Moderator: Carlos Fleischmann, CT Creative Talent
Paul Franklin, Helter Skelter
Jonathan Krane, Emma Entertainment
John Langford, BIG Concerts
Noel McHale, MCD
Rob Markus, William Morris Agency
Roberto Meglioli, Medals Live Italia
Mario Mendrzycki, Triple M Entertainment
Bob Miller, Running Media Group

Jonathan Krane, Rob Markus, Paul Franklin, Bob Miller, John Langford, Carlos Fleischmann, Noel McHale, Mario Mendrzycki.

The most-discussed issues for the live music industry worldwide, if this panel is any indication, are the emergence of the 360 deal, as well as the secondary ticket market and new markets in China and Latin America.

Moderator Carlos Fleischmann, of CT Creative Talent, did a fine job of wrangling a large panel of inter-national movers and shakers, who jumped right into debating the effect of the so-called "360-degree" artist deal.

"Napster single-handedly changed the face of record distribution," William Morris Agency's Rob Markus pointed out. "That was a big wake-up call for the North American labels. Artists are looking for the best possible deal. If that happens to be the 360, so be it."

Noting the Live Nation / Madonna deal in particular, Markus added, "It will be interesting to see if they can provide the ancillaries artists expect."

Mario Mendrzycki of Triple M Entertainment doesn't see the 360 as any kind of panacea for a stumbling business.

Roberto Meglioli

"You look at Amy Winehouse - she is not doing it by the book. Apparently she is taking a lot of 'vitamins,' and she's breaking dates and so on. That is not how you build a long-term career."

Several panelists questioned the recording labels' future role in the music business, given the precipitous losses the majors have sustained in recent years and resulting layoffs.

"The pressure is to make money quickly," Helter Skelter's Paul Franklin said.

"You don't have time to develop artists. Every A&R person I know is scared of losing his job. You will start to see lots of independent labels and people doing it themselves."

MCD Productions' Noel McHale sees that as a plus for the live industry, however.

"The live arena is still the best way to break a new artist," he said. "There's too much music on MySpace, and no way to filter it all."

Rob Markus of William Morris Agency pointed out that it's much easier to break a new artist in Asia and Latin America than in the United States and United Kingdom.

"The markets [of China and Mexico] are not necessarily driven by hard ticket sales," he said. "The money is in festivals - there are many in the world and they are sponsor-driven."

The role of agents and managers in the international market is more blurred than in the U.S., where a distinct line is drawn. And establishing representation and controlling an artist's rights are crucial.

"The days of tour support from the labels is over. The reality is, labels are losing money and the fees are higher than we'd like," Franklin said. "Within the next five years, it will be managers and agents talking about tours, not the labels."

Markus noted that everyone needs to tread carefully in developing markets. "You need to find out who has absolute rights to represent the artists, especially in the emerging markets. You need to verify agents and their fees. It can be very dangerous if you don't."

Miller urged his audience to "work with artists you believe will be around for 20 years. Now, many want every-thing up front. China is sexy. Lots of people want to go there."

And little wonder.

"If an artist is willing to do TV rights in China, that's 500 million people," Emma Entertainment's Jonathan Krane noted, giving a valuable primer on China, where Emma has a strong presence.

"In four years, China split into domestic and international markets. The Stones, Eric Clapton and stars of that stature are playing there. In the two major cities of Shanghai and Beijing, we do typical advertising but also soft advertising.

"Let people know the artist. Bios and the grassroots are important. All advertising is still controlled by the government, and relationships are important. You need permission from the government to bring artists there, but it's getting easier as the market becomes more mature."

Krane explained that merchandise gets brought up immediately in China, and digital rights are valuable - those 500 million with TVs and mobile phones add up. In addition, visas are easier to get - often within 24 hours. And he quoted an average ticket price in China of $40 to $50. And yes, there is a VIP class even in communist China.

"If artists are willing to come, things can happen," Krane stressed, pointing out that the 2008 Summer Olympic Games will leave China with a plethora of new state-of-the-art venues needing to be filled once the athletes have left.

Carlos Fleischmann, Jonathan Krane,
Paul Franklin

"The government in the U.K. has washed its hands of it," Franklin said. "Harvey [Goldsmith] spoke of it yesterday [as the CIC's keynoter] and we all need to work together on it. We need to get money into the artists' hands.

"Prices are up and total sales are down. We asked the government for help, and we saw 2012 (when London hosts the Summer Olympic Games) as a great opportunity. We had three years of meetings and they took six months of deliberating rather than deal with it. The CPA and rights collection organization are looking to see what they can do, but it's open season in the U.K."

Miller refused to mince words.

"I hate the secondary market," he said. "It seems like agents and promoters allowed this to happen. It's like the record labels with Napster. Why even bother having ticket prices at all, if they don't mean anything?"

As the talk turned to solutions, the idea of electronic ticketing via mobile phone came up.

"You are going to have to make people want electronic tickets," BIG Concerts' John Langford said, noting that counterfeit tickets are becoming a problem in South Africa.

As if to underscore the fact that solutions aren't going to be easy, an audience member laughed and announced, "That's never going to happen," as she stood up and pantomimed an imaginary "fan" digging out his phone and fumbling with buttons to find his bar code.