(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) —
The 40th edition of MIDEM to be held in Cannes, France, January 22-26 will highlight the importance of new talent and artist development. During this five day event, talent scouts will be able to attend a whole range of live concerts showcasing new international acts and a dedicated conference will focus exclusively on the professionals whose job it is to discover new artists.
On January 24, the first ever edition of the Global Radio and A&R Forum will allow MIDEM participants to explore the world of A&R executives and radio programmers, who will unveil the secrets of their trades. Two back-to-back panels will bring international players from both radio and A&R together as the panels look at the mechanics and individual roles of these two sectors.
Already confirmed for the A&R panel are John Cloud, head of Playground Label & International, Playground Music Scandinavia (Sweden); Thorsten König, managing director, Universal Music International Division (Germany;, Kenny MacPherson, president and senior executive of the Chrysalis Music Division North America, Chrysalis Music Group (USA); Guy Moot, managing director of EMI Music Publishing (UK); and Ric Salmon, VP A&R, Warner Music International (UK).
The radio programmers panel will include Lee Abrams, chief creative officer & SVP, XM Satellite Radio (US); Jay Frank, head of Programming and Label Relations, Yahoo! Music (US); Grant Hislop, general manager/Programme Director, Kiwi FM (New Zealand); Colin Martin, head of Music, BBC Radio 2 (UK); and Michael Steele, programme director, Entravision/indie 103.1 (US).
Nic Harcourt, head of Music at Californian-based radio station KCRW and presenter of the cult music show "Morning Becomes Eclectic," will also participate in a Q&A session. KCRW, an independent radio station licensed to the Santa Monica College, has gained a reputation worldwide for its non-commercial approach to exposing new and innovative musical talent.
MIDEM has further developed a number of partnerships with organizations who make it their business to discover and promote new artists, including the CQFD/Les Inrockuptibles, the MIDEM Buzz Bands 2006/Sonicbids and The European Border Breakers Awards with MTV. Two events will focus on classical music and jazz, the International Revelation of The Year and the Festival of Independent Labels. –Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
