MIDEM Searches For Success

It’s wise that next year’s MIDEM is investigating where success comes from, particularly as attendance at last January’s gathering was down 12 percent and the European conference business looks fragile.

The marketing campaign is driven by the premise that success comes from opportunity, and there’s no better place to discover music business opportunities than MIDEM.

The Cannes event is offering a discounted euro 575 ($840) registration – the same price as last year – until Sept. 30. It’s presumably a bid to stave off the low sales that caused organizers to pull the plug on this year’s Popkomm in Germany.

MIDEM director Dominique Leguern said she doesn’t expect delegate numbers to be higher than in 2009, but the financial package has been further sweetened by including automatic access to MidemNet (Jan. 23).

The conference continues to reach out to the live sector of the business, and has named Michael Gudinski – founder and chairman of Australia’s Mushroom Group of Companies – as one of the keynote speakers.

Gudinski’s Frontier Touring is working on upcoming tours including Black Eyed Peas, Paolo Nutini, La Roux, The B-52s, Green Day and Them Crooked Vultures.

MIDEM 2010 is at Palais Des Festivals, Cannes, Jan. 23-27.