The MIDEM Is Finished
December 14, 2021 By Tim Ingham

Midem, the historic annual music industry expo and gathering, will not be returning in 2022 – or for the foreseeable future.

That’s according to senior industry sources, who tell MBW that owner Reed Midem has decided to scrap and “permanently mothball” the event.

We’re told that a select band of music biz executives were informed of the move earlier today (December 14).

MBW has contacted Reed Midem for comment.

Midem has been held yearly in Cannes, France since 1967.

Its latest physical incarnation took place in 2019, with over 5,000 attendees visiting.

Yet in 2020 and 2021, Midem went entirely digital due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Reed Midem recently announced that the event would be back in its physical form in summer 2022 (between June 7 and 10 next year), complete with “vibrant meetings, access to killer keynotes, unique gigs on the Midem beach and endless discoveries of new contacts, artists and services, leading to lifelong business relationships”.

MBW’s sources, however, say this proposal has now been axed, and that there is no plan for Midem’s return in the future.

Midem’s attendance figure in 2019 was up on 2018 (4,800) and 2017 (4,400), but significantly down on Midem’s glory days.

In 2001, for example, over 10,000 delegates attended the annual expo.

Former Universal Music Group France exec Alexandre Deniot joined Reed Midem in 2017 as the director of Midem.

Deniot succeeded Bruno Crolot, who left Midem after five years in July 2015 to take a senior European role at Spotify.