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ESNS announces keynote speakers for 2024

ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) has announced the first keynote and featured speakers for next year’s edition, taking place between 17–20 January 2024 in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Amy Thomson (formerly Hipgnosis, ATM Artists), John Mulder (MOJO Concerts/Live Nation) and Mark Mulligan (MIDiA Research) are among the keynotes for the European showcase festival and conference.

Mulder will appear at ESNS 2024 mere weeks after leaving his post as CEO of Mojo Concerts, the Dutch Live Nation subsidiary, on 1 January.

During the keynote interview, the Dutch exec will reflect on his versatile career which includes roles as tour manager of Metallica and co-initiator of AFAS Live and the Ziggo Dome.

Elsewhere, Thomson, former chief catalogue officer at Hipgnosis Songs Fund and CEO and founder of ATM Artists, will address the music industry’s challenges regarding finding, tracking, and tracing metadata across different platforms.

Thomson has executed record releases, marketing campaigns, touring, legal rights and copyright for clients including Kanye West, DJ Snake, Swedish House Mafia, Gorillaz, and Seal. Her passion for catalogue management led her to develop an online application that helps artists manage their metadata.

Mulder will reflect on his versatile career which includes roles as tour manager of Metallica and co-initiator of AFAS Live and the Ziggo Dome

The third keynote announced today is Mark Mulligan, managing director of MIDiA Research. As a long-term media and technology analyst, he is considered a leading thinker on the music industry’s digital transition.

At ESNS 2024, Mulligan will explore the rise of the next music business, explaining that we’re already entering the post-streaming era. He will present a vision for what this new world will look like and who will be the key players.

Joining the Music Industry Therapists Collective, Justin Lockey of English rock band Editors will share his insights on mental health on the road, shining a light on touring with Editors. Additionally, George Musgrave (Goldsmiths, University of London) will join two sessions about mental health.

European Parliament MEP Ibán García Del Blanco joins a panel moderated by Helienne Lindvall (ECSA) to discuss the European Parliament draft report on Cultural diversity and the conditions for authors in the European music streaming market.

ESNS Tech is a series of panel discussions curated by innovation specialist and community builder Turo Pekari (Music Finland). Experts in the intersection of music and technology will address topics such as tomorrow’s business model. ESNS Tech will tune into challenges, opportunities and the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence within the music industry.

Discover the full conference programme here. More panels and speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

 


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Live sector fuels dance music industry growth

The resurgence of the live sector has helped power the global dance music to new heights, according to a new report.

Presented during today’s opening day of the International Music Summit (IMS) in Ibiza, the IMS Business Report 2023 is authored by MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan and puts the valuation of the electronic business at $11.3 billion (€10.2bn) – 16% higher than pre-pandemic and 34% growth year-on-year.

Festivals and clubs represented nearly half of all dance industry revenue in 2022, while Ibiza club ticketing revenue reached €124 million, up from the €80m generated in 2019, as ticket sales rose 25% to 2.5 million. However, live revenues of $4.1bn still fell short of the $4.4bn garnered in the last pre-Covid year.

“The pandemic shone a harsh light on the industry’s heavy reliance on live,” notes the report. “Now, that reliance is even higher because of live’s huge growth.”

The publication describes 2022 as “a big year overall” for the live industry, as the top 100 global tours reported a 276% increase in revenue, while Live Nation revenues soared 166%. Elsewhere, bookings for the top 100 DJs increased by 314%, according to Viberate.

“After a couple of pandemic-impacted years, the global dance music industry is back in top gear”

Electronic music artists made up 39% of all festival bookings, up from 33% the previous year, although female DJs saw their share of the top 100 DJ bookings fall from 21% to 15% in the same period.

“MIDiA Research is proud to have compiled the 2023 edition of the IMS Business Report, building on the great work of its previous authors,” says Mulligan. “After a couple of pandemic-impacted years, the global dance music industry is back in top gear and this report reflects how growth has returned across all the various aspects of its thriving business.”

The dance sector’s increase in value has also been attributed to a resurgent creator tools sector, plus music publishing, which grew more than two times faster than recordings in the previous year “underpinned by steady improvements in rates paid to publishers and songwriters”.

“Overall the indicators are positive and the future is bright, with more recovery in live still to come as well as future growth in the publishing sectors,” it states. “In addition, the long term growth of creator culture is set to make dance music even more influential on wider music culture in the immediate future.”

“We’ve always been very transparent about the business report – every year it needs to get better and better, more robust and more bulletproof”

Discussing the report with IQ ahead of publication, IMS co-founder Ben Turner predicted it would highlight a “strong bounceback” for the scene, adding that what began as a “bit of fun” had “turned into something very serious”.

“The value has become quite a talking point in the industry and the business world, with so many eyes on electronic music and so many big companies invested into it,” he said. “We’ve always admired the work that MIDiA do around music and data, and Mark’s come at it with a fresh approach.

“There are two elements to the report. One, last year’s report was a return but was based on 2021 numbers, so I expect a big uplift in terms of the actual valuation. But MIDiA have also integrated some new metrics in there based around creative economy and even music publishing, which was [previously] very lightly looked at in our business report.

“We’ve always been very transparent about the business report – every year it needs to get better and better, more robust and more bulletproof.”

Around 1,500 delegates are expected at this year’s IMS, which runs until Friday (28 April).

 


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