Under reconstruction: the global music industry.(Industry overview)

The building sites of Cannes offered a neat analogy of how evolution, not revolution, will turn the industry round

Delegates arriving for Midem last week were greeted by a Cannes very much under reconstruction.

The Majestic, long a key fixture of the annual conference, was closed for refurbishment, while other pockets of building work were scattered along the Croisette. Somehow it all seemed rather apt for an industry which in itself is undergoing a transformation.

Even though the Majestic was closed, so cramming those attending into fewer places to network and socialise each night, the event still felt less crowded this year which, at the very least, had the positive effect of making the lobby area around the now-number one nightly destination of the Carlton feel more civilised and the wait at the bar not quite so lengthy.

But all this should not be taken as evidence of the doom and gloom many like to point out about the music industry - they, of course, mean certain sections of it - because, while some may have stayed away and tighter budgets meant a nightly pizza rather than an expensive meal, those that attended spoke of optimism and new opportunities.

Certainly, it is unrealistic to fully take stock of where the industry is based on a few days in the South of France in January, but it is as good an acid test as any.

While news of EMI's redundancies and reconstruction still hung in the air, there was much to be hopeful about. Some parts of the industry, the artist managers among them, are finding a voice not heard before, while there seemed to be a buzz among the independents, recognising that the uncertain times that lie ahead also mean the possibility of exciting new ways of ...