Midem 2020 is cancelled, switches to digital edition

The music industry’s annual pilgrimage to the French Riviera is cancelled.

Midem 2020 was due to be held this June at the Palais de Festivals in Cannes, but with the world economy in a freeze and cross-border travel essentially banned in this COVID-19 era, organisers announced the trade fair would skip this year.

“In the rapidly-evolving context and with the various government guidelines on travel,” explains Midem Director Alexandre Deniot, “public gatherings and home confinement, coupled with companies’ concerns for their staff, holding Midem in June is simply not possible.”

But that’s not the end of the matter for music industry professionals. Though the industry won’t be strolling the Croisette this June, delegates can log in to a new Midem Digital Edition, held June 2-5, 2020.

Midem

The digital edition will feature live-streamed keynote sessions, talks and presentations, plus opportunities for online conversations and speed-meetings between participants, with more details to be announced in the weeks ahead.

It’s not the first time Midem has been forced into major change. In 2015, after years of declining visitors, the industry gathering shifted the event from January, in the northern winter, to June, ending a tradition that had been in place since its launch in 1967.

At its peak in the early 2000s, Midem attracted about 15,000 registrations.

The international music publishing community look at Midem as its essential mid-year meeting point, and one of three gatherings in the calendar year, the most recent taking place in Sydney.

The next edition of Midem will take place June 1-4, 2021.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.