The Business Of Music

While Madonna was preparing for the shows that wrapped the second European leg of her Sticky & Sweet tour at Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park, on the other side of the road the city was staging its first conference on what the Jerusalem Post referred to as “the business of music.”

“It’s a first of its kind in Israel and I think the outcome is excellent, the turnout was very impressive for industry executives from Israel and the world and the impact was huge,” said Ilan Elkayam of Alive Productions, who organised Heineken Music Conference Sept. 1-2 and the evening festival that ran alongside it.

“A few people who are used to seeing each other at the ILMC in London were together for the first time in Tel Aviv,” said Hillel Wachs of 2b Vibes Music Productions, one of the many Israeli promoters who supported the event.

The conference included nine panels and was attended by 1,400 delegates. Elkayam said none of the sessions had fewer than 200 people in attendance.

The delegates were a wide mix of industry people including agents, managers, producers, musicians, bloggers, media reps, culture and finance journalists and members of the general public who came to satisfy their curiosity about the music business.

The acts appearing at the festival, which was also at the Israel Trade Fair Centre, included Faith No More, MGMT, Dinosaur Jr. and LCD Sound System.