It was a great panel discussion because the crowd joined in with comments and thoughts from the get go … hadn’t seen that with any other panel before. People are really passionate about music!

There were a bunch of people asking …. was that really DAVID USHER? What … no entourage and peeps? Thanks for being so accessible and down to earth!

Would like to leave you with a question. There is little doubt that the direct price of music is quickly reaching 0. That doesn’t mean that it is not possible to make money from it but you have to start being much more creative which I think is ultimately good for the fans and an ISP levy is not. What do you and your label plan on doing? Fans out there … what would you pay for?

(http://www.meshconference.com/david-usher/)
“Through his company CloudiD Media, he is the social media consultant for EMI Music Publishing as well as other music, theatre and dance organizations.”??

ahh..i didnt notice that before.
nice news. ^^

seems like you guys were having good times there.

@Bui
i talk to organizations about creativity and the web. about how the changes in the information hierarchy are changing how and what we create.
@allan
it was good meeting you, no entourage:)
i think a new kind of artist is emerging. for digital natives a lot of this kind of engagement will be second nature. for them, they are growing up with these tools while for us, the tools are just being developed.
i think an isp levy is really hard for many reasons.
there are many ways to monetize, and funny enough some i saw in demo at the conference. i think with the speed technology and social media are changing, solutions are being developed. solutions that dont involve a levy:)

If the many tweets I saw are any indication, lots of people enjoyed the conversation!

Sounds like a lot of fun! Any chance anyone has video snippets? I mean, this was a tech conference after all!

Looks like someone posted some Flickr photos of you speaking on the panel… http://flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/2513570938/in/photostream/

PS. LOVE the socks!!

The web is an interesting tool for politicians as well. Any chance that was part of the conversation?

The web is “where it’s at”, I don’t question this for a second. But there are still many people out there, like my mother, who in her early 80’s could be around for a while and who may never be involved with the web. I feel a bit sad for this group who, while they won’t be living a lot longer, are left out of this “information superhighway” to some extent if they can’t just go and buy a CD and plop it into their machine. I don’t mind buying CD’s since I don’t buy a lot, just some for my favourite artists. I think I would turn off from any musician who decided to only distribute their music via the web. But that’s just me.

@ Allan - I would like to believe fans will pay for quality. Be that innovation, evolution, honesty or interactivity will depend on the artist. I don’t think the format is really that important. Maybe I’m naïve but I don’t think fans want music to reach a 0 value. We want our preferred artists to make a living by it so they can continue to create for us without having to spread themselves too thin.

More than pirating or anything else at the moment, the biggest threat as I see it is the current devaluation of the music through its marketing. The battle of artist vs. celebrity (not saying an artist can also be famous) is what is killing the industry. On the bright side, if music finally does reach a 0 value, at least there will be less incentive for the “quit singing and show us some T&A” brand of celebrity in the industry.

For those of us who weren’t at the conference, any new or interesting ideas/concepts being brought up?

thank you, david. ^^

i guess maybe a clip or a sum report will be up there on mesh site?!, shan. i see the “more coming soon..” green text there. it was a tech conference! hehe

its interesting to follow the solutions that are being developed.
and what have you got so far from the talks, david? ^^

ps. yeah, the socks are cool! thanks for the link, jane.

[...] was such an excellent moderator, and because the mix of people of the panel was so good, with David Usher, CRIA head Graham Henderson and Kieran Roy of the indie label Arts & [...]

[...] was such an excellent moderator, and because the mix of people of the panel was so good, with David Usher, CRIA head Graham Henderson and Kieran Roy of the indie label Arts & [...]

I would NEVER imply that the value of music 0. I’m an absolute music nut, I love live music and I don’t steal music. I either buy CDs on impulse (say at Starbucks … I’m slightly old) or iTunes. But I spend money on concerts and other premium music stuff. I would pay huge to have David Usher produce videos, lyrics and chords so that I learn to play the his songs for my own pleasure … directly from him. How wickedly cool would that be! I would pay to get his new record early and so on. My point was the DRM didn’t work and therefore most people are increasingly just going to take the songs so you have to do something around the songs that people are willing to pay for or use advertising to generate $ (which isn’t as good but works for radio). The price of the direct song is dropping to 0 no matter what but the value certainly isn’t.