Seymour Stein [pictured right] is Vice President of Warner Bros. Records and a co-founder of Sire Records. He is appearing at One Movement For Music Perth as a panelist; click here to download the MUSEXPO Asia Pacific conference program.

Seymour, what do you hope to gain from the One Movement festival and conference?

An excellent opportunity is presented anytime like-minded music people from around the globe get together. One Movement in Perth is particularly unique because of its location on Australia’s west coast and its proximity to so many vitally important 21st century markets like India, China, South East Asia, and South Africa. In going over the list of participants I am overwhelmed by the calibre, diversity, and countries they represent. All areas of music are covered and include some of the best and brightest names. Being around the business as long as I have, I know many of the participants. I am even more excited by the people who I don’t know as it presents an incredible opportunity to meet and create new relationships.

Certain markets in the West have suffered so badly over the past decade, that it’s impossible to imagine they will ever reach sales achieved in the past. We must look to new markets to fill the gap. More than one in every three people on earth reside in China or India and both have a vast diaspora around the rest of the world. To a large degree the future of the music industry lies in our ability to bring these and other countries onboard. Some of us have already started and their will be excellent opportunity at One Movement to continue these endeavors.

Which artists showcases sets are you most looking forward to watching?

Some of the artists/bands who will be performing are familiar; many are not. It would be great if we could have a CD with two or more tracks from each of the acts available to us on CD or mp3 to listen to. Needless to say, I will be out there every night (and day) trying to catch as many gigs as possible.

One Movement’s tagline is “artist, industry, fan united”. What do you think needs to change in order to unite the music industry with its artists and fans?

The artist is what our industry is all about. From my perspective I firmly believe that record company presence is necessary and important now as ever. Just as the music and the way it is delivered has evolved and is constantly changing so must record companies keep pace. I can only speak for Sire and for our parent Warner Bros. The changes at Warner’s over the past five or more years have been amazing, especially to someone as old-school as me. It’s a whole new world out there, evolving all the time, and Warner Bros. Records and the Warner Music Group are keeping pace. I believe the other majors and most indies are attempting to do the same. These are hard times, but we’ll get through them.

As I said earlier, as long as we realize the artist and their music is what it’s all about and continue to do our very best to discover, sign, develop, market and improve their fan base record companies will remain viable and secure.

Remember, music is not a luxury, it is a necessity. For most of us it is the soundtrack of our lives; ever changing and hopefully ever expanding. Unlike film, radio, TV, and video games; all products of the 20th century - music is one of the oldest forms of entertainment. It’s not going away. It was flourishing even before the phonograph when it was more about the composer and exploiting their work. If we were around 150 years ago and working in music chances are we’d be in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, or Milan, not New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, or Perth.