Every year in mid-October, Paris holds the biggest music convention in France: MaMA. With 6755 professionals attending in 2024, over 2000 companies, 360 members of the media and 150 artists, this is always a momentous event, where a lot of the following years' plans for music are decided. This year Sea of Wood was happy to bring a Chinese delegation to discover the event, report on the state of the Chinese music industry to the French, and create connections and opportunities for the members of our delegation.
Photo by Laura Lee Soleman
Co-produced with Wonderland Agency, and with the support of CNM (the French music export bureau), Institut Français, and the French Embassy in China, we put together an intensive program that allowed us to host a panel on Thursday the 17th, in the hallowed halls of Élysée-Montmartre (where Bowie among other greats once performed!) with some of the top players of the Chinese music industry, the DSP Netease, the record label and ticketing platform Taihe/Showstart, and Festival bookers and booking agency Kiloglow. This panel was very well attended as China remains for many a very poorly understood market, despite its booming development, as it overtook France in 2023 as the 5th largest music market in the world. During an hour-long conversation, the panelists covered various topics such as successful case studies of artists breaking into the Chinese market, obstacles to be aware of when planning a China strategy, progress in various areas, and existing opportunities. The Q&A at the end was also lively with many questions from the public, and people lingering to chat with the panelists once it ended. You can listen to the panel (in French!) again on this link: https://www.mama-convention-podcast.com/user/event/14710
Photo by Laura Lee Soleman
Photo by Laura Lee Soleman
Besides the panel, our delegation attended two speed-meeting sessions, one organised by CNM and one by ourselves, totalling over one hundred meetings in that format.
Speed-meetings are intense! Photo by Jingwen
These meetings were very short and intended to meet the largest possible number people in the smallest amount of time to create connections possibly leading to business projects in the future. On top of this, MaMA also presented a wealth of workshops, conferences, and presentations on all manner of topics. Besides the official MaMA program, we were also able to meet with members of MAP, the network of Parisian music industry professionals, even though it meant running under heavy rain!
Dodging the downpour
Our delegate Vivian Wei from Netease was also invited to take part in the series of panels - Grands Débats - on the topic of emerging markets, and was also able to deliver a keynote about one of China's leading DSP, the streaming platform Netease Music.
Grand Débat panel on new markets
Vivian Wei gives a keynote on the Netease platform and their successes working with global artists. Photo Alice Gau
Of course, one of the most fun parts of the event is the staggering number of concerts we could see in a very short amount of time. MaMA takes place in the area around Pigalle, where many historic concert venues are situated, along with live music venues that have entertained Parisians for decades, sometimes centuries. Every evening, showcase concerts would take place at venues such as La Boule Noire, La Cigale, La Machine du Moulin Rouge, and many more. With 180 concerts hosted at 15 different venues, MaMA has something to offer to everyone.
Nerlov
Soft Loft
Johnny Mafia
Preparing for JOUBe's concert
The music convention is a very intense moment in the year, where old friends re-connect, new friendships are made, new artists are discovered, and business opportunities abound for those who come prepared. In a survey of our delegates, we found that all of them want to come back next year, and they have all reported over 3 concrete business leads arising from these four days.
Our small 2024 Chinese delegation, left to right: Vivian Wei (Netease), Alice Gau (Wonderland Agency), Zhang Ran (Kiloglow), Liu Qi (Taihe), Elie Rosenberg (Sea of Wood Records), Hao (Pulse Productions). Photo by Jingwen.
Our main objective in organising the delegation was to make concrete projects possible between China and France, and based on the feedback we got, this was a success. It was also a great chance for Sea of Wood Records to showcase our own ability to act as a catalyser for international cooperation, and solidify relationships with stakeholders in both the French and Chinese music industry.
See you next year Paris!
If you are interested in finding out more about Wonderland Agency, co-producer of this delegation, click on this LINK or follow their Instagram.