MIDEM’s Capital Idea

Based on the premise that venture capitalists are becoming increasingly interested in the entertainment business, MIDEM has invited several of them to its next annual gathering in Cannes Jan. 22-26.

Saul Klein, a partner in Geneva-based Index Ventures, which has money in Skype, Viagogo, and Lovefilm, will be giving a keynote speech on the opening day.

Klein is also on the board of Songkick, a tour-tracking website that’s been generating some media buzz since standing out at this year’s MidemNet Lab.

The other investors are largely being deployed as judges at next year’s MidemNet Lab, an annual showcase for 15 companies selected as being the most innovative and creative in the digital music sector.

They include AppFund managing partner Daniel Klaus, who’s also co-founder of leading U.S. indie music company Music Nation, Rob Moffat from the UK’s Balderton Capital, Pär-Jörgen Pärson – a partner in Sweden’s NorthZone Venture and a guitarist in a Jimi Hendrix covers band – and Reed Elsevier Ventures managing director Tony Askew.

“Investors are strongly attracted by the exponential development of digital and mobile technology linked to new music distribution methods and new ways for consumers to interact with music,” says MIDEM director Dominique Leguern. “The music industry also needs investors to finance these innovations.”

Leguern will also hope the investors help attract more delegates from the technology sector, as MIDEM’s attendance figures have dropped by nearly a quarter in a couple of years.

Last year’s numbers were 12 percent down on the 9,100 who attended MIDEM 2008, which was followed by a further drop of 12.5 percent that took the 2010 crowd down to “a little more than 7,000.”

Like Popkomm in Germany, which canceled in 2009 and saw modest attendance this year, the annual French gathering has failed to pull in enough interest from the live sector to compensate for the falling number of record company delegates caused by various cutbacks and mergers.