Mike Malak previews new ILMC session PULSE

ILMC this year features the launch of PULSE, an all-new conference and content platform focused on the intersection of technology and live entertainment.

PULSE is a collaboration between ILMC, Paradigm agent Mike Malak and digital entertainment expert Yvan Boudillet (TheLynk). Here, Malak previews the sessions that make up PULSE and outlines his expectations for the event.

What is the idea behind PULSE?
MM: During the pandemic, people have been doing a lot of live streams and I was really keen to dive deeply into that and see where it will take our business moving forward. We wanted to put together an event where we could look toward the future of live music, see where everything fits together and where it will take us.

Who can we expect to hear from during PULSE?
We’ve got a good mix of speakers both from the live stream space and also some younger forward-thinking people, whether on the label side or promoter side etc, so we can hear what they have to say and we can figure out how we can all work together. We’re also bringing in people from the e-sports and gaming sectors because they are the experts at monetising live streams and that kind of technology. We are aware that live music is behind all those sectors and we want to learn from those people, so I’ve no doubt they will provide us with some value.

We’re very lucky to have secured the likes of Justin Lubliner from Darkroom, Danny Rukasin and Brandon Goodman from Best Friends Music, Tommas Arnby from Locomotion, and Lesley Olenik from Live Nation to shape the discussions on the day, so I’m looking forward to a very informative and productive launch for PULSE.

“Livestreaming is still a work in progress, but I’m super excited about what it’s going to do for our business moving forward”

Why the focus on livestreaming, in particular?
Livestreaming is still a work in progress, but I’m super excited about what it’s going to do for our business moving forward. We all want to be back at real live shows, but I think this can really supplement artist income, especially new artists that have to budget really tightly to do a tour.

Livestreaming opens up different doors in terms of monetising things, and to get into the middle of content – which is basically a show – and create a whole separate experience while monetising it, is a huge opportunity. People are realising that live streams are a whole other asset, and monetising that can complement launching your tour or releasing your album while creating a special moment for fans that they can engage with, whether we’re in a pandemic or not.

“We will look at virtual venues and how fans interact with them, giving them a completely different experience”

From an agent’s perspective, what benefits does livestreaming bring you?
As much data as possible is always going to help us with our educated guesses about where we can go and what we can do on a tour. The world is a big place, and beyond all the traditional key cities where we go on tour, this can open other doors to understanding where some of those fanbases might actually be.

There’s a session about the “new fan experience”; what can we expect from that?
The new fan experience is figuring out how you can create a special moment for fans at home and make that a meaningful experience. So we will look at virtual venues and how fans interact with them, giving them a completely different experience that has nothing to do with a real live show.

“We’ll investigate the interesting ways that artists are interacting with the online viewers for more of a connection”

And on the other hand, we’ll investigate the interesting ways that artists are interacting with the online viewers so it feels like there is a bit more of a connection. Some artists have made content where they pop-up on screen while their fans are watching their show, for instance, but there are lots of different tactics that you can use to really embrace the audience, make them feel like they are part of the show and they are connecting with the artists in a different way.

A brand new American act might go to Paris, for example, but what if they have five fans in Lyon and five in Marseille? It might not sound like a lot, but if they buy a ticket for the live stream and they also buy a bit of merch and you give them a way to feel like they are experiencing the show, even if it’s cheaper, that’s going to help that new artist’s budget quite a lot. If you do that throughout Europe, it adds up.

“Livestreaming is an issue that concerns all of us… we’re all trying to figure out how it works and how we all fit in together”

Who do you think will be most interested in the PULSE sessions?
I hope, based on the amazing speakers that we have from the different sectors of the industry, that PULSE will attract a good spread of people. It’s an issue in our industry that concerns all of us, because we’re all trying to figure out how it works and how we all fit in together – where does the label and publisher fit in alongside the PRS? These are all things to be clarified and discussed together.

I hope people also tune in for the New Technology Pitch sessions because, as a lot of us know, there are a million streaming companies reaching out to all of us, all of the time, so it will be good to get an understanding of what is important, what’s key and what to look for when we’re figuring out who is doing it right.

PULSE will take place on 3 March featuring sessions including New Technology Pitches; Sweet Streams – Best in Class; The Livestreamers Guide to Live Music; The New Fan Experience; The Business of Live Tech. Register for ILMC 33 here.

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