Don’t Forget The Music

U.K. conference In The City director Yvette Livesey believes there are so many issues in the music business that there’s a danger of people forgetting about the music itself.

Announcing that the keynote for this year’s conference will be "It’s All About The Music, Stupid," she warned that the industry is forgetting that "great artists keep coming along and that great music continues to be made.

"With all the debates over delivery systems, pricing, formats and so on we have, I think, lost sight of the fact that the music is the starting point for everything," she said. "In The City this year is going to be about celebrating the music, about recognizing the fact that music isn’t going away."

The 2008 conference is aiming to attract a more diverse range of delegates this year, with plans to develop a programme of panels, keynote interviews and seminars that will appeal to the legal profession, associated new media industries, telecommunications companies and other sectors not normally associated with In The City.

It will adopt a more consumer-facing profile with its live music programme and has plans to develop this side of its activities into an authentic Manchester-based festival of music that will be aimed as much at the general public as industry professionals.

"We are very conscious that In The City has always been a been a very inward facing event but we feel that times have changed and numerous other industries now have a professional interest and stake in the music industry," Livesey said.

"We will obviously still be putting on the very best of unsigned bands but also working closely with labels around the world to showcase both newly signed acts and established bands throughout the city."

In The City will take place at Manchester’s Midland Hotel and various local live music venues October 5-7.