Hundreds of key players in the global music industry will gather from the 3rd to the 5th of March for the 33rd, and due to the pandemic, the first online edition of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC). The ILMC program brings more than 250 speakers and over 1,000 participants, the highest numbers in the long history of the most important and most influential conference dedicated to the music industry. This year’s most notable participants include Irving Azoff (Azoff Music), Klaus-Peter Schulenberg (CTS Eventim), industry commentator Bob Lefsetz, Emma Banks (CAA), Tim Leiweke (Oak View Group), Jason Danter, Lucy Dickins (WME), Pandora founder Tim Westergren, member of the band Mumford & Sons Ben Lovett and Dušan Kovačević, founder and director of EXIT Festival.
The upcoming 33rd edition of the top global platform for concert and festival professionals will involve more than 60 meetings, workshops and speeches over three days, with 50 performances by young artists presented by the biggest concert agencies and “export offices.” This year’s program will also launch PULSE, which will cover the connection between technology and live music, as well as The Experience Economy Meeting (TEEM), which will focus on non-musical content. Visitors of the conference will also be able to watch a broadcast of The Arthur Awards, the Oscars of the music industry, held on the stage of the famous Royal Albert Hall. A day before the start of the event, on the 2nd of March, the ILMC Production Meeting will take place, bringing together professionals from the fields of touring and production. The environmentally-friendly Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEI) will take place on the same day.
ILMC chief Greg Parmley said: “This edition of the ILMC will mark a year since live music began to shut down due to COVID-19, and it is taking place at a time when markets around the world are moving forward with plans to reopen. This is a crucial moment to reconnect the global live music business and define its relaunch.”
An ILMC panel that is attracting particular attention is called “Festival Futures: Core Priorities”, featuring Kaptin Barrett (Boomtown Fair), Phillipe Cornu (Berne Gadget abc Entertainment), Michal Kaščak (Pohoda festival), Sara Maria Kordek (Good Taste Production), Fruszina Szep (Goodlive / Superbloom) and EXIT’s Dušan Kovačević. Looking through the prism of the big question of 2021 — whether festivals will be able to work at full capacity — this session will focus on the passions, priorities and unique factors that make many music festivals what they are. Following the shock of 2020, what do organizers consider to be important in their planning, and how are their events recalibrated for the post-COVID world? From environmental issues and humanitarian campaigns to diversity, equality and inclusion, leading festival actors look behind the headliners to consider what their events mean to themselves and their fans.
This panel is set to take place on Friday, 5th of March, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM.
More information about the 33rd ILMC can be found on the official website.
