Independent labels will be in the spotlight at the PrimaveraPro conference in Barcelona this week, with Simon Raymonde from indie Belle Union to appear alongside executives from Domino and Rough Trade.
PrimaveraPro is the sister event to the San Miguel Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. It takes place at the Hotel Zero in Barcelona from Wednesday May 30 to Friday June 1, with the main music festival taking place from Thursday 31 to Saturday June 2.
Day one will see Domino Records director John Dyer and Bella Union founder Simon Raymonde appear on a panel entitled Creative Ways To Make Money In The Music Industry.
Dyer and Raymonde will be joined on the panel by Geoff Peveto of travelling concert poster fair Flatstock and New Music Strategies’ Andrew Dubber to examine ways to make music pay in the ever-evolving music business.
On the same day Rough Trade Records’ Jessica Park, who has worked with artists including The Strokes and Sufjan Stevens, will discuss whether music is still as important as ever to young people, in a panel provocatively titled Is It The End For Music Fan Freaks? Also appearing on the panel will be singer / songwriter / 6 Music DJ Tom Robinson.
Meanwhile, Merlin CEO Charles Caldas and IMPALA board member Mark Kitcatt are to examine the success of independent labels in the digital marketplace at a PrimaveraPro conference entitled The New Digital Dynamic: Changes In The Music Market.
The panel, which also includes Telefónica On The Spot Services content rights manager Andrea Liboreiro Rodríguez, will look into why independent labels are achieving higher market share in digital sales than in physical and why the same indie labels are often undervalued by digital services.
PrimaveraPro will also put the focus on independent festivals, with the Association of Independent Festivals running a panel on Thursday May 31 investigating how large independent festivals can survive in a climate of consolidation in festival ownership. Speakers include Sid Sharma (Shambala), John Rostron (SWN Festival), Rich Bryan (Bearded Theory), with Womad’s Chris Smith moderating.
PrimaveraPro 2012 will include more than thirty conferences, workshops, presentations and receptions within the framework of DayPro, as well as exclusive showcases from acts including Sub Pop-signed South African rapper Spoek Mathambo and hotly-tipped Canadian MC Cadence Weapon as part of the NightPro line up. –NME
