You better be prepared to take risks when starting up a festival these days – but offering something unique to the public is also essential. At least, that’s what this year’s MMOI conference participants think.

In 2010, the leaders of both Osheaga and MEG decided to unite. Their goal: offer professionals of the music industry from all around the world a forum to discuss major issues within their industry.

Named MEG Montreal Osheaga International (MMOI), the event takes place yearly in the midst of summer (July 27th to 31^st for this second edition) and gives the participants the opportunity to attend both festivals simultaneously, thus facilitating professional and artistic discoveries.

“Similar to what is done by South By Southwest, or more widely all around Europe, festivals must give their professional guests a space to gather and discuss after concerts”, explains Evelyne Côté, promoter for evenko, the entertainment group behind Osheaga.

Engaging Discussion

In addition to offering numerous opportunities to network as well as more than a hundred artist performances, MMOI is a place to debate different topics within the international music community.

After exploring the theme of networking with last year’s conference, MMOI opted to discuss elements that are key to the success of various festivals during Thursday’s conference.

Divided into two panels led by Steve Jordan, founder of the Polaris Prize, the discussion covered various topics such as festival financing, the social and artistic repercussions of such events and the importance of site location, relationships with sponsors and line-up.

Political Action

Six panelists took part in the conference including Sandy Boutin, President and Founder of Festival de musique émergente en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FME), David O’Connor, artistic director and business development at Live Nation and Ralph H. Christoph, co-founder of c/o pop festival in Cologne. In fact, those were the people who had to illustrate the importance of the path chosen by an event and its instigators.

“I believe my festival is, in a way, a political action, explained Sandy Boutin. Our artistic direction is clear and sends a specific message: we do not support commercial music. Through FME, I support emerging artists and try to carry this influence in the local music industry.’’