The Great Escape has today announces details of the second of its convention strands for 2014, Global Digital Markets, which will provide delegates with an insightful overview of digital music trends from across the world, and tackle the two biggest questions of the year: ‘What do artists really think about digital?’ and ‘Are streaming services simply too expensive to go mass market?’ 

Following a year in which Thom Yorke infamously labelled the emerging streaming market as “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse”, artist and producer Dan le Sac will present the findings of a specially commissioned survey of the UK artist community to assess what creators really think about emerging digital services, and to identify the issues digital and record companies need to address. 

Dan le Sac says: “Whether or not you agree with Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, the debate they initiated in the artist community about Spotify et al has been an important one. As new digital services rush to sign up labels and publishers, the artist community often gets left out of the conversation. I look forward to finding out what digital issues concern artists and managers in 2014, and where the artist community sees the opportunities as digital becomes the primary way we distribute our music”. 

As for the future of the streaming market, Oleg Fomenko, founder of Bloom.fm, and Chris Gorman, founder of O2 Tracks operator MusicQubed, will explain their alternative approaches, and why they believe a different business model is needed if subscription-based music services are to go truly mainstream. 

The Great Escape Director Kat Morris says: “In the eight years since The Great Escape launched, digital music has evolved rapidly, those changes being documented each year in our convention. With digital now accounting for half of the record industry’s income in the UK, and even more in a number of other markets, we look forward to discussing where it’s all heading next this May, and in ensuring artists are part of that debate”. 

A half-day strand, Global Digital Markets will also include a market-to-market guide to what digital services are really delivering users and revenues, and a debate on what the next five years in digital music hold. 

There will be six half-day strands as part of the TGE convention this year, plus a programme of In Conversations and networking events. The Maximising Music Rights strand has already been announced, with the full schedule on the TGE website. Additional strands will be announced in the coming weeks. 

Delegates also have priority access to The Great Escape’s music programme. The festival, now in its 9th year, is Europe’s leading festival for new music, and will present over 400 exciting new artists and bands in over 30 venues across Brighton. First confirmed artists include KELIS, ELLA EYRE, DUNE RATS, COURTNEY BARNETT, CHARLI XCX and ROYAL BLOOD. 

The Great Escape, Brighton, East Sussex, UK 8-10 MAY 2014

3 DAY EARLY BIRD DELGATE PASS 2014 £145 (limited availability)
3 DAY HOTEL ROOM & DELGATE PASS PACKAGE 2014 from £450 (limited availability)

For further information and tickets links click here.

This is the last chance to purchase delegate tickets at early bird rate. Currently, 3-day delegate tickets, including priority access to the full music programme as well as the convention, are available at the reduced price of £145.00. Tickets can be purchased at this rate until the end of the month.