ADE 2013

After 7 years of absence, I have taken part of the ADE this year. Unfortunately I was too busy getting the website and new productions ready for the conference, and therefore missed the opportunity to meet with some important partners. However, just like I expected, many appointments were cancelled and I was able to meet with some interesting folks.

As one of the first companies that took part of the ADE, I must say that a lot is changed, and still it’s all the same. Unlike other conferences I have attended in the past, like: MIDEM in Cannes, and Popkomm Koelnmesse in Germany, the ADE is more like a: “Let’s have a beer” conference, instead of an organised one. Most conferences are based on company stands which you can identify. You are then able to walk up to the stand, make an appointment, and most of all, you are able to find everyone you're looking for.

The ADE is a badge based conference and has no specific company stands. To find your contact you must call the person and meet outside, or somewhere inside the conference building where it’s very crowded, noisy and hot. Personally I had only a handful of meetings inside which made me quite dussey. The heaters were turned on quite high and the air was very dry.Outside the conference however, the weather was amazing and most meetings I had outside, were very productive.

Like every conference, there are main topics everyone are talking about. In the past topics were mostly based on the new style of music, who is the next up and coming big star and so on. This year I found the conference to be more like a search to find out where there are still possibilities to make money with music. It’s not about licensing your tracks to a large international company, or making great deals, it’s about giving your productions away for free in the hope to get followers or simply Facebook Likes. It appears that having a great track is not enough to sell music. If the artist, or the record company does not have any followers, it will probably not sell.

Conclusion:

The music industry has lost himself in the world of Social Media. Tracks become hits, because of followers and therefore dropping the quality of music being sold on the portals.

So who are the winners in this new music business? The Pirates.

It seems that the best way to get followers, and get noticed in today’s market, is to upload your track to the pirate websites like Zippyshare and other illegal portals, and let them be downloaded for free. Unbelievably companies that are running illegal websites were present at the ADE this year and were promoting this phenomenon. It’s like having a conference on Personal Health, and have the police and drugs dealers stand side by side, promoting their activities.

The business of selling music has clearly come to a tragic end and has paved the way for the business of “Likes”. It’s already a fact that a Like is worth more than $1,- and definitely more than a download.

So where does this leave the Record Companies that work hard to select great music to be released and promote quality tracks? These companies have all turned in to Management Companies. Artist that want to sign a Record deal now a day’s, are forced to sign a Management contract. The Record Company will then, not only promote the music, but also the Artist. The company then gets a shear of the live act of the Artist. This is the reason why many Dutch artist are taking over the world. This is the end of the Production Agreement and the beginning of the Artist Agreement era.

Funny thing about this whole construction, is that this is how I have been working since 1995 in my former company BPM Dance. Signing up potential artists, provide them with all the necessary to become professional producers, and market them. This is also how the ComBeatz concept works since we started operations in November of 2012. The main difference is that we do not shear the live act revenue of the artist. Come to think of it. Why not?

ADE Highlights

Absolute highlight of the ADE for me, was the Spinnin Records party which was by invitation only. A classy small club filled with old and new talent, rubbing shoulders under the influence of a fine cold Heineken. Great stories from the past were shared while a 7 year old DJ named “Peter Gabriel” entertained the crowd.

Thank you all for a great ending to this years ADE.

I'll be back in 2014...