It may be one of the buzzwords we love to hate, but the celestial jukebox has always represented the natural conclusion  of the music industry's blue sky thinking; a WiFi-liberated paradise where music lovers enjoy what they want, where they  want, safe in the knowledge that creators and rights-holders are being compensated. Well, the end of the rainbow might be closer than you think. Last.fm's recently announced on-demand streaming service  promises full-track unlimited streams, while American social network imeem has quietly broken new ground by striking  ad-funded on-demand streaming deals with all four majors and a handful of indies.

Many start-ups are advocating a radical reduction in licence fees in order to facilitate growth in ad-funded, on-demand  streaming. Should the music industry offer these businesses discounted licences in the knowledge they may one day  overtake all other forms of music consumption?  Or should the start-ups accept they either need to stump up, in cash or  kind, or mature their revenue streams before using music to drive their traffic and valuations?  The technology is already upon us, WiMax is becoming a reality and players already exist which stream bespoke stations  via WiFi. Will on-demand streaming ever fulfil the celestial jukebox dream of becoming the predominant means of music consumption?

SPEAKERS:

Keynote: Ryan Regan (CFO & Chief Digital Officer, Last.fm)

Panel:

Charles Caldas - CEO, Merlin
Clive Gardiner - VP, Digital Content, We7
Owen Geddes - Group Director, Business Development, The Cloud
Alex Vlassopulos - Head of Business Development - Digital, Sony BMG
Device manufacturer tbc...

Chairman: Keith Harris, Keith Harris Music / PPL Director / Chairman, MusicTank

DIARY:
Date:   Tues 06 May '08
Time:   18.30 - 21.00 hrs
Venue:  MCPS-PRS Alliance, 29-33 Berners St, London, W1T 3AB
Price:  £20 MT members | £25 Ind. concession | £30 Full.  Tickets incl. drinks

Tickets MUST be booked and paid for in advance - no walk-up on the day.

FULL DETAILS & BOOKING

http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/celestial-jukebox-free-streams-or-pipe-dreams

About MusicTank

MusicTank is the UK's music business network, an initiative of the University of Westminster, set up with the support of 14 UK music industry organisations.

MusicTank aims to foster new collaborations and circulate innovative ideas, best practice and cutting-edge strategies to increase innovation and productivity across the business.  Regular think tanks bring hot topics into sharp focus and help pinpoint the opportunities created by disruptive technologies.

MusicTank conferences deal with everything from record production to copyright review while occasional social evenings blend the entertaining recollections of music business virtuosos with the opportunity to develop valuable industry contacts.

MusicTank aims to override traditional partitions by providing improved access to expert knowledge via musictank.co.uk, the leading music business web-site, offering free industry discussion on new business techniques alongside useful reports and comments from leading lights. MusicTank also produces a free monthly newsletter to keep subscribers up to date with all the latest music developments.