The show goes on: The industry comes together at ILMC 32

Keeping calm and carrying on was the order of the day at the 32nd International Live Music Conference (ILMC) in London last week, with the global live music business presenting a united front in the face of coronavirus hysteria, even as other industry events fell by the wayside.

From the ILMC Production Meeting (IPM) and Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEI) on Tuesday 3 March to Futures Forum on Friday 6th, it was business as usual for the great and the good of the international concert industry as they tackled the biggest issues of the day, including Brexit, email scams, insurance, outside investment in the industry, the rise of mobile ticketing and the role of the agent in the 2020s.

Keynote interviewee Peter Rudge, meanwhile, didn’t disappoint in the (Late) Breakfast Meeting, regaling delegates with tales of working with the Who, the Rolling Stones and Il Divo while dodging Hell’s Angels and informing for the FBI.

Extra-curricular activities included the traditional poker and table football tournaments, Match of the Year football and Thursday-night karaoke, as well as two new additions in keeping with the ‘Game of Live’ theme: It’s a Copout: The Cheapest Game Show in Town, (very) loosely based on TV’s The Cube, and Promoter & Agent Blind Date, which paired up CAA’s Summer Marshall and Emporium Presents’ Dan Steinberg, Blind Date/The Dating Game style, with their perfect match from a line-up of three promoters and agents, respectively.

“There was a specific sense of camaraderie at ILMC this year”

Elsewhere, the Gala Dinner and Arthur Awards – the live music industry’s Oscar equivalents – honoured the industry’s best and brightest across 11 awards categories.

Arthur Awards 2020: All the winners

ILMC head Greg Parmley, who estimates a 15% drop in delegates due to Covid-19, praises the resilience of those who came together to make ILMC 32 one of the best conferences in recent memory. “While it was a shame that some familiar faces were unable to attend, we still had more 1,000 delegates and some of the best discussions I can remember,” he comments.

“With the industry coming together at such a difficult moment, there was a specific sense of camaraderie at ILMC this year, which was felt throughout the hotel.”

A full ILMC 32 report, featuring write-ups from all conference sessions, will be published on the ILMC website in the coming days. ILMC will return in the first week of March 2021.

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