The ALMBC Indie Con Breaky is back, 8.30am 31 July – the morning after the AIR Awards. Relaxed breaky, coffee & juice provided.

West Oak Hotel
208 Hindley Street Adelaide

The ALMBC is partnering with Indie Con once again to provide a free informal networking breaky, which includes a perfect panel for Indie Con attendees to get their teeth into – how do we survive and thrive as indies, in a world with such major global giants.

Talking on the panel will be:

• Lorrae McKenna – Our Golden Friend
• Sophie Miles – Mistletone
• Harris Waters – Arrival Festival
• Gareth Lewis – GA Entertainment

Topics will include:

• Vertical integration: When one company owns the booking agent, the venue, and the ticketing platform, who’s really setting the terms for that regional promoter? And what happens to anyone trying to compete from the outside?
• Data asymmetry: If the big platforms know everything about the fans and independents know almost nothing, how is anyone meant to compete on a level field? Who actually owns the relationship with the audience
• Festival consolidation: When most of our big festivals are corporate-owned, corporate-backed, or already dead, what’s left for the mid-sized community festival? 
• Ticketing: Why is fair, clear and reliable ticketing still so hard to come by? Who benefits when it stays messy?
• Talent pipeline pressure: Independents have always been the ones willing to take a punt on a new artist. So what happens to emerging talent when algorithms, major labels, and corporate ’emerging artist’ programs take over that job and do it on their own terms?
• The start up and sell model: If every promising music start-up eventually sells off to a global player, can anything stay truly independent and still grow big? Or is selling out just the price of scaling up?