Billboard FutureSound Conference Set To Launch Today
This November 15th and 16th, Billboard is set to put on its second annual FutureSound Conference in San Francisco. The conference, which launched last year, is aimed at bringing investors, entrepreneurs, and the decision makers of the music industry together to “foster the advancement of understanding and innovation across the board and help push the music industry forward”.
Billboard is generally at the forefront of music tastemakers so it is particularly relevant that they have took it upon themselves to encourage and cultivate a forward thinking musical mentality. Last year's conference highlighted investors and executives from major influencers like Facebook, Twitter and Pandora and also featured a ton of the heavy hitting content and rights companies from Island Def Jam to EMI and Glassnote.
This conference is not one for the general public to really soak in and enjoy but it will certainly set that stage for the development of music now and into the future. It is a convergence of the biggest and brightest minds in the industry with the goal of taking music to higher and brighter levels. It is not a discussion on what it means to have talent, but a discussion on how to best leverage, sell, and express this talent so hard work is rewarded with success in every way possible .
This year’s conference will be focused on “defining problems and finding actionable solutions in the areas of entrepreneurship, music licensing, as well as leveraging the social web in the digital music marketplace.” It will also feature an “Innovators Showcase” – a startup competition presented by Loeb & Loeb LLP, to provide digital music startups a chance to pitch their company/product to Billboards panel of high profile judges (deadlines for submission have passed).
This unique opportunity to be seen and heard by music’s most revolutionary minds will undoubtedly spurn innovation in music technology and should be viewed as a springboard for “the next big thing”. The core of the conference is discussing the latest innovations and technologies driving the digital music world in addition to the roles of rights holders, developers, copyrights, and how they pertain to the changing economics of digital music.
The aftermath of something like this will be felt for years to come as the music industry increasingly converges with digital media technologies more and more as time goes by.
This years speakers are bigger and better than last with big names like Deadmau5, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, Blue Note Records president Don Was, William Morris Endeavor's Marc Geiger, Google's Tim Quirk, Topspin's Ian Rogers, Tastemaker X's Marc Ruxin, Getty Images' Vince Bannon and many more.
Jake Annear | Elite.
