About The ILMC

The first International Live Music Conference (ILMC) took place in 1988, and was the first ever face-to-face meeting of leading figures involved in the world's concert industry, many of whom had only ever spoken on the phone before. This initiative to bring people together to discuss and compare their various experiences, proved to be something that these professionals wished to continue. Since then it has grown organically to become a year-round organisation, and is regarded by many as the most successful forum of its type in the world.

Whilst the ILMC adapts and changes in response to innovations and events affecting the industry, two major factors have remained constant from the very first Conference; firstly, the ILMC is designed, organised and supported by active members of the concert industry - not an outside organisation; secondly, attendance is by invitation only, only acknowledged professionals attend and the event is sold out within weeks. Conference delegates at ILMC 17 in 2005, represented around 500 companies from 50 different countries, and included professionals involved in approximately 35 different occupations within the live music industry.

Meetings have an open and relaxed style, while addressing real issues and problems that affect the business, artists and audiences throughout the year. The meeting schedules and lay-outs are re-appraised, and if thought necessary, re-formatted each year, and are designed to promote collaboration and co-operation among the international music community, with the expressed aim of developing new codes of practise through consensus.

The ILMC has fostered the formation of most of the international industry's current trade associations during the last decade and is used by those bodies as a means of regular communication. Being organised and supported by practising industry professionals gives access to potentially astonishing resources - from the input of virtually every leading concert promoter in the world to the coverage offered by all of the major trade magazines and it also supports an extensive Internet service - The Axis - with a membership of over 4,000 music industry professionals, and produces a regular electronic magazine, ILMC e-News.

The annual meeting provides not only a discussion forum but also maintains its primary intention, the provision of a vital opportunity for colleagues to meet, do business and enjoy each other's company. The social agenda is wide-ranging and somewhat unique in its irreverent style. It's probably one of the very few places where you'll find top industry professionals entertaining or dismaying their peers by performing enthusiastically, and with varying levels of competence in the Delegate's Jam - or colliding with each other in 250cc go-karts. The ILMC also provides a platform for the annual Street Poster Exhibition and the notorious 'Arthur Awards - originally invested as a bit of tongue- in-cheek fun, but now taken very seriously by the winners, their marketing departments, and increasingly all areas of the music press, and in some cases national and local newspapers.

Other innovations this year included an increase in exhibitor stand space, all of which was eagerly filled, and selected live performance in the Conference venue itself - two highly acclaimed Italian bands played at ILMC 17 hosted by Arezzo Wave Italia.
These elements, and quite probably other new ideas will be part of ILMC 18, which will again take place at The Royal Garden Hotel, High Street Kensington, on March 10-12 2006.