“Enormous Change” Emerges As Theme

The first ever onstage session with a dozen regional and world leaders from the music, entertainment, telecommunications and gaming industries marked the successful conclusion of the third annual Music Matters Asia-Pacific forum at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong on June 5th. “The theme of this conference is that there has been enormous change in the digital age,” said Paul McGuinness, manager of the well known Irish rock act U2. “Some people who have created enormous multi-billion dollar industries on the back of free music have accepted their responsibilities and some have not.”

McGuinness’s comments echoed the general and divisive theme of the well attended conference: that telecommunication firms are earning huge profits at the expense of musical artists and record companies, which prompted Warner Music Asia CEO Lachie Rutherford to make several heated and passionate observations at the forum’s conclusion. “The problems and solutions with the mobile music industry lie right here in Asia,” he said. “They do not lie in the West. Asia has the most successful mobile music market in the world in Japan because everyone works together. The rest of the world can learn a lot about Japan.”

Joining McGuinness and Rutherford for the final panel of Music Matters were Avril Lavigne’s manage, Terry McBride; Rob Wells, Universal’s SVP of digital; MD of Avex, Haji Taniguchi; John Kennedy the head of the IFPI; Harvey Goldsmith co-organiser of Live Aid and producer of Live 8 and Cirque du Soliel; Charles Huang the inventor of Guitar Hero; Motorola’s VP and GM of marketing for Asia, Ian Chapman-Banks; Gary Chen the founder and CEO of Orca Digital / top100.cn; Atul Churamani, Saregama and Kelvin Wadsworth SONY BMG’s president for Asia. The panel was moderated by Ralph Simon and Jasper Donat.

Among the day’s numerous other highlights included a frank, humorous and expletive filled rapid fire speech by U.S. based music industry commentator Bob Lefsetz. Author of the popular, free subscription email missive “The Lefsetz Letter” was alternately brutally honest and optimistic about events that have currently contributed to the music industry’s sales slump. “While we are sitting here arguing about the music business, somebody under the age of 30 is sitting in their room at their computer and building it,” he said. “There’s nothing better than a great record, but what Steve Jobs is doing with Apple is more exciting than following any musical act I know right now. We need that kind of excitement in the music industry.”

The concept of an Asian wide union of concert promoters may become a possibility following a passionate session devoted to live music. With many of the Asia-Pacific region’s leading promoters onstage, the key themes were China’s potential for shows, the overpayment by promoters for musical acts and unwanted government interference. “You have a responsibility as a promoter both to the artist and the public to talk to the authorities and explain what you’re doing,” said top UK promoter Harvey Goldsmith when responding to comments about high ticket prices and government fees in the region. “You have to work and push and explain so the authorities ease up.”

It was all smiles at the “Games” panel though, as the CEOs of all companies represented talked about how successful their new business models have been throughout the region and around the world. Christopher Thompson, VP and GM Asia of Electronic Arts Asia-Pacific spoke of US$9 billion worth of sales worldwide and huge penetration in markets like Korea due to their innovative online subscription model for games like FIFA. Charles Huang, co-founder of Red Octane and inventor of the hugely successful “Guitar Hero” game, concurred. “We’ll continue to localize and our next move is to figure out which Asian countries, which music and what artists are relevant,” said Huang. “Today, consumers don’t necessarily want to pay $1 for a download, but they’ll pay $2 to get our experience, which offers three levels of engagement that didn’t exist before.”

Other panels on the day included discussions about how Japan is faring as the world’s second largest music market, new digital music cataloguing systems emerging from Germany and continued talk about developments in the mobile phone sector, for which future deals and announcements are promised shortly by regional telecommunication CEOs.

The third and most successful Music Matters Asia-Pacific forum concluded with emerging Chinese musician Sa Ding Ding headlining a gala evening of local musical acts.

At the end of long, successful week featuring 750 delegates, 78 speakers, 30 sponsors, 15 live acts at three different showcase events Music Matters President Jasper Donat said "To have twelve icons of the music, entertainment and technology industries was a first for Asia and possibly the world. The collective experience and brainpower of that group was formidable to say the least. New friends were made and deals were done so by this time next year we would hope that there will be significant, positive change in the music industry as a direct result of Music Matters".

About Music Matters
Now in its third year, Music Matters is a forum created for, by and with the music industry in Asia. It is solutions driven, featuring face-to-face sessions, keynote presentations and discussion panels with some of the most innovative and successful companies and individuals in the business. The place to forge new business partnerships and opportunities, Music Matters is attended by an abundance of industry heavyweights and provides the platform for them to connect, form partnerships and plug into Asia. On top of the forum there are three parties showcasing up-and-coming acts from around the Asia-Pacific region.

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