do I need to provide?
• I don’t have the money to pay big licensing fees, but I think have a great idea. How do I work with content owners to grow my business without breaking the bank?
• Are there alternatives to having to go to each of these entities to use licensed content from major artists? (The answer is yes.. and we’ll explain.)

Instructors

• Bill Wilson, VP of Digital Strategy and Business Development, NARM & digitalmusic.org

Panel 2 (Music)
Music Subscription & Artist Revenue

Some of the most heated discussions in the music business surround the topic of subscription music, and the effect on the bottom line of the rights holder, artist and songwriter. One side of the aisle claim that on-demand streaming services cuts demand for higher margin physical or digital goods, while the other may counter that the combined growth trajectory of access models will surpass revenue of the traditional marketplace. This panel will bring together representatives from leading subscription companies with artist managers and other rights holders that fall on all sides of the issue. The panel will add some clarity to the situation through thoughtful, spirited dialog and presentation of metrics and other business cases. This panel will be moderated by Antony Bruno, former Billboard tech columnist and community manager of the the digitalmusic.org music subscription working group.

• Do subscription services impact sales of more traditional, higher margin goods?
• What effect does the availability of subscription services have on piracy?
• Is it possible for an artist or songwriter to create a sustainable living from subscription revenue?
• Is “windowing” a release really a good idea? (Windowing is the idea where higher media is released on different service types in a prioritized manner over time.)
• What is the projected growth of the subscription business and how will this effect the above?

Moderator

Antony Bruno, Community Manager, digitalmusic.org

Panel 3 (Music)
One-Click Commerce: Connecting Music & TV

Research shows that TV is a major outlet for hearing new music. But rarely do viewers see the names of the songs they’re listening to, and rarer still is the opportunity to immediately buy that song. This session will bring together leaders in the TV, music and technology fields to discuss how to better turn TV into a source of music discovery and commerce. The first meeting of these minds resulted in this Billboard cover story and white paper:  http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/how-to-improve-music-discovery-and-sales-1007098952.story 

• What is the potential for TV programs, ads and promos to serve as a source of new music discovery?
• What are the barriers to better identifying the songs played over the TV?
• What role can set-top boxes, mobile and tablet apps, and other technologies play in this ecosystem?
• What is the economic potential of more immediate e-commerce options on TV?
• What new technologies, services or resources must be developed to fully realize this potential?

Moderator

Antony Bruno, Community Manager, digitalmusic.org