MIDEM 2012 Startup Competition Seeks Ways to Monetize Music Fans
MIDEM, one of the largest events and major resources in the music industry, is having a startups & app developers competition during its upcoming MIDEM 2012, January 28-31, Cannes, France.
The competition is looking for companies offering applications that primarily monetize the online music experience. With both Facebook Music and Google's Beta recently announcing their own music applications, things could get real hot.
The goal in all this, contrary to social networking pundits, is to figure out ways to make money. Sharing is supposed to be something we do for free, like swapping pix or our new puppy or uploading a text message straight to our Facebook Wall. But now, friendship online has a price tag.
Swapping music for free isn't cool. Subscription services come to the rescue, but how well they're working remains an unknown.
With Facebook and Google hopping on the bandwagon, some of the biggest sites on the Internet are entertainment-based. Obviously somebody thinks there's money to be made.
Forrester, during the 2011 conference, raised some serious issues on how the industry plans on making money.
Gone are the days where a musician or band knew they'd be making their living selling CDs and tickets. Not only is CD technology headed for the same graveyard as vinyl and cassette, but public perception that music is something you get for free has seriously stomped on music industry incomes and profits.
And, it's not so much about how to make money from music, but how to use music to make money. Music is the new glue being used in the building of Cybertown, under the perception that music is something everybody wants. However, mobile music, radio streaming, subscription sites, and the tons of mp3 upload sites have industry experts and musicians alike worried about where the next paycheck is coming from.
MIDEM is an annual event/conference and a major music industry resource. The 2011 Conference boasted 6,850 members, 55 pavilions, 3,120 companies (incorporated and startups), 77 countries were involved with dozens of conferences and live performances.
Following is a video featuring 3 of the 2011 winners: Discovr, Next Big Sound, and Shuffler.fm.
Follow Technorati