Dance Biz Gathers For ADE 2007
October 18, 2007
- Global
| Dance
By Gary Smith, Amsterdam
The 12th annual Amsterdam Dance Event -- sold out for the first time in the event's history with 1,700 pre-registrations -- kicked off today.
The opening day's program featured a marathon two-and-a-half hour panel entitled "The 21st Century Record Label," covering every aspect of the business of recording, marketing and the selling of music in the modern world.
Panellists agreed that the music industry has been turned on its head. "Whereas once touring was a loss leader undertaken to market an LP release, now releasing records is a loss leader designed to draw people to concerts," Scott Cohen, founder and VP of the Orchard said.
The debate moved on to the parlous state of traditional retail, but not before Denis Doeland, GM of Dutch online retailer Dance Tunes, had pronounced bricks and mortar retail to be effectively dead.
"Of course there'll always be a few record shops but the days of the powerful, specialist chain are over," he opined. "And the same could eventually be true of record labels. It's so easy now for an artist to form a label around themself that I seriously wonder how much longer artists will seek to be signed to them."
However, Jackie McCoy, director of the Long Island Record Pool, was less than convinced: "Sure record retailing has problems but a lot of shops are finding that their core customers are surprisingly loyal," he said. "There are still a lot of people who enjoy buying physical recordings."
Other sessions included "The Artist Debate," moderated by Arthur Baker and featuring Judge Jules, Barbara Tucker and Icelandic producer President Bongo; and the "Artists Managers" panel.
The three-day annual dance music convention is organized by Buma Cultuur, the Dutch foundation dedicated to the promotion and support of its nation's music.
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