Celestial Jukebox: Free Streams Or Pipe Dreams?
Location: MCPS-PRS Alliance, 29-33 Berners St, London, W1T 3AB
Date: Tuesday 6 May 2008 at 18:30:00
It may be one of the buzzwords we love to hate, but the celestial jukebox has always represented the natural conclusion of the music industry's blue sky thinking; a WiFi-liberated paradise where music lovers enjoy what they want, where they want, safe in the knowledge that creators and rights-holders are being compensated. Well, the end of the rainbow might be closer than you think. Last.fm's recently announced on-demand streaming service promises full-track unlimited streams, while American social network imeem has quietly broken new ground by striking ad-funded on-demand streaming deals with all four majors and a handful of indies.
Many start-ups are advocating a radical reduction in licence fees in order to facilitate growth in ad-funded, on-demand streaming. Should the music industry offer these businesses discounted licences in the knowledge they may one day overtake all other forms of music consumption? Or should the start-ups accept they either need to stump up, in cash or kind, or mature their revenue streams before using music to drive their traffic and valuations? The technology is already upon us, WiMax is becoming a reality and players already exist which stream bespoke stations via WiFi. Will on-demand streaming ever fulfil the celestial jukebox dream of becoming the predominant means of music consumption?
SPEAKERS:
Keynote: Ryan Regan (CFO & Chief Digital Officer, Last.fm)
Panel:
Charles Caldas- CEO, Merlin
Clive Gardiner - VP, Digital Content, We7
Owen Geddes - Group Director, Business Development, The Cloud
Alex Vlassopulos - Head of Business Development - Digital, Sony BMG
Device manufacturer tbc...
Chairman: Keith Harris, Keith Harris Music / PPL Director / Chairman, MusicTank
Tickets are £25 for MPA members (£5 discount).
Tickets MUST be booked and paid for in advance - no walk-up on the day.