Marc Geiger confirmed for keynote ILMC interview

Marc Geiger, head of the music division at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME) and one of the industry’s most influential and respected figures, will be the man in the hotseat at ILMC’s Sunday morning Breakfast Meeting in March.

In his current role Geiger leads over 85 agents and oversees 2,000-plus WME clients, as well as his own roster, which includes Jack White, Outkast, Rihanna, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails and the newly reformed LCD Soundsystem. His career reads like a history of the contemporary music business, serving as the driving force behind brands as disparate as Lollapalooza and ARTISTdirect and pausing only for a stint as VP of A&R at Rick Rubin’s American Recordings.

Opposite him in the interviewer’s chair will be raconteur, industry legend and ex-WME man Ed Bicknell, who will be reunited with his former colleague for what promises to be a fascinating, insightful 90 minutes.

Geiger’s career reads like a history of the contemporary music business, serving as the driving force behind brands as disparate as Lollapalooza and ARTISTdirect

If workshops are more your thing, you’re in luck: tech giants Twitter and Google will each be hosting a session designed to help delegates make the most of their respective online tools.

Twitter UK’s head of entertainment partnerships Georgina Parnell will examine how promoters, festivals and artists can better engage and monetise fans using the social networking service, while Stephanie Kovach, industry manager for ticketing, and Matias Llort Lorenz, strategic partnership manager, of Google UK will outline how promoters can sell more tickets through audience insight and by creating an immersive experience using Google’s apps and YouTube.

The sessions are the first workshops to be announced for this year’s invitation-only conference, which welcomes 1,100 of the leading live music industry professionals from over 60 countries. ILMC takes place in London from 3-6 March.