Today did not begin, for the night did not end. From the moment I raced from school—where a boy I counseled all but told me he was dealing drugs—to home, I knew yesterday was going to be long. It was, and now I feel as though I’m still back in Manchester, picking up and putting down my CD samplers in shiny plastic sleeves, laughing, and counting. But I’m not.
I’m at the Hotel Le Florian on Rue Comandante in Cannes down the street from the Palais du Festival and around the corner from the train station. The area is abuzz with casinos, expensive boardwalk restaurants, and French teenagers who congregate on the footsteps of the Palais and at McDonalds, seemingly the only cheap restaurant for miles, if you exclude the shawarma shops.
I caught a free ride by taxi into Cannes from Nice, thanks to a Greek guy I met on the plane who filled me in on MIDEM. He’s been coming for over a decade and confirms that it is the place for world music, though the conference isn’t what it used to me. I was glad to get Dionnisis early in the week, for he was willing to share and he stated what I suspected: you reach a point of fatigue, talking talking listening listening. The hours are long. Ten hours a day can be spent in lectures, then rushing about having meetings with potential partners who are mostly full of shit. “It is after the conference,” he said, “when you find out who means what.” I suspected as much. It was good to hear it and be told to relax, not try too hard, and to expect better results from this. How Tao.
So, now I’m in Cannes, a block from the ‘Why Not?’ hooker bar. I can’t find a wireless connection to save my life and my suitcase entrails are thrown about the bed like I’m staying awhile. I’ve got six days to impress someone and to find that right ‘someone’. Dionnisis’s words about the merits of one online distributor over another ring in my mind. iTunes isn’t the be all and end all. It doesn’t actively promote artists. There are better vehicles. He lists them off.
At some point in the conversation, I noticed at least three others across the aisle bending their ears towards us. Maybe they realized as well as I that, with much to say and little time, it’s critical to read between the lines in a conversation. I wanted to know more about Dionissis’s work to promote Greek artists in countries other than Greece. Melbourne has the biggest Greek community outside of Greece proper. But there’s France, Belgium, Germany, Canada. So, I’d done my homework; my five-year business plan stipulates all of these markets. Something in my head fires off a reminder to focus hard and fast on the stakeholders here at MIDEM connected with my favored audiences.
It’s unfortunate I had to empty my burgeoning carry-on of a book on music management. I had to ask what a 360 was. It’s a full-service deal. I’m thinking ahead to distribution. The discussion turned towards the state of music as an economic industry today and where the money is to be made. For all the hot air about making money from from subscription-based streamed music, “It’s a bit of a dream” said my friend, and I’m inclined to agree. But things change every six months and what’s running through my mind now is how and where to earn income from my music in the short-term as I figure out the digital scene.
Live performance is still the best way to pull in revenue, because no one’s demanding free labor, even if they’re stealing the fruits of it digitally.
Publishing was a subject we touched upon and the converted preached to the converted. Dionissus has worked for majors (major record labels) and is an informed commentator on the goals of the independent (record producer/artist/publisher/label proprietor). You don’t give away publishing, if you can avoid it. The goal is a sub-publishing deal. In other words, one where the artist/creator holds onto 90% of the publishing or potential for future income. It’s standard to share 10%.
There’s much to learn, but at four a.m. I’m tired and it’s time to sleep. My iPod Shuffle Red is a cool little tool which I’ll give to Steve Greenberg of Columbia Records, if our meeting goes well. I’ve loaded it up with the sampler and the .wav files of the album, for best sonic quality.
I’ve packed half a suitcase full (that which wasn’t occupied by the box of CD samplers and boxes of business cards) of warm-ish clothing and exotic, colored scarves, silver jewelry, etc. for my ‘meetings with remarkable men’ (and women), to quote Gurdjieff.
I still have an outstanding homework assignment for my Arts and the Environment class, and I am crying inside for the time to attend to my Sustainable Tourism coursework, but still it is not possible. The juggling continues, and this is life. I’m here and there’s nowhere to be but here. The rest will take care of itself. If only I’ll just relax.
