Midem

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Midem (short for Marché international de l'édition musicale) is the world's largest music industry trade fair, which has been held annually at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France since 1966. Bringing together musicians, businesspeople, cultural policy makers, and journalists from many countries, it provides a forum for business talks, discussing political and legal issues, and showcasing new artists, musical trends and music-related products.

In spite of a large number of concerts, Midem considers itself primarily a marketplace, thus the artists present are those who either run an enterprise of their own, or have been invited to promote companies. Although major labels and other corporate actors dominate the scene at Midem, its events also include the International Indie Summit.

In numbers, Midem 2004 was attended by 8,811 delegates from 4,179 companies (out of which 2,118 had stalls or pavillons of their own) and 610 journalists from a total of 94 countries. Although attendees come from all over the world, those from West Europe (60%, including 14% from France) and North America (20%) clearly dominate.

Midem also acts as a venue for several award ceremonies: Eg., since 1994, the Cannes Classical Award (CCA) ceremony has been held at Midem. Starting in 2004, the European Commission confers its Border Breakers Awards to honour new artists from EU member states with the highest sales outside their own country.