Berklee and MIDEM announce Rethink Music 2012

Conference will be preceded by the Rethink Music Impact weekend, a series of musical events, a developer’s conference, and the Music Deconstruction Experience.
November 2, 2011

Berklee College of Music and MIDEM announce that the 2012 edition of the Rethink Music conference will take place in Boston, MA, April 23–24.

Produced in association with Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Rethink Music is designed to bring music stakeholders together to discuss business models for the future, examine copyright challenges in the digital era, and analyze technological innovation in music and its distribution.

Following the success of the 2011 first edition, Rethink Music 2012 will offer its participants a broadened focus on media convergence, brands, and technology. New specific track sessions will address innovation, devices and mobility, direct-to-fan business, engagement, and discovering audiences and artists. The conference will be preceded by the Rethink Music Impact weekend, a series of musical events, a developer's conference, and the Music Deconstruction Experience, occurring throughout the weekend of April 21–22 around Boston.

Registration information will be announced in coming weeks at rethink-music.com.

"Berklee is tremendously excited to present the second annual Rethink Music conference in conjunction with MIDEM and to continue its important music industry research initiative with Harvard," says Allen Bargfrede, executive director of Rethink Music for Berklee College of Music and program director, Berklee Valencia. "We continue to work to search for future solutions, empowering musicians along the way, through creative presentations and thought-provoking dialogue."

"There is a shared vision between MIDEM and Rethink Music as both events will expand and include a larger scope of innovative themes and people in 2012," says Bruno Crolot, director of MIDEM. "Technology, brands, startups, students, and artists will take center stage this year, and we intend to hear the voice of the new generation and its ideas for supporting the music industries and the future of the music business. Rethink Music makes headway thanks to a strong partnership between MIDEM and Berklee, and we are extremely proud to be part of this ambitious event in the U.S."

"We look forward to the 2012 conference and to ongoing engagement and scholarship between now and then," says Christopher Bavitz, clinical instructor at Harvard Law School and assistant director of the Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic, based at the Berkman Center. "We welcome opportunities to convene diverse groups of stakeholders and think critically about opportunities and challenges facing creators and creative industries."

Founded in 1963, Reed MIDEM is a leading organiser of professional, international tradeshows. Reed MIDEM events have established themselves as key dates in professional diaries. A member of Reed Exhibitions, Reed MIDEM hosts MIPTV, MIPDOC, MIPCOM, and MIPJUNIOR for the television and digital content industries; MIDEM for music professionals; and MIPIM, MIPIM Asia, and MAPIC for the property and retail real estate sectors.