Yes We Cannes!

Earlier this week 8,000 members of the international music industry descended upon Cannes for the Midem conference and it’s digitally-focused sister event MidemNet. The clouds hung heavy over the conference hall for the first few days. But despite rumours of lower attendances this year the overall vibe was of a positive more forward-thinking music industry that is ready to leverage all the tools and opportunities at its disposal.

For our part, SoundCloud was selected to pitch at the MusicAlly / MidemNet New Business Showcase. The showcase, now in its second year, aims to “highlight the most enterprising, innovative and inspiring business ideas to help to create value and move the music industry forwards in the 21st century”. That might be a bit of a mouthful but we were thrilled to be taking part. And even more excited to be announced as winners after a great pitch on stage by Alex.

Amongst all the buzz we were busy spreading the word face-to-face with a steady stream of labels, publishers, artists, A&R’s and other partners. Expect to see some interesting new users, integrations and activities on the Cloud in the very near future. By night we were busy hustling, drinking and catching up with familiar faces at the many events, meetups and dinners going on in and around Cannes.  A big thanks to Topspin, Warp and Tru Thoughts for providing some of our highlights.

Overall, the one thing that’s clear from talking to everyone is that it’s going to be a very exciting 2009!