MARKETING STING MUSIC

MIDEM (short for Marché International du Disque et de l’Edition Musicale, which is the world’s largest music industry trade fair, which has been held annually at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, since 1967) featured a number of panels, one of them bringing the Agency Group’s COO Jan Sikorski and Universal Music Classical Management & Productions managing director Jeffrey D. Vanderveen together to discuss “The Future Landscape of Artist Management” in both pop and classical genres. Vanderveen said the rise of the 360 degree deal had helped labels and artists form more equal business partnerships, explaining how Sting and Universal had partnered on a TV special and live concerts for the artist’s “If on a Winter’s Night” album. “What really made it was, the TV show drove CD sales and it was all within the Universal family,” he said. “TV, CD and DVD sales were all fantastic.” Vanderveen also said executives had to make sure touring add-ons like cinecasting didn’t undermine the original live experience. “Sometimes the digital exploitation is so good that it might just put people off going to the live event,” he said. “It’s made to drive people to the live performance, not to replace it.”
Source: Billboard