A BLOG OF SORTS FROM CHRIS COOKE
December 2023 Updates
Views 2023
Many thanks to all the music conferences who invited me to speak this year, allowing me to take snapshots of all these lovely views along the way. Hoping to revisit a few and see some places new in 2024. Happy new year everybody!
Merry Christmas
I’ve rung some church bells, eaten a mince pie and yesterday I watched a YouTuber rigorously assess the historical accuracy of ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ – so it’s all been very festive. Merry Christmas everybody!
2024 Conferences
Can I fit in a quick pre-Christmas plug for the first two music conferences I’ll be speaking at in 2024? I’ll be at Eurosonic in Groningen next month moderating a session called ‘Hands On With CMO Data’ – and then in February I’ll be back in Ljubljana talking all things streaming at MENT. Hope to see some of you there!
Travel thoughts
A thought for Avanti following yesterday’s travelling – when your train schedule is in meltdown and you cancel all the seat reservations, can you announce this has happened multiple times (or, I mean, at least once) and maybe have big notices on the platform in multiple languages? That way you might avoid the kind of seat reservation rage incidents that require police intervention and delay my train by another 30 minutes!
CMU Masterclasses
We’ll be presenting a brand new series of CMU Masterclasses online next year. There are eight sessions in total guiding you through all the latest trends and developments in the music business, and providing an in-depth overview of the ongoing economics of streaming debate. Find out more and book places here.
Setlist plug
I keep forgetting to plug CMU’s Setlist podcast, which now comes out on Friday evening ready for weekend listening. On tomorrow’s edition we will be discussing Spotify bailing and then not bailing on Uruguay because of good old ER, plus the easyGroup trademark police going after music-makers again. Sign up via your podcast app of choice and each edition will appear as it’s published. Plug done.
CMM Xmas Party
As you may or may not know, I now consult for the wider Council Of Music Makers as well as the MMF. And here I am providing a festive (not really) update on CMM’s work this year at the start of the CMM Christmas Party yesterday. Not sure why I am waving at one of my slides. Thank you to everyone for pausing the partying just long enough for me to run through it all! (Photo by Joanna Dudderidge)
This week’s chatter
Thanks to everyone who attended either of the two events I was involved in this week. I moderated a panel on music careers at the Music Mark Conference in Southampton on Tuesday. And we had a webinar on Wednesday to launch the latest IMPALA One Step Ahead report all about trends and developments around music AI. Thank you for listening. And here are some of the slides!