Lykle de Vries

Midem, one my favorite music industry conferences, announced that it’s offering bands the opportunity to pay about $680 or $1377 (500 or 1,000 Euro) to play on one of four stages during the event.

I love Midem. But I have a problem spending a week with industry peers in beautiful Cannes discussing how to build a sustainable music industry for artists and fans, while the bands I’ll be seeing that week pay to play for me and the other attendees.

Still, as a Midem attendee, musician and a music fan, I’d rather see the audience pay the band than the band pay the conference. With that in mind, here’s another approach: The Echo Nest will put up the Midem performance fee for a band to play (preferably at Morrison’s, where you’ll find The Echo Nest hanging out anyway). To the bands  considering playing at Midem:

Send over a link to a live performance video to midembands@echonest.com, and let us know when you applied to the Midem event (or if you have yet to apply) along with any other relevant submission details you’d like us to consider. We’ll work with you and with Midem to get your performance fee paid (we haven’t yet talked to Midem about this, but figure they’ll be fine as long as the fee is paid).  We’re assuming if you’re a band considering this, you already have the travel/lodging figured out.

Though I know the trip to Midem isn’t cheap even without sponsoring a band, I humbly suggest that other companies do the same and pay for a performance slot. This approach seems more in keeping with why we are at Midem in the first place: to help great musicians make great music.  If you’re up for it, shoot us an email and we’ll help coordinate getting more bands’ performance fees covered.  (Of course, nothing precludes Midem from picking up a slot or two).  Read more at blog.echonest.com