PANELS

Friday, August 18

It all starts with the artist and the song. That's where this conference begins with a panel of some of Australia's top musicians, songwriters, composers, performers and players. And it's a whole new world of empowerment that the Internet gives for creators to extend their reach globally. From simple sites that give information and enhance personality, to giving away or selling music online and even to chatting or performing by webcast technology provides as many solutions as it poses challenges. Plus, there's a whole new way of doing business. Our artists reveal their strategies, successes, dramas, dealmaking, experiences & exhilaration at breaking through the old ways of career pursuit as well as the problems and debacles of dealing with the new ways. Speakers: Bridie, McCormack, Pike Roche & more top artists TBA closer to the date as availabilities & touring permit

Getting Noticed Online & Offline Via Marketing & Promotion for Artists & E-Entrepreneurs Any band or business can buy or build a website. But it's a crowded landscape online for music and information. The secrets to attracting traffic, making eyeballs sticky and ears hungry as well as selling over the Net are revealed. By combining branding, online outreach, offline advertising and publicity, promotion in the real world, email evangelism and the astute tips & techniques that our panel offers, you can realise your dot.com dreams. Speakers: Doidge, Elford, Furhagen, Higgins, King, Sinclair, Wise & More TBA

New technologies give audio & video creators the abilities to stream their works through a variety of media players as well as offer their creations for free or secure digital downloads. This session looks at the ways in which intellectual property can be made available, where the convergence between computer and TV set is taking us as well as what the future is for entertainment media on demand direct to the consumer. It will also deal with the challenge of putting music and other media online for instant and infinite duplication without remuneration versus the secure formats of delivery that yield payment in either money or valuable consumer contacts and demographic information. Speakers: Arrigo, Cohen, Gilbey, Gottehrer, King, Mahony, Oren, Rosenthal & More TBA

Just like the choice of online 'tap water'-giving away free music or intellectual property-versus secure and branded 'bottled water'-whereby you can deliver secure, timed, limited or other valued content to consumers-the management of digital rights and dealmaking is a minefield for the unwary and a potential bonanza for those who wisely consider the future. This panel is composed of legal minds, those who offer DRM (digital rights management) and those who are experienced in the transactions that are crucial to creating a continual stream of income >from micro-monetising to major streams of annual returns. Recording rights, publishing and songwriting rights, performance rights and the ownership of sites, images, content and brands will be dissected and discussed. Predators and pirates will be identified. The right ways to do business in the next decade will be revealed. Speakers: Arrigo, Brownlow, Fitz-Alan, Gilbey, Mallett, Speck, Thompson, Williams

Saturday, 19 August

We've got the top online CD etailers and download sellers as well as representatives from the 'bricks and mortar' traditional retail stores that are heading to 'bricks and clicks' as sales through the Internet of hard carriers (CD, DVD, VHS, MiniDisc and vinyl) transitions to a mix of old formats and digital delivery. 'Shipping Wine Without The Bottles' is not only a challenge to music and video retailers but also a strategy of record companies and entertainment software distributors who appear to be planning to disintermediate the traditional store. This panel is where the fireworks begin on Day 2 as issues of exclusivity, tax on local sales versus free ride savings of overseas etailers, sourcing repertoire locally or from foreign distributors and the vexing issue of price are debated. We'll also look at the opportunities for Australian artists to sell via etailing here and overseas. Speakers: Appel, Caldas, Carr, Darby, Elford, Mayhew-Begg, Outch, Schillaci, Sinclair

Design, accessibility, speed, overall performance and the tricks of making websites produce results are dealt with by this panel of experts. We'll not only look at sites that work well, we'll point out the problems that prevent traffic and make a major investment in website design or development a money pit online. It's not a science panel but a balance of content and context leading to commerce that will be discussed. It's not about art, it's about seduction-luring people to your site and then keeping them there and having them return continuously. We'll also delve into how to extract information from your users, transforming them into fans and setting up programs to get them to draw more traffic and sales to your website. Create your own communities and find your online niche marketŠthen corner it. Speakers: Doidge, Furhagen, Higgins, Simmons, Wise, Wisniewski & More TBA

Wired & Wireless Ways to Digitally Deliver on Demand. Get ready for the bonanza of bandwidth that will come with new ways to use phone wires, new cable modem systems, satellite and other wireless delivery models that will give consumers at home music, movies, gaming and interactive media on demand. And for those on the move, the potential of using mobile phones as the new music and information delivery appliance looms large in the next few years. This panel combines telco pros and entertainment executives to discuss whether the consumer is ready to pay for the privilege of delivery without hard carriers or whether they'll just be happy to upgrade to a DVD for their movies and music. Speakers: Alexander, Cameron, Gilbey, Marino, Peters, Platt & More TBA

Internet Radio & Webcasting; Stuttering Media or The Start of Broadcasting's Future? The big money this year is going into developing audio and visual sites with the view that event Webcasting and Internet Radio are laying down the foundations to tomorrow's new mainstream media. Broadband delivery promises to deliver the pipeline for a galaxy of seamless online radio and smooth webcasts or online video, but are consumers ready for it and are the current broadcast license holders going to dominate the webwaves with the same drivel? Can the music industry support online radio and are promoters going to cannibalise their audiences by webcasting in better quality than the live audience? It's a delicate balance and our panel of experienced operators will show the way. Speakers: Cameron, Chapman, Marino, Muggeridge, Wisniewski & More TBA