Digital And Mobile Media Changed The Music Business.

As your music industry trade association, NARM’s focus is to provide your company with the knowledge to keep pace with change and develop the digital and mobile sales strategies that places your business above the rest. Join the conversation about building a stronger presence in the marketplace. Make your digital and mobile operations more effective by exploring cutting-edge programs and services, and by looking at new ways to track, report and pay royalties.

Under the auspices of NARM’s Digital Think Tank, we have created the following schedule of digital and mobile programming:

Saturday, May 15

During this second day of the NARM/A2IM Music Business Crash Course, several digitally oriented programs will advise attendees on the current status of the digital marketplace and how to get their music into digital stores.

8:30 – 9:30 AM
Keynote: The Digital World
TAG Strategic’s Ted Cohen, recognized digital music industry advisor, will provide his insights on where he feels the music business is heading over the next 3 years. Join him for a free-wheeling, audience-involved session that will explore both the possibilities and the inevitabilities:

• How will the transition of music commerce from music as product to music as a service affect our business?  Where will the new revenue streams come from?
• What will be the impact of tablet computing? Will the iPad, the HP Slate and the Google Tablet really change the game?
• How do artists and labels stand out above the onslaught of digital “noise”?
• How do we successfully transition to a robust digital economy, one that both compensates artists and labels and satisfies music fans?

9:30 – 10:30 AM
Going To Market: Digital & Mobile
This session answers the question of how to get your music into digital stores, and — just as importantly — how to get spotlighted so you’re not lost in the crowd. Bill Wilson, NARM’s Director of Digital Strategy & Business Development, will moderate a panel of experts from companies including The Orchard, Razor & Tie, Tommy Boy Entertainment, Verizon Wireless, and the Wireless Developer Agency.

Monday, May 17

9 – 10:30 AM
Breakfast & Presentations: What’s Ahead For The Digital Marketplace
The program will kick-off with a report on the activities of NARM’s Digital Think Tank, including the key points discussed in the recently released White Paper that identifies the core issues surrounding the accurate and efficient delivery of music information, and details member-identified and prioritized issues surrounding identification and communication standards for music releases. This discussion will then segue into a special presentation by DDEX’s Mark Isherwood, who will discuss the benefits of the technology standard that DDEX is developing, as well as its relationship with the NARM Digital Think Tank. Finally, TAG Strategic’s digital tech guru Ted Cohen will interview VEVO President and CEO Rio Caraeff. Be there as these two industry vets address these and many other questions:

• How did VEVO achieve this massive growth? VEVO’s extensive syndication & distribution strategy, a new model for the music industry, will be explored.
• An ad-supported network, VEVO is working with the world’s largest premium brand marketers. How does VEVO leverage its close relationships with artists and content owners to create unique co-branded content?
• How does VEVO integrate digital retail and music context to create a total entertainment experience?
• What does the future hold for VEVO?  How will it integrate Live Streaming Events, Mobile, International availability and more?

1:30 – 5:30 PM
Music Law 2010 Conference: Clouds, ISPs and Royalty Challenges
All NARM attendees are invited to register for this Continuing Legal Education conference. This is an a la carte feature to the full-NARM registration and requires a separate registration fee. The sessions will feature an impressive line-up of top-level speakers from the music business and legal professions who will address practitioners’ need for information about increasingly complex music industry business models and the associated rights and risks. The preliminary agenda includes the following sessions:

• $350 Million And Rising: Why Is Paying Copyright Owners So Difficult? – Examines the NMPA/RIAA $300 million unpaid royalties settlement and the recent announcement by SoundExchange that $80 million in royalties has not been distributed.
• Music In The Cloud: Are Deals Getting More Complex – Again? – Examines licensing deals associated with cloud-based music services.
• Digital Concert Tickets: Winners And Losers If Tickets Are Personal Non-Transferable Licenses – Examines paperless concert tickets, their lack of transferability, and whether the impacts on consumers and secondary markets implicates consumer protection laws or competition laws and policy.
• ISP Liability After Grokster And Veoh: Are Consumers or Creators Striking Out? – Examines ISP liability associated with online distribution of content and on 3-strikes legislation that is being formally considered throughout Europe and discussed in the United States.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Gary Adler – Partner-In-Charge, Roetzel & Andress, outside counsel to the National Association of Ticket Brokers
• Victoria Bassetti — Sr. VP for Consumer Experience, EMI, and former Counsel, United States Senate Judiciary Committee
• Rich Bengloff — President, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)
• Tod Cohen — VP for Government Affairs, eBay
• Jay Cooper — Partner, Greenberg Traurig and Member, SoundExchange Board of Directors
• Michael Elkin — Partner, Winston and Strawn, and outside counsel to Veoh
• Seth Greenstein — Partner, Constantine Cannon and former General Counsel, Digital Media Association (DiMA)
• Steven Marks — Exec. VP and General Counsel, RIAA, and Chairman, SoundExchange Licensing Committee
• Chris Phenner — Exec. VP, Thumbplay
• Jonathan Potter — Founder and former Executive Director, Digital Media Association (DiMA).
• Daniel Mandil — Sr. Exec. VP, General Counsel and Chief Content Protection Officer, Motion Picture Association of America
• Michael Simon — Sr. VP of Business Affairs, General Counsel and Chief Strategy Officer, Harry Fox Agency
• Ken Steinthal — Partner, Greenberg Traurig, and outside counsel to YouTube/Google
• Patrick Sullivan — President and CEO, Rightsflow

To register for Music Law 2010, click here.

2:30 – 4:30 PM
Digital Solutions Breakout Session
If you’re interested in exploring solutions that will help you establish or improve online marketing and sales opportunities, check out these product presentations that offer a variety of solutions for a variety of needs.

• Building An Online Presence — For anyone looking to establish an online presence, various service providers will present options for artist, labels and retailers to explore.  Participating companies include Alibris, Consolidated Independent, Gen2Media, Hip Digital, MediaNet, Neurotic Media and Topspin.
• A Meeting Of The Minds: The Music, Gaming And Mobile Apps Development Process Considered, Parts 1 & 2 — Representatives from the gaming and mobile applications developer communities will sit with music industry executives and platform providers to outline the processes and development timelines that the respective interests need to be aware of and keep in mind to enable a smooth integration and launch of the final music-related product. Part 1 will discuss music-related apps and include Alcatel-Lucent, Atlantic Records, Mobile Roadie, Tunewiki, UMGD and Verizon Wireless.  Part 2 will discuss music-related games and will include Gendai Games and RoyaltyShare, among others.
• Measuring Success — These days, the artist’s brand success is measured by so much more than CD and concert sales. In this series, metrics service providers will provide a look at the new online and mobile metrics tools they provide to help labels take a fuller measure of their marketing and branding efforts, and consumer responses to them. Presenters include BigChampagne, Nielsen BuzzMetrics and Ranger Computers.
• Digital Royalties Management Solutions — For anyone looking for ways to track, report and pay digital distribution royalties, this series of product presentations will give you a look at some of the service providers in the marketplace. A half-hour Q&A of the presenters — Harry Fox Agency, RightsFlow, Royalty Share and TuneSat — will follow the presentations.

With exclusive panel discussions, keynote speakers, research presentations and a variety of breakout sessions that cover the latest issues and trends affecting the music business, you can update your business approach with new connections, new resources and new knowledge that you will find at NARM 2010. Register today for a new understanding of what it takes to be successful in today’s industry!

Remember to reserve your room at the Hilton Chicago, the Convention’s headquarters hotel. When you book your stay, you guarantee the most convenient way to make connections. Early morning breakfast, late night cocktail hour or at the Hilton’s athletic center – you never know when or where you might bump into your newest trading partner. With all of the convention’s programming scheduled in the hotel’s exquisite meeting and banquet space, the hotel provides a place for members to meet, greet and make business happen. Book your room today to be a part of it.