MusicTank’s July Think Tank: The F Word: Monetising Filesharing – An Industry Solution July 5, 2007

MusicTank asks “Given The Changing Digital Landscape, Is It Possible To Monetise Filesharing - To The Benefit of Fans, Artists and Business Alike?”

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Fred Bolza (MCPS-PRS Alliance Development Director, and member of Value Recognition Strategy Working Group)

Panelists include:

• Paul Hitchman (Co-Founder and MD, Playlouder MSP)
Other panelists to be confirmed…

The event will be chaired by Keith Harris, Chairman of MusicTank, and renowned artist manager.

This think tank will focus on what is perhaps the single most pressing issue facing the recorded music industry today - how to finally run with something most of us or our kids do, license it and help it grow. Yes it’s the F word: Filesharing.

This think tank aims to assist with formal industry processes that may ultimately lead to filesharing becoming monetised – so that fans are encouraged to do whatever they want with their music (or anyone else’s in fact) and artists and rightsholders are recompensed according to usage.

This means accepting the notion that the business can no longer control distribution and then attempting building a model around that. This will require a cooperative, inclusive approach across the digital music value chain – involving not just rightsholders and their representatives but ISPs, mobile phone companies, and MP3 and blank media manufacturers.

2007 could genuinely be the beginning of a new era. The majors are finally giving up on preventative DRM, while it’s becoming increasingly clear that the decline in the recorded music market will only be partially offset by the digital download market.

With cutbacks, falling revenue and mergers the order of the day at the majors, and indies feeling the squeeze as well, the time has come to act.

The speakers discussing these issues include:

KEYNOTE:

Fred Bolza, Development Director, MCPS-PRS Alliance and member of the Value Recognition Strategy Working Group. Fred’s role at the Alliance is to support the development of effective schemes for licensing music in the digital age by monitoring the ways in which music is made and consumed as well as how the underlying business models can work together. Prior to joining, Fred worked for 7 years as a management consultant advising ISPs, mobile operators and media companies on strategy.

PANEL:

Paul Hitchman, Co-Founder and MD, Playlouder MSP. An Economics graduate from Trinity College, Cambridge, Paul co-founded PlayLouder in 2000 as a music media company focusing on “alternative” music and culture. Playlouder MSP (music service provider) is a next-generation broadband ISP that offers unlimited access to music combined with broadband internet access.

Other panelists to be confirmed.

Event Details:
Date: Thursday, 5th July 2007
Time: 18.30 - 21.00 hrs Complimentary drink on arrival
Venue: Bertorelli Restaurant & Bar, First floor private dining room
Location: 11-13, Frith Street, Soho, London, W1D 4RB. Bertorelli is on the corner of Frith & Bateman St.
Price: £30, £25 trade body members
(AIM, BACS, BPI, MMF, MPG, MPA, MU, MCPS-PRS Alliance, PPL)

All places MUST be booked and paid for in advance via www.musictank.co.uk

Official Website: http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/the-f-word-monetising-filesharing-an-industry-solution