The 4th annual MUSEXPO concluded with great success last week in West Hollywood, California. The four-day, sold-out MUSEXPO once again proved to be an engaging, productive, and inspiring international music and media gathering, this year attracting hundreds of the most influential music, media and technology executives from 40+ countries on five continents--the most diverse international attendance in MUSEXPO’s history. And according to all the feedback we’ve received from participants and media alike, this was the best MUSEXPO to date.
In addition, 40 artists showcased their abundant talents throughout MUSEXPO and a number are already in negotiations regarding recording, publishing and management deals as a result of these performances (details as soon as the ink is dry). Many other performing artists have received substantial international radio, press, media, film/TV supervisor, booking agent, licensing and synchronization interest from their MUSEXPO showcases.
The entire A&R Worldwide/MUSEXPO team sends sincerest thanks to everyone who supported and attended MUSEXPO 2008--especially Title Sponsor PLAYINDIES, the showcasing artists and their representatives, all speakers, all of our event partners, product sponsors, media partners, conference partners, delegates, moderators, panelists, sound/lighting production, our talented art/design/editorial/photography and film staff, Hyatt West Hollywood hotel staff, House of Blues staff, City of West Hollywood, Saddle Ranch Chop House, Summit Transportation, Swinghouse, our MUSEXPO 2008 MC Tommy Nast and the support staff who made sure that MUSEXPO 2008 operations ran smoothly.
On behalf of all of us at MUSEXPO 2008, we are grateful and humbled by the many expressions of support. Initial planning for MUSEXPO 2009 and MUSEXPO Europe 2008 has already begun and we encourage your comments/suggestions.
We are pleased to share a few photos of selected highlights from MUSEXPO 2008 (below) and comments from some of our participants.
Thank you!
Sat Bisla, Bob Bisla, Brandon Fuller, Monte Malone, Joe Arnold, Peter Chalmers, Sara Kinne, Casey Morse & Crystal Ortiz
MUSEXPO 2008 INDUSTRY COMMENTS
We had some great feedback from this year’s MUSEXPO. While it’s never easy to change location (due to construction at the previous hotel), the overwhelming consensus was that MUSEXPO raised the bar once again and provided some fantastic networking opportunities and outcomes for many of the speakers, delegates, artists and sponsors. Rather than describing MUSEXPO 2008 in our words, we thought it’d be appropriate to let those who attended describe their experiences. Many thanks to all of those who participated; we could not have done it without you.
“Just stepped off the plane in London, and wanted to send you a quick note to congratulate you on a wonderful MUSEXPO 2008. It’s a fantastic event and you should be hugely proud of what you’ve built up. I was impressed by the calibre of the delegates, the quality of the panels, the fantastic networking lunches, brunches and dinners, the marketing on the ground, and the overall organisation and smooth running of the whole thing. One of MUSEXPO’s greatest strengths is the sense of intimacy which is fostered around the networking events--the chance to catch up with new contacts several times over the course of the conference is invaluable. Please pass on my congratulations to everyone who was involved in putting MUSEXPO together.” (Chris Price, Director of Music Programming, MTV Networks UK & Ireland)
“Congratulations to you both and your team for an excellent MUSEXPO. It really did surpass the previous year--and that is saying something!” (Mike Walsh, Head of Music, Xfm Radio Network, UK).
“I am so excited to see what a huge deal MUSEXPO has become. Keep going and growing.” (Carter Armstrong, VP Music, Warner Bros. Pictures)
“It was fantastic to see you and participate in your conference. Thanks for inviting me! I really enjoyed it.” (Chris Barton, Strategic Partnership Development Manager, Google)
“Thanks again for inviting me to your impressive conference. I really enjoyed the dialog, and I think I made some new friends. Wish I had more time, really wanted to see Lefsetz panel, and some others…oh well, next time, thanks again!” (Jimmy Steal, Emmis VP of Programming – Power 106 Los Angeles and Hot 97 New York)
“Thanks again for your fantastic hospitality. I was impressed with both the organization and caliber of attendees.” (Jason Sausto, President Onkyo China)
“Thank you again for including me in this year’s MUSEXPO. It was one of the most productive conferences I’ve attended in years…solutions and advice, rather than negative nonsense and gossip. The speakers were candid and informative. I was proud to be on our panel. This was the first time I met Mike Walsh...what an impressive gentleman! And I loved sharing with Seymour, Peter and Steve. Congratulations to you and your team for a job well done!” (Daniel Glass, Founder/CEO, Glassnote Entertainment)
“Thanks for everything and congrats on an excellent conference--looking forward to seeing you again soon.” (Sebastian Mair, President, Music Solutions, Japan)
“Thank you again so much for such a great experience at this year’s MUSEXPO--you guys really outdid yourselves and the level of talent was phenomenal.” (Dawn Girocco, General Manger, Indie 103.1FM Los Angeles)
“Thanks so much for having me. It was fun and incredibly well-attended.” (David Massey, President, Mercury Records).
“I just want to thank you for a great three days, look forward to doing it again next year.” (Peter S. Shukat, Shukat Arrow Hafer Weber & Herbsman)
“Thank you for bringing us all together! We could have kept going for hours! Congratulations on a fantastic event. It gets better and bigger each year.” (Erica Farber, Publisher, Radio & Records)
“I just wanted to congratulate you on a very successful MUSEXPO. Our delegates had nothing but positive things to say and they all got a lot out of it. I wanted to thank you for all of your efforts.” (Tina Radburn, Business Development Manager, Queensland Government)
“Thank you. I had a wonderful time at MUSEXPO. It was very useful and time well spent. I heard some great bands at MUSEXPO and had a really good time.” (Seymour Stein, Chairman, Sire Records Group)
“On behalf of both Peter and I, we’d like to thank you for a great event at this year’s MUSEXPO 2008 in LA. People in general were very interested in iMelos. Past and future MUSEXPO delegate.” (Søren Nielsen, Founder, iMelos)
“Thank you so much for the invitation and the wonderful MUSEXPO 2008. I really enjoyed coming over to LA--and guess what, I immediately fell in love with the wonderful city. I was very pleased with the excellent service and your preparation of this convention was marvelous. I enjoyed my publishing panel as much as I enjoyed most of the other panels. You guys put together an excellent list of important executives and I hope that I can benefit from this, also. Please give a very warm THANK YOU VERY MUCH to everybody of your team--you guys were fantastic!!!” (Jens-Markus Wegener, Managing Director, AMV Talpa GMBH, Germany)
“Thanks again for inviting me to be part of the panel. It was fun and the panelists were all very good. I actually found it educational. Good to hear the perspective of other industry professionals.” (Dain Blair, CEO, Groove Addicts)
“I'll reply with a longer mail about MUSEXPO, but just wanted to get back to you to say that on the whole it was fabulous. The quality of speakers was outstanding and the House of Blues venue superb.” (Mike Tunnicliffe, President, Tuna Music)
“It was an honor to be a part of such a terrific event.” (James P. Dunne, President, Inspire Entertainment)
“Did not get to talk to you much during MUSEXPO, but we all had a good time and got to meet a lot of people.” (Helene Broch, Project Manager, Music Export Norway)
“Congrats on a great convention, it was packed! We really enjoyed being there and had a super groovy time. Hope you get some well-deserved rest! (Laurie Gail, Director East Coast Label & Radio Relations, Play MPE)
“You and Sat and your staff did a terrific job with organizing and presenting the event. I thoroughly enjoyed it, found the panels stimulating, met a number of interesting people (one of whom stopped by my firm to visit me today before leaving town and others of whom I'll be keeping in touch with) and reconnected with a few people I hadn't seen in a while.” (Bill Archer, Attorney, LBBS Law)
“Again, thank you so much for putting on a great event! I learned a lot, met great people, and experienced some killer bands.” (Elgin Kim, Head of Sales – West, Nokia)
“I wanted to thank you for including The Small Hours in MUSEXPO 2008. The guys had a smashing show and the response has been nothing but positive! The Foundation Room was packed when they played and the boys were spot-on! All of MUSEXPO was great! I have to say, as someone who speaks at, and attends, a lot of conferences every year, MUSEXPO was quite professional! I was impressed with the event’s flow, the quality of panelists, the hospitality was superb and everything ran on time! KUDOS and thanks again! (Ryan Kuper, President, Boundless Entertainment)
“I'm sure you have plenty on your plate after the past week, but just wanted to thank you for inviting us to perform. We have already had a few enquiries from parties, as a few things that began last year were sealed this year at MUSEXPO. Again, thanks for the opportunity--without guys like yourself, little acts like my label and the bands on it have little chance of getting to the people that make the decisions.” (Simon Homer, Manager, The Gin Club)
“Thank you so much for your warm hospitality and for manifesting such a wonderful convention. It was especially great to see you.” (Shannon O’Shea, Founder, SOS Management)
“Once again congratulations on MUSEXPO, I had a very good time and met some very useful people.” (James Lewis, Producer, UK)
“I wanted to take the time to thank all of you and comment on what an amazing job everyone did! We can't express how lucky we feel to have your support. MUSEXPO was an awesome conference and all of you (including all the volunteers) were extremely helpful and always there when we needed you. I also discovered some great music and met some cool people.” (Nancy Scibilia, Gold Mountain Entertainment)
“I just wanted to extend my kudos to all of you for another incredible experience at MUSEXPO this year! Every year I think that the bar can't possibly be raised any higher...yet each conference has done just that, surpassing all my expectations. Can't wait to see what tricks you have up your collective sleeve for next year!” (Tom Maguire, Music Journalist)
“On behalf of Grand Avenue I would like to thank you ALL for giving the band the opportunity to perform at MUSEXPO 08. We have been delighted by the great reaction and really appreciate the start you have given us in the US. The whole event was brilliantly organized and we are very happy to have participated in the success. Thank you for all the hard work, from artist selection through to event production. We will always remember that it was MUSEXPO and A&R Worldwide who first brought Grand Avenue to the USA!” (Alistair Norbury, Long Dog Management Limited)
“I am writing to extend a THANK YOU for MUSEXPO this year. It was my first time attending and I can assure you I will be attending for the following years to come. As a "newbie" on the scene (a mere three years under my belt), I found the panels and networking functions to be absolutely invaluable. I made some real relationships and am so excited to continue learning. I greatly appreciate you, your staff, and your family's dedication to an industry that has a reputation as faltering the last few years. We do it because we all love it so much! Thank you, a million times over, for this opportunity. I am confident that the bands I'm working with will no doubt benefit from all that I took away from this event!” (Jessica Hernandez, Red Vinyl Management)
“Once again, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to play MUSEXPO this year. I honestly don't think that I've enjoyed playing a show so much as I did on Monday and I know I can speak for the rest of the lads when I say that. It looks like we're getting a lot of positive feedback too, which is great.” (Robin Goodchild, The Small Hours)
“Big greetings from a very jet-lagged, but buzzed up Erika Lee. MUSEXPO 2008 was marvelous.” (Erika Lee, Manager, Jensen)
“On behalf of A.i., I wanted to say THANK YOU for allowing us to be a part of MUSEXPO this year. As I previously mentioned, everything was first class from top to bottom and all of your planning and hard work really came to fruition. Nick and I are already discussing our plan of attack for MUSEXPO in the UK--if we are lucky enough to be a part of it.” (Kyle Mortensen, A.i. Music)
“Thank you both for the opportunity to work with A&R Worldwide and the opportunity for Merrill Lynch to be a part of MUSEXPO” (James Kennedy, Financial Advisor, Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management)
“Many thanks again - really enjoyed MUSEXPO. Congratulations again - was a real success.” (Mark Strippel, Head of Music, BBC Asian Network)
“While we're in compliment mode, can I say that I think you and the team did a truly terrific job in bringing the whole conference together! In conversations with others who were there the sentiment seemed to be shared. You have a great skill in bringing an interesting collection of people together.” (Ande MacPherson, Former Programme Controller, Xfm Radio Network, UK)
“I wanted to send you a quick note to say that MUSEXPO was again… a top notch production. It is great to see that there are still some people left who still take pride in doing things well and making
great things happen. Bravo to you all!!!” (Jack Shapira, President/Manager, Contact Artist Management, Canada)
“Just wanted to say thanks for a great conference and I’m hoping you have been able to have some down time this week. It was another great event and is just growing from strength to strength. I thought the use of the Hyatt and the House of Blues worked really well.” (Denise Foley, Executive Officer, Q Music, Australia)
“Thank you so much for such a great night. It was a privilege to be honored by you and MUSEXPO. Thanks again!” (Alex Patsavas, Founder, Chop Shop Music Supervision, Inc.)
“Thanks for everything at MUSEXPO - it was valuable to me, my business and MMF/IMMF.” (Steven Bond Garvan, US Representative, MMF/IMMF)
“I know that I mentioned this to you several times during the conference, but you did one hell of a job with this year’s MUSEXPO. This was my first time attending, but I will definitely be back! I thought everything was fantastic: The panels, the topics discussed, the networking opportunities, the showcases - everything. I not only came out of MUSEXPO with some new ideas for how to better run my business, but I also came out with a bunch of new friends from around the world who love music as much as I do. Well done! Now if you could just get hockey shown at the lunches rather than soccer!” (Gregg Bell, Kataphonic Records/Wanted Management)
“I loved MUSEXPO. It was a world-class affair and you guys did an awesome job putting it on. Thanks so much for all your work with MUSEXPO - it really was a great conference.” (Rob Getzschman, Entertainment Marketing Manager, LinkedIn)
“Just getting back to some sort of normalcy here. I wanted to drop you a line and congratulate you on another fine Musexpo. I thought the panels were particularly a notch above last year. Also, one of the best things for me was getting hooked up with Linked-in. It's proving to be very useful!” (Robert Shalaman, President, Shala Music)
CLICK HERE FOR MUSEXPO 2008 PANEL SNAPSHOTS & MUSEXPO 2008 SHOWCASE ARTISTS!