This article is a special contribution by Rling Chen, a Producer & Marketing Strategist. She can be found at www.facebook.com/rlingc and rlingchen.blogspot.com.
2012 marks the 7th anniversary for Music Matters and this is the 2nd time Singapore is hosting this event.
The 2-day conferences focused on a wide spectrum of topics from Artist & Relations, Music Publishing & Licensing to Events & Festival Promotion. It was an information overload, in a good way of course.
As an artist & events planner in Tokyo previously, I was extremely happy to reconnect with my Japanese counter-parts and had looked forward to the updates in the J & K-Pop markets.
The highlights of the conferences were the keynotes speakers, Troy Carter and Bob Ezrin.
Troy Carter shared with us many interesting insights to his managing of Lady Gaga. He feels that Lady Gaga is like a 200 pound toddler and still has much room to grow & develop.
Music Producer Bob Ezrin shared with the audience at Music Matters his discovery process of KISS, Nine Inch Nails, Lou Reed, etc. Bob recounted the excitement he felt when he saw KISS perform and how it led him to the make the bold decision to sign them despite being put on an mission by his boss to ‘drop them’.
My personal fav was American artiste, Marty Friedman’s in-depth interview on ‘J-Pop Phenomenon‘ with Sony Music Publishing Executive Director’s Ken Ohtake. It was outsider giving an insider point of view and differences in American & Japanese music writing. It was a must-attend for any song writers/artistes out there who wishes to venture into the Japanese market.
Music Matters 2012 was enriching & diversified but I would have preferred for the panel discussions and keynote addresses to be organized by topics; for example: Day 1 for Artiste & Producers while Day 2 for Music Business. Sessions could also be divided according to territories. This would reduce the waiting time between sessions of relevance to your interest/profession. Also, perhaps delegates should be given different color tags to identify if they’re an artiste, producer, eventers or publisher etc for easier networking.
Since most business agrees that Asia is an increasing important market, I look forward to seeing more Asian participants next year.
Finally, big thanks to the organizers who arranged for the free buses to shuttle guests to Clarke Quay for Music Matters Live on Thursday cos it is quite hard to get a cab in Singapore during rush hour. Haha!