Overall, Monday’s Digital Music Forum in New York was well attended (close to 400) and had mostly very informative panels.
Deal flow seemed moderate, but unfortunately several key players were notably absent. There were no groundbreaking announcements, but that was largely expected. The mood of the conference was mildly upbeat, as players in the space are finally starting to see some traction in the marketplace.
Highlights came from a keynote address by Sean Ryan of RealNetworks, an interview with the RIAA`s Steven Marks, and two panels in particular: one examining the role of P2P in digital music, and the other developments on the mobile end.
Panels were: (1) Selling Music Online: Who Will Be the Winners and the Losers? (2) The Future of P2P: Can the Music Industry Profit from the Legitimate Uses of P2P? (3) Death of the CD? DVDs, Games and Other Formats for Music Delivery (4) Mobile Music Deals: Maximizing Potential of the Mobile Market. Additionally, a second keynote was delivered by Jonathan Potter of DiMA. Each of these will be covered below.
This event is starting to eclipse New York`s other digital music conference, Jupiter`s Plug.IN, mainly because of its streamlined approach and cheaper ticket prices. Digital Music Forum was coordinated by Ned Sherman and Digital Media Wire (more information available at digitalmusicforum.com)