Mobile music sets tone as tech companies make mark.(News from Midem)

Mobile music is the future of the music industry--that was the message coming from the 38th Midem conference in Cannes last week.

A focus on new developments, including a day of panels titled the Mobile Music Forum, alongside spotlights on music and technology and music and images, set the tone for a conference which hailed the beginnings of a new optimism for the international music market.

Attendance was up 2.4% on the year to 8,770 delegates by the end of Tuesday night, with organisers expecting to have hit the 8,840 mark by the end of the event, representing an overall 3% hike on last year. The number of companies registering rose 4.2% to 4,172 from 4,000 in 2003. At the same time, the number of exhibiting countries rose to 94 from 92 and 1,000 companies visited Midem for the first time, many of them new technology players.

However, exhibiting companies dropped to 2,118 from 2,136 the previous year and the number of stands fell, with numbers down to 306 from 327, as an increasing number of companies, especially independents, grouped together. These included the 200 companies who gathered on the British Village stand, which was backed by Aim, Bars, BMR, BPI, MCPS-PRS Alliance, MMF, MPA, PPL and UK Trade & Investment.

MidemNet also proved a popular destination, with 550 tickets fur a 450-capacity venue sold out two weeks before the event.

Midem director Dominique Leguern attributes higher ...