With a packed agenda of talks, panels, demos and exhibits, club nights and discussions, Brighton Music Conference is descending onto the city this weekend with events starting on Friday morning. It’s aimed at professionals in the music industry, with a series of interesting daytime talks at the Dome being complemented by a floor of demonstrations and exhibitors and all-night club events afterwards.
On both days, the exhibitors’ floor will be open and packed with demonstrations from the likes of Korg, Ableton, Sennheiser and Roland. There’s information stands from learning providers, magazines and hire companies too, and if last year’s event is anything to judge by, it’ll have the flashing lights, smoke, bleeping music and weirdly satisfying atmosphere of a sober, daytime club in there. There is a bar, but there’s also some very tempting and expensive hardware on sale, so you might want to pace yourself.
If you’re into promotions and events, ‘Clubs, Festivals And Events: Is It A Level Raving Field?’ on Friday at 12.30pm looks set to be very interesting, with leading agents and club directors discussing what’s necessary to build a local club scene, whether global mass-market festivals are diluting the appeal of niche events, and what contemporary issues are facing the electronic music events world. For those interested in hardware and software developments, ‘The Art of DJing’ on Friday at 2.40pm features a panel that’s guaranteed to be lively, with DJ Pierre and Icicle lined up to debate technological trends and advances from the past twenty years – we interviewed Pierre last year and he’s got some strong feelings on the matter.
Saturday’s talks are aimed a bit more towards musicians rather than industry professionals, and includes a talk titled ‘Is Social Media Dead?’ at 3.15pm which discusses the importance of self-promotion and digital marketing, and earlier in the day, ‘The Big Stream’ at 10.45am addressing topical issues of cross-market exposure, branding strategies, and the hype surrounding the launch of Tidal.
After a full day at the Dome, there’s a plethora of after-parties across Brighton for all tastes. We recommend AudioActive’s Emerging Talent show from 5-8pm on Friday at the Hub, and the epic On The House and Wiggle night at Al Duomo, which starts at 4pm on Saturday and goes on until 6am, featuring Nathan Coles, Robert Owens and Magnus Asberg, amongst others. The Ableton-sponsored Brighton Artists Showcase at The Tempest on Saturday evening will also be well worth a look. Good luck; to fit it all in you’re going to need a lot of coffee. Or something.
Full programmes and tickets are available here.
Brighton Dome and various other venues, Fri 5th – Sat 6th June
