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Five Day Forecast – w/c 21 May 2012
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 21 May 2012
It was the latest outing of the Independent Label Market on Saturday, once again hitting Old Spitalfields Market in London. Having expanded considerably since it first launched on Soho’s Berwick Street last year, the various stalls took up a considerable chunk of the Victorian market hall and proved again to be a great way to engage with the companies behind some of our favourite releases. It also meant I went home with a lighter wallet than I’d intended, but that was balanced out with an afternoon listening to some brilliant music. And speaking of brilliant music, let’s have a look at what’s in store this week.
01: Eurovision. I think we’re all agreed that the Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most important events on the musical calendar. Yes, we are. And this week is the 2012 Eurovision week, so we’d better all get excited. The semi-finals take place this Thursday and Friday, before the big final on Saturday night. I selected ten songs I’d like to see in the final last week. I hope they all do get through, otherwise it’s all going to be boring ballads and generic dance-pop.
02: International Music Summit. IMS 2012 takes place in Ibiza this week, gathering the dance and electronic music industry together for discussion of important issues in that field. And amongst all the industry types to speak will be a fair few artists and DJs too, in particular Nile Rodgers from Chic, Diplo, Professor Green, Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold. From the label side Mute’s Daniel Miller will be offering insights, while on the live side Cream chief James Barton will be marking his 20 years in the business with a keynote address. Also keynoting will be Twitter’s Head Of Music Partnerships Tatiana Simonian.
03: CMU social media training. This week sees CMU Training launch a brand new one day course looking at the effective use of social media for bands and other people who work in music. The course will look at the key social media platforms available and other useful digital tools, the importance of interaction and content, how to manage an artist’s social media presence on a day-to-day basis, advertising on social media platforms, how to measure social activity, and how social media fits in to a wider marketing and communication strategy. Limited places are still available at a cost of £95 plus VAT.
04: New releases. The soundtrack to Ryan Gosling movie ‘Drive’ is generally considered to be very good, and this week, courtesy of Portishead man Geoff Barrow’s Invada label, you’ll be able to buy it on vinyl for the first time. Artists with albums out this week include Tom Jones, Gaz Coombes, The Temper Trap, Cold Specks, and Smoke Fairies, while the ever wonderful Scarlet Soho have a new EP out.
05: Gigs. Danish dark-pop trio Giana Factory will play a one-off show in Dalston this Friday to mark the UK release of their debut album ‘Save The Youth’. They’re very good, so I urge you to get down there if you can. Also out gigging this week are Alt-J, Keane, Beach House, The Buzzcocks, Oberhofer, SCUM, plus the Slam Dunk festival will be sending out Hit The Lights, Transit, The Story So Far and Decade on tour, and you’ll also be able to catch the ever reliable Guns N Roses at various shows around the county.
And finally, don’t forget to listen to the latest edition of the CMU podcast, which this week includes chat about The Pirate Bay’s DDoS attack, jail avoidance by two of the Bay’s founders, MP3tunes.com going bankrupt, the launch of the streaming chart and R Kelly’s Mothers Day extravaganza.
Andy Malt
Editor, CMU
