CIC 2007 Confronts The Future

Every year, the challenge in putting together the Concert Industry Consortium program is finding fresh topics to discuss and new ways of looking at the industry’s ongoing concerns.

This time, there will be an emphasis on innovative topics – sometimes controversial ones – at the February 6-8 event at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

One of the industry’s most incendiary topics – the secondary ticketing market – will be a theme throughout the event beginning with the keynote address by Ticketmaster President and Chief Operating Officer Sean Moriarty.

The title of his keynote? “Give The People What They Want. … Why Fan Resale Can Help Save The Concert Business.” The polarizing issue is certain to spark some raw emotions.

Artists have watched with more than passing interest the rapid decline of the recorded music industry after it ignored the public’s demands for new ways of consuming music. Is the concert industry guilty of some of those same sins?

Moriarty will point out that fans have stopped waiting and are now taking care of themselves. According to Moriarty, we as an industry need to stop selling tickets, albums and T-shirts, and start selling music the way consumers want it – from discovery to distribution to consumption.

Another forward-looking theme at CIC will be an attempt to define what a major music company will look like five years down the road. Given the rapid changes in media, technology, consumer behavior, and the continued corporatization of the industry, it’s quite likely that the big players in 2012 will be decidedly different than those in today’s landscape.

CIC registration and other details can be found at www.pollstaronline.com/cic2007.