Andrew Phillips and Safta Jeffrey moderated this lively and informative discussion with the challenging and rather broad remit of 'The Future Of Music' Stephen Knill of The Radiate Group, Vijay Nair of One Much Louder (India), Zane Lowe of BBC Radio 1, Adam Zammit of Peer Group Australia and Martin Morales of Disney Music Group (EMEA) were the brave ones tasked with thrashing it out.
In the discussion about the filters and recommenders of music Steven lamented that " the sources of recommendations have changed so much. You don't know where to look. The future is another set of recommenders".
As the subject moved on to future markets Vijay told us that a Non-Bollywood market didn't exist in India previously because there was no distribution network. Now there's an organised structure in place and so common sense would dictate that the smart music companies would start offering product there soon. Zane Lowe, a hugely influential tastemaker DJ in the UK stressed the need for a trusted place of recommendation, saying that "People have taken back control" as opposed to having tastes and trends shoved down their throats. "(the future recommenders) could be local record stores. Even though the collapse of high street music retail is worrying, the Amoebas and Rough Trades have nothing to worry about". Adam Zammit said the best ideas will come from individuals not big companies. "They will come from entrepreneurs who have grown up with technology". Lowe thought that the industry is probably still at a tipping point where we're still just holding on to the old industry, but looked to things like Spotify as exciting glimpses of what the future could be like. Zane, incidentally, tweeted about the Future Of Music panel before it started, asking his thousands of followers for ideas. The responses, a mixture of hilarious and interesting, are worth a look. On the artist side of things, Vijay argued that we don't need future superstars -We want them, but we don't need them. "The future lies in a 'merit class of musicians' rather than superstars"
Vijay also shared some further insight into his home market, claiming that India always comes top of the ranking lists on countries for piracy precisely because there are no legal music download services in India - 'you have to at least give them an option'. After pointing out the number of people who work for digital stores in the audience, Zane pondered why they weren't on the next plane to India - smart guy.
Adam Zammit thought the use of the word 'free' in marketing language is damaging and said labels had no right to whinge about illegal downloading if they've used 'free' as a marketing tool for the same purposes.
Vijay thought people will pay for value. He also used the example of UK band Fanfarlo, who made an album available for 15 days for $1. "I know lots of kids in India snapped it up because someone was allowing you to pay for music". He also told us that mobile marketing in India is driven by the value-adds like music rather than tariffs.
As to music's position in the cultural landscape, Adam warned that music is finding itself in a secondary position to other lifestyle industries. "It takes the backseat in films and games.". Adam claimed that music is not leading the technology, it just being bundled with it. " It's not a comfortable position to be in." Although he seemed pleased that music is driving fashion again, with new artists like Bat For Lashes and MGMT bringing an aesthetic back to music that was missing in the grunge era.
Nobody knew what the future would be, but there were some interesting pointers from people with a keen eye for what tomorrow holds.
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