The Welsh Music Foundation is ten years old this year and will celebrate with two days of seminars and networking events in Cardiff next weekend, 10-11 Sep.

Seminars will cover topics like royalties, radio and digital, plus there will be opportunities to meet PRS, the Musicians' Union and the Association Of Independent Festivals. We will also stage two of our widely acclaimed (if we do say so ourselves, which we do, look, we just said it) CMU music business seminars, which will be free to attend to delegates at the WMF event.

On Friday, we will run our business models seminar, looking at how you can make money out of music. This session looks at how traditional ways of monetising music are shaping up in the digital age, at new revenue opportunities including the potential of sync, brand partnerships, and direct-to-fan retail, at alternative investment options, including fan funding, and will offer tips for how rights owners and artists might want to structure their businesses in the future.

On Saturday, we will run our hugely popular music promotions seminar, which includes an in depth review of the music media in 2011, a recap of the traditional music marketing approach, tips on press relations based on a survey of 100 journalists, tips for new ways to approach music promotions for both labels and artists, and a beginners guide to using social media to build fan relations and sell music. 

All events are free to attend, though places are limited, especially at the CMU seminars. So, all you lovely Welsh music people should get to www.wmfis10.com asap for details on how to sign up.

In addition to all that, on Friday night there'll be a special gig to celebrate WMF's birthday featuring Future of the Left, We//Are//Animal and Exit International.

Organisers of In The City have announced a brand new strand to the convention this year called The Hive, which will include a stack of educational events aimed at those at the start of their music or music business careers. Some of the events will be organised by this thing called CMU, and we don't mean Carnegie Mellon University, so that's exciting.

In addition to our stuff, the Musicians' Union will provide a guide to the DIY approach, there'll be a Music Managers Panel, producers masterclass and sessions on music publishing, journalism, networking and all things digital.

ITC Director Yvette Livesey told CMU: "In The City has always adopted the twin tenets of education and inspiration and we have decided this year to put in a place a bespoke educational programme tailored to the specific needs of young people looking to learn about and get into the music industry. The In The City Hive will bring together a range of respected and successful industry professionals to inspire delegates and give them the tools to start their journey into the industry". 

This year's In The City runs from 13-15 Oct, more at www.inthecity.co.uk.

Organisers of In The City have announced details of some more speakers who will appear at this year's event. First up, REM's attorney and manager Bertis Downs will be chatting to former Warner Music boss Rob Dickins.

REM, of course, have had a long relationship with Warner Music, and Dickins headed up the major's UK division during the band's hey day in the 1990s. Downs will be talking about what it's like to manage a major band on the worldwide stage, and about how the role of artist manager has changed and is still changing.

Elsewhere O2's music sponsorship boss Jasmine Skee, artist manager John Arnison, TAG Strategic's Ted Cohen and Stormcrowd's Steve Machin will all speak too.

In The City runs from 13-15 Oct in Manchester. More at www.inthecity.co.uk.

IN THE CITY, Piccadilly and Northern Quarter, Manchester, 13-15 Oct: No Age, Mount Kimbie, Male Bonding, Yuck, Crystal Fighters, Factory Floor, oOoOO, White Ring, Skepta, Kisses, Ital Tek, Teeth, Andreya Triana, Mazes, John Weise, and Spectrals are among the fist acts announced for this year's In The City convention. www.inthecity.co.uk

Registration for next year's 25th anniversary edition of the South By Southwest Music And Media Conference And Festival (to give it its full name) is now open. So, if you fancy a jolly over to Texas in March for discussions, gigs and barbecued meat, read on.

If you like the idea of being a delegate, you need to head to www.sxsw.com/music

If you're in the media, go to www.sxsw.com/press and wait until 7 Sep when registration opens for your sort.

If you are a musician and want to play some of your songs in a live-style situation, you need to go to www.sxsw.com/music/shows/apply (it'll cost you $30 now, or $40 after 8 Oct).

If you're wondering what the hell I'm even talking about (this seems unlikely), go to www.sxsw.com

SxSW next year takes place between 16-20 Mar.

Organisers of In The City have announced details of three events that will take place as part of this year's convention.

First up, Jay-Z's right hand man Jay Brown, President and Co-Founder of Roc Nation, will appear in conversation with Epic Records MD Nick Raphael.

Next, Graphite Media's Ben Turner will lead a session on the dance music industry, featuring contributions from dance music experts Nick Halkes (co-founder of Positiva and XL), Jho Oakley (Pendulum, Chase & Status and Noisia manager) and Caroline Protheroe (David Guetta's manager).

Third, Mike Pickering will be talking to Paul Morley about the recently relaunched Deconstruction Records, and his long career in dance music, from DJing at The Hacienda in the 90s, to his work with In The City founder Tony Wilson at Factory Records, through to his later major label ventures.

As previously reported, In The City will this year take place from 13-15 Oct in various hotels around Manchester's Piccadilly Square. The gigs strand will include the usual In The City Unsigned segment, and bands wanting to put themselves forward have until 6 Aug to do so. More info at www.inthecity.co.uk, where you will also find an early bird discount on full delegate tickets that will save you £200.

Organisers of the LIVE UK Summit, a conference for the live music industry, have announced details of their 2010 event, which will be bigger than in past years. The conference strand will be revamped, there will be more networking opportunities, including a Thames riverboat cruise, and a new awards bash for live music types will be slipped into the proceedings.

Confirming the changes, The Summit's Exec Producer Steve Parker told reporters last week: "As the live industry seems to be weathering the economic downturn with a combination of caution and its usual enthusiasm for making things happen, we decided to shake up the whole event this year, with new production, set changes and the launch of the awards".

The Summit will take palce from 6-7 Oct at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel in London's West End. The awards will take place on the evening of 7 Oct.

The Director of the MIDEM music business convention, Dominique Leguern, will step down after next January's event.

Confirming Leguern's plans to depart next year, the CEO of the Reed MIDEM company Paul Zilk told reporters: "Dominique's passion, knowledge and understanding of the music industry have been enormous assets for MIDEM and our company. Under her stewardship, MIDEM and [digital spin off] MidemNet have successfully anticipated the ever-changing needs of the business in the face of the many challenges it has experienced during the past decade".

Although MIDEM is still one of the biggest music business events in Europe, it is operating in an increasingly competitive market, and, arguably, appeals most to more conventional music companies whose influence and budgets are on the wane. Though the growth of the digital and brand partnership strands to the MIDEM event under Leguern's directorship have helped bring in new delegates and budgets from other related sectors.

As previously reported, June is British Black Music Month, and a number of panel debates and talks will take place as part of its programme.

The first one takes place at the PRS For Music HQ in London on Monday (7 Jun) and is called 'Managing Number 1 Artists & Songwriters', and will look at the challenges and opportunities of managing crossover talent from black and urban genres. Given this week's singles chart is totally dominated by urban talent, a lot of it British, there are clearly a lot of opportunities out there at the moment, but this session will look at the challenges that need to be tackled too.

On the panel will be managers Billy Grant (Jay Sean) and Clive Allick (Terence Trent D'Arby), plus the boss of the Music Manager's Forum Jon Webster and Black Music Congress founder Kwaku. It kicks off at 6pm and admission is free, but you need to put your name on the list by emailing editor@britishblackmusic.com.

Other events later in the month will look at copyright, British black gospel music, the history of Kiss FM and how to keep community or web radio services legal. More on those next week.

The Association Of Independent Music has confirmed that this year's Music Connected - the digital music trade fair and mini-conference - will take place on 30 Jun at Glaziers Hall in London. Actually, they confirmed that a while ago, but we never got around to reporting on it.

Sponsored by Music2Text, numerous digital music types will be represented at the trade fair, including Merlin, Shazam, Nokia, 7Digital, Fatdrop, Napster, We7, Tag Strategic, Sonic Digital, SoundCloud, Consolidated Independent, Believe Digital, state51 and INgrooves. In terms of presentations and whatnot, marketing agency Media Junction will present a session called 'Digital Marketing For Under £1000' while Warp Records will provide some digital marketing case studies.

Tickets are £125, or £30 for AIM members. More at this here URL:
www.musicindie.com/242.asp?sub=Events

Liverpool Sound City kicked off in, well, Liverpool yesterday, with two conference strands, one aimed at industry people and another specifically geared towards rising artists, which included CMU organised workshops on making it as a band and how to make money out of music in the digital age.

Other conference events taking place yesterday included discussions on the DIY model, the state of music publishing, the ins and outs of being a jobbing songwriter, and the role of sex and (mainly) drugs in the world of rock n roll. Look out for a report on the latter on the CMU News-Blog later today, along with ongoing coverage of this year's Sound City, which will appear online through till Saturday, and in the CMU Daily tomorrow and on Monday.

The gigs part of Sound City also got properly underway last night, with more showcases galore due to take place around the city through till Saturday. Holy Fuck, Rox, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Goldhawks, Bridezilla, The Boy Done Good and Wilko Johnson are among the acts due to play tonight, alongside a screening of the Julien Temple film 'Oil City Confidential', and a Q&A involving the seminal director.

Don't forget, Peter Guy from Liverpool music blog GetIntoThis.co.uk has compiled a Spotify playlist featuring bands playing LSC this year, which you can access at www.thecmuwebsite.com/playlists

Time for our final panel report from last week's Great Escape now, and some tips and observations from those mighty mighty music lawyers, who turned off their clocks for fifty minutes to share some thoughts and advice on Saturday afternoon. Three particularly interesting themes covered were royalty cuts, 360 degree deals, and how new bands can find legal help. 

First, royalty cuts, and an opening nugget of advice from Trevor Gale of America’s third songwriter collecting society SESAC, who began the proceedings by telling any new bands in the room "make sure you have your splits sorted out". He was talking about copyright splits, and who owns a share of the lyrical, musical and sound recording copyrights any band creates as soon as they record an original song.

"Make sure you know from the word go which band members own which copyrights in your music", Gale observed. "Is the drummer getting a cut of the publishing [lyrics and melody], and if so how much? And before you have a label in place, think about who owns any sound recording copyrights, too".

Asked for advice on how rights in an original song might be split between band members, a manager, producer and mixer, Dean Marsh added: "It depends, and it is up to you what percentage of a copyright each person gets. For the actual songwriters, what is a fair split is more a musicology question than a legal question, what percentage of a song did each person create? As for the other people. Producers and mixers don’t normally get a cut of the songwriting copyrights unless they are actively involved in the songwriting process. They might get a cut of the sound recording copyright. Whether a manager gets a share is really up to you and them".

Assuming a band and their manager has everything sorted out between themselves regarding royalty shares, what about the next bit of legal wrangling, the record deal? Focus quickly fell on the very in vogue '360 degree' record contract where a record company, as the initial cash investor in a new band, demands a cut of every revenue stream the band may create, and not just their record sales, as would have traditionally been the case. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the legal minds at the table weren't so keen on the 360 thing.

Ben Challis cautioned that if a band puts all its eggs in one basket – so that recordings, live, publishing, merchandise etc are all tied up in one deal – things could go horribly wrong. "What if that label turns out to be incompetent or lazy? Your entire career is then dependent on one company who might just keep on holding you back. If you can, it seems sensible to keep your options open by working with multiple companies on different parts of your career".

Marsh agreed he had some concerns about 360 degree deals where bands are asked to hand over the keys to all their future revenue, though did note that some multi-revenue stream arrangements that have emerged in recent years were more attractive than others. "Some labels are working with artists as investors, so they invest money into the artist’s company and take a stake in that company. These deals are basically 360 degree deals, but have a lot more potential". Gale added a final piece of advice; if you are doing a 360 deal with a label, ask them for proof of similar deals they have already done, and see whether those deals have worked out for the artist.

Of course, all such negotiations are easier if a band has good legal guidance, but that doesn't come cheap. If new bands have tricky business decisions and tedious legal arrangements to make, where can they turn for legal advice? "Lawyers aren’t generally cheap", Saranne Reid admitted, "and I've known bands who say to me, 'we don't know what to do, we have £1000, do we hire a lawyer to sort out our contracts or buy a second hand van?'. I can’t really answer that question".

Some lawyers, the panellists said, are willing to agree to very flexible payment terms when working with new bands, or to take on a business manager role on a commission basis. And if you're lucky to find such a thing, said lawyer might be able to offer more than just legal advice. Music lawyers are generally very well connected, the panellists reckoned, and can put new bands they like in front of key decision makers at labels and other agencies. So, definitely worth looking for.

Although we (and many others) have been talking in recent weeks about EMI needing an extra hundred million to meet "fee obligations" to Citigroup, if we are being precise about these things we should really say that EMI needed the loot to "meet loan commitments" to the US bank, which is subtlety, but importantly, different - and with the cash now found, it's probably important to stress that difference.

Had EMI owners Terra Firma not agreed to inject the cash last week the distinction would have been irrelevant, commitments would not have been met and the bank would have seized ownership of the music company. But now Terra Firma has stumped up the cash it is an important distinction.

As reported way back when, Citigroup demand that EMI's revenues stay within a certain minimum ratio of their debt to the bank, which is what the hundred million plus was needed for, to boost EMI Music's coffers so that that minimum revenue level was met. This is an important distinction because it means the hundred million, now it's been found, stays within EMI, it doesn't get handed straight over to the evil bankers.

I'm mentioning this now because EMI's chief A&R man Nick Gatfield has just been announced as a keynote speaker at next month's MUSExpo event in London. And while EMI's financial situation remains very unstable, because of that very public three billion pound plus bank loan, the major will actually be quite cash rich for the next few weeks. So, the drinks are on Nick, I reckon.

So, yes, not only are the MUSExpo team in Liverpool this week, helping curate and stage the Liverpool Sound City music business and technology conferences, but next month they will stage their own event in London, the European edition of the brilliant MUSExpo conference programme. And Gatfield isn't the only senior player lined up to speak.

Linkin Park's manager Rob McDermott, Radio 1 music chief George Ergatoudis, Epic Records President Nick Raphael, mflow CEO Oleg Fomenko, AEG Live MD Jessica Koravos and Vodafone's music head Morgan Donaghue will all also be in the house on 14 and 15 Jun, the house being the Cumberland Hotel in London. On top of the daytime panels, keynotes and debates, in the evening things will shift to the Borderline venue for new band showcases.

Announcing his 2010 MUSExpo line up, the man behind it all, Sat Bisla, told CMU: "Over the last two years we have shown that there is a gap in the market for a truly international event in London that combines music and business and is all about connecting people and ideas. The upbeat mood at our recent MUSExpo event in Los Angeles highlighted just how much of a hunger there is in the business for people to make new contacts, share ideas and explore new ways of working together with new music. We're sure the atmosphere in London will be every bit as positive and focused on delivering tangible outcomes for all who attend".

Back to Liverpool, and yesterday we revealed the line-up for the CMU panel at this year's Liverpool Sound City, which takes place on Thursday morning at the Liverpool Hilton. But that's not the only CMU event taking place at LSC this year, oh no.

Tomorrow morning CMU will take part in Create Sound City, an exciting new strand to Sound City this year which offers aspiring music people with a load of practical advice and information, all at the Hard Day's Night Hotel. CMU Publisher Chris Cooke will run three sessions starting at 10am tomorrow.

The first (at 10am) will look at how unsigned bands can connect with, engage and sell to fans, and create media and label interest. The second (at 11am) will look at how you can make money out of music in 2010, and offer advice to music entrepreneurs hoping to run the successful music companies of the future. The third (at midday) will offer tips on getting a job in the music business.

Meanwhile, on Friday, CMU will be at the Liverpool Sound City technology conference. Chris will be leading a discussion on new digital services and business models at 10am, and then contributing to a panel on the future of digital licensing at 11am. Both look likely to be brilliant events.

And, of course, the CMU workshops and panels are just the tip of the iceberg at Liverpool Sound City this year, for full details on all of this year's panels and showcases check www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk. For some band tips, check out some recommendations from Peter Guy from Liverpool music blog GetIntoThis in the form of a CMU Powers Of Ten playlist: www.thecmuwebsite.com/playlists

It's Liverpool Sound City week, and alongside the many many many gigs and showcases taking place this year are three days of panels, debates and workshops.

The Liverpool Sound City daytime programme consists of three strands. First, the Sound City music conference strand (Wednesday and Thursday at the Liverpool Hilton) will tackle all the key issues affecting the music industry in 2010. Second, the Create Sound City conference strand (Wednesday and Thursday at the Hard Day's Night hotel) is aimed at those embarking on a career in music and will offer practical tips and advice through a number of workshops and seminars. And third, the Sound City technology conference (Friday at the Hard Day's Night hotel) will look at all things digital.

CMU will be leading workshops and panels in all three strands this year, though our flagship event is in the main conference, and will be looking at the future of music radio. This is the panel topic voted for by you the CMU reader, and will look at the latest radio technologies and what they mean for the radio sector, and what that means for the music industry; and if, say, we decide the traditional radio sector is doomed as barriers to entry for new rivals fall away, is that good or bad news for artists and labels?

Lined up to offer their viewpoints will be Xfm Head Of Music Mike Walsh, the boss of pioneering online radio station Radio2XS Jeff Cooper, Manchester-based radio plugger Liam Walsh of Ask Me PR, and, giving an international perspective, A&R Worldwide and Passport Approved host Sat Bisla. It will all take place on Thursday at 10.30am at the Liverpool Hilton.

Look out for a report from the panel in Friday's CMU Daily, plus news on other CMU-organised and recommended Liverpool Sound City events throughout the week. Meanwhile, full details of this year's LSC, which kicks off tomorrow evening and runs through to Saturday at venues across Liverpool, is online at www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk

Alison Wenham, the boss of the Association Of Independent Music, told The Great Escape yesterday that she still believed that there should be "no mergers without remedies" in the recorded music domain. That means that if EMI were to merge with another major music company, AIM and their pan-European counterparts IMPALA would lobby EU competition regulators to ensure any combined music major at least made concessions to ensure independent music firms' were not unfairly hindered.

Of course, as of Friday it was confirmed that EMI had managed to raise the money it needed to pay its bank fees, meaning a forced sell off by money lenders Citigroup will now not happen for at least a year. But some - Wenham included - seem to think that an attempted merger between EMI and another music major is probably inevitable. Warner has always seemed like the obvious suitor, not least because they tried to buy EMI before Terra Firma took over in 2007, but there have been rumours that Universal and especially Sony might also bid if EMI was to go on the block, a deal which would create a super-major.

AIM and IMPALA have always spoken out against past major label mergers, though the market has changed somewhat since the last EMI/Warner merger attempt in 2007, with Live Nation, AEG, Apple and, in the UK, HMV now increasingly competing with the record companies as the make up of the wider music industry changes. But, when interviewed by CMU Publisher Chris Cooke on Saturday, Wenham said she still opposed mergers.

"There are few industries where four, maybe three, big companies have such dominance over the market. We've always gone with the mantra 'no mergers without remedies', and we stick by that, and would lobby for that if an EMI merger was to happen".

Wenham said that one of the greatest achievements of AIM in its first decade was the fact it still existed over ten years after its original launch in 1998, particularly as, she claims, rival record label trade body the BPI tried its best to put the body out of business. The indie sector has also grown its market share in the last decade, though Wenham has much bigger  ambitions in that regard.

"My aim remains to get the indie sector back up to a 40% market share", she said, "where it peaked in the early eighties. And that might be ambitious, but I genuinely believe that in the next decade, as the digital era takes shape, it will be independents who best capitalise on the new opportunities, and start to lead this industry's new growth".

Following her TGE interview at the weekend, Wenham will give a keynote speech at Liverpool Sound City on Wednesday.

The potential of the Chinese music market fell under the spotlight at The Great Escape last Thursday via a panel involving four of five people who recently spent some time in the country at the British Council's expense, meeting music companies based there and working out where the opportunities lie.

The five people were participants in the Brit Council's UK Young Music Entrepreneur Award, and were selected for their Chinese visit from a shortlist of twelve young(ish) entrepreneurial business types. All five then provided the British Council with a proposal for a project relevant to their own business that would build links between the UK and China, one of which would receive a five grand grant from the Council to help make the proposed business idea a reality. At TGE last week not only did four of the five report on their experiences of the country, but the winner of that five grand bursary was revealed.

Presenting were Nikil Shah from Mixcloud, the webcasting platform; Karen Piper from digital marketing firm Radar Maker; Storme Whitby-Grubb from live music company Little Touring Ltd; and Ian Hogarth from Songkick, a fan-generated live music website.

Much of the talk centred on the challenges of the Chinese market, of which there are many.

Shah, with market stats in hand, reminded TGE delegates that, while China has a population of around one billion, that doesn't equate to a market of one billion, and that while the music scene in the country has grown a lot in the last five years, it remains primarily an underground movement. Both he and Piper then noted that in the digital domain the global power-brands of the internet were not so powerful in China, where domestic services like Youku, Douban and Baidu have enjoyed more success.

On the live front, Whitby-Grubb and Hogarth noted that the number of gigs in China had increased five-fold in the last five years, but still only stood at 5000 a year, with Western ex-pats still the biggest consumers of live music. And politics also still play their part in live events, of course. Whitby-Grubb and Hogarth discussed some of the last-minute government-forced cancellations, and the continued impact of Bjork's infamous and previously reported "Free Tibet" remark at a 2007 gig in Shanghai.

Nevertheless, despite all the challenges, all four said that the emerging Chinese market offered great opportunities, especially for smaller entrepreneurial companies, because the traditional major players that can dominate the market in the West are simply not there in any real force. And whereas in the West the industry is having to do a balancing act, launching new digital services while maintaining old business models which, while ultimately doomed, still bring in most revenues, in China, with its lack of a traditional industry, there is less to lose by developing new ventures.

Talking of such ventures, TGE boss Martin Elbourne, who is also a judge of the UK Young Music Entrepreneur Award, then announced the winner, with the five grand going to Ian Hogarth of Songkick.

He told CMU: "Music, technology and China are three of my deepest passions, so when I heard that the British Council was organising a delegation of British entrepreneurs to travel to China and meet the music industry there I jumped at the opportunity. My love affair with China started eleven years ago when I made my first trip to Beijing to study Mandarin and has only grown since then. Beijing is the city that continues to inspire and excite me the most".

He continued: "I'm honoured to have been chosen as the UK Young Music Entrepreneur 2010 and plan to develop Songkick in China with the prize money. Unconstrained by an incumbent structure, China's nascent music industry has leapfrogged that of the West. In China recorded music is a promotional loss leader, deals are 360 degree by default, and live and online are the core growth areas of the industry. Songkick plays at the intersection of live music and the web, helping fans to track their favourite artists and never miss an amazing concert, so China is a place for us to learn, and a place to grow. I'd like to thank the British council teams in China and London for creating such a fantastic opportunity".

Elsewhere during the first day proceedings at The Great Escape, PRS For Music stats man Will Page gave a little insight into the buoyant live music sector which, his organisation has previously declared, started to outperform the recorded music sector in terms of revenues in 2008. According to Page and his PRS stats team, 2009 was another good year for live, with revenues up an inflation beating 4%. Primary ticket sales were up 3.4% while, according to ticketing stats people Tixdaq, the secondary ticketing sector saw its revenues shoot up 15%.

Page told TGE delegates: "The UK live music industry continues to exceed expectations, especially during an economic downturn. In a week when it was shown that recorded music revenues [according to BPI stats] may be starting to turn a corner, it's important to 'follow the money' and appreciate the consumers insatiable appetite for live music, with more bands and more tickets than ever before. It's fascinating to consider that events-based industries such as live music have succeeded in growing their overall pie, whilst so much of the digital media debate is about cannibalisation".

Though while the live sector at large is doing very well thank you very much, Page's stats do confirm what some promoters and venue managers in the grass roots live sector will tell you, that things aren't so rosy there. Nearly 50% live of revenues were generated in stadium and arena venues, while another 20% went to middle-sized venues and 20% to festivals, leaving the grass roots live sector accounting for just 10% of revenue. Meanwhile the festivals sector accounted for most of the market growth in 2009.

In related news, Page used TGE to announce an alliance with the aforementioned fan-generated live music website Songkick which the collecting society will be utilising to expand its intelligence on the live sector.

Page: "Songkick is one of the leading innovators in the live music space; connecting more fans with the music they love thus getting more people to more gigs. By collaborating with this technology company we can work together to identify ways to continue improving our service to our songwriters, composers and publishers. Songkick's breadth of data will help us improve how we match what is from the smallest unsigned band right through to those hitting the UK's stadiums".

Yesterday lunchtime at The Great Escape, the convention's co-founder and Creative Director Martin Elbourne pulled three names out of a hat (well, a beer glass) to be finalists in an online competition being run by the previously reported Music Business School.

The MBS has been founded by music industry veteran Steve Melhuish, and will offer an intensive fast-track course for aspiring music business professionals staged in central London from later this year. The course will include many of the elements of the music business university courses Melhuish has been involved in, but will deliver the information in a much more concise way as a professional training rather than higher education programme.

Over 280 people entered the competition to win a free place on the course (worth £1295). Three finalists were picked out of the glass who will now be interviewed by Melhuish. The best candidate will win a free place while the other two will get a 50% discount. And the finalists are: Ashpaul Ahdan, Tom Rose and Claire Thorn.

For more info on the Music Business School check www.musicbusinessschool.co.uk

So, for an hour today all talk at The Great Escape went digital, with a panel of artists and label reps discussing how bands should be using the internet to market themselves, sell their music and track their fanbase.

Lots was discussed by High Rankin and Sinden on the artist side, Deadly People's Radha Medar and [PIAS]'s Caitlin Lock from the label perspective, and moderator Mike Pailthorpe of Northbrook College, but I noted down five particularly useful nuggets of advice.

First, Twitter is still the fan engagement tool du jour it seems. "Artists have to except they can't just stay in the studio all day making tunes", Sinden observed, "all artists have to interact with their fans now, and Twitter is the key tool for doing this". And to properly engage their fans artists need to be tweeting regularly, and in a personalised rather than promotional way. "People joke about Twitter being filled with the mundane" Pailthorpe observed, "but for artists, that doesn't necessarily matter. If you're a fan of an artist you are interested in what they have for breakfast, or where they're travelling to, or what they are thinking at any one time".

Second, the quirky digital tool of the moment is ustream. Although established for a couple of years now, an increasing number of artists are now using the live streaming platform to entertain fans. "Basically, if you have a computer with a webcam and internet connection, you can broadcast live", explained High Rankin. "I know an increasing number of DJs are streaming their sets in this way. It's a fun way to connect with fans that's still a little bit different".

Third, artists should aim to sell their own music direct through their own website, but should probably look to a Topspin or Bandcamp to help with that, even though those services may cost money to use. "Topspin is an intelligent direct selling and fan engagement tool", Lock explained, her company now representing the US-based firm in the UK, "it's a very powerful tool that can be fully integrated with your own web presecnce". High Rankin added: "Services like Topsin are important. It's really hard to sell MP3s without them. Just try speaking to your bank about being able to take credit card payments and the like. It's not worth it, and that's before you even try to do the download bit".

Services like Topspin also provide very good stats, which brings us to point four. Use fan analytics to keep track of where your fans are and what they are engaging with. "Some artists are unnerved by web analytic tools", Lock observed, "whether that be the stats you can pull out of Facebook and MySpace, or Google Analytics on your own website or blog. But that information is really interesting and can provide invaluable insights into where you should be gigging, what tracks you should be releasing as singles, which songs or videos really work".

Taking that theme, and proving he isn't unnerved by such things, High Rankin provided our fifth recommendation - use Google Alerts - set them up with your artist or album names to keep track of people who are writing or blogging about your music, and when you find out people like your stuff make a formal connection. "You'll probably find half the links that come through are torrents illegally distributing your content, or Russian bloggers writing stuff you'll never understand", the producer joked, adding: "but it is good for keeping track of who likes your stuff, and can be quite good for the ego too!"

Good tips. Don't forget, you can read up on CMU's recent digital panel at City Showcase here.