Tim Prescott [pictured right] is CEO of Albert Music, who work with artists such as Old Man River, Megan Washington, Shelley Harland and Dappled Cities. He is appearing at One Movement For Music Perth as a panelist; click here to download the MUSEXPO Asia Pacific conference program.

What do you hope to gain from the One Movement festival and conference?

New ideas, new music and new people. I am excited to be connecting with old colleagues, and also potential new partners who are enthusiastic about the future for the music business. The focus on Asia will be particularly interesting. And of course we are showing off some of our great new song writing talent at our showcase with Hub Management – Washington, Seabellies and Old Man River – don’t miss this show.

Which artists’ showcase sets are you most looking forward to watching?

Ours of course, Bertie Blackman, Dappled Cities… and also I would like to catch a couple of the Asian acts to see what they are into.

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?

Fans and artists are already driving the change. They have a dialogue that’s going already – predominately online and through live performance, and even in real time (Twitter, for example). It really only depends on how much an artist wants to put into it, or how accessible they want to be. Unfortunately, because of this direct dialogue some artists have decided to disengage from the “industry” part of the equation, believing it is not necessary; but I think that is a mistake, and I also think it is now swinging back to a three-way partnership as artists and the music industry figure out how best to behave in the new digital world.

Ultimately I believe that the business aspects of the music industry should be the silent partner in the triangle and not impose on the very special artist–fan relationship.

We are about commerce, and to the extent that we have a dialogue with fans, it should only be in the interests of the artists we represent. Unfortunately through the pace of change that’s where we (the industry) might have fallen down in recent years – for example by not valuing that fan relationship, or being able to protect the artists sufficiently from online piracy, or through inadequate frameworks that don’t allow the artists to earn what they are worth.

So, I think the one uniting factor is that all of us - the artists, the managers, record companies, (big and small), publishers and the live industry - need to be able to figure out how to develop new hit artists, rebuild the financial models, and ensure we serve the artist so they get paid adequately for their talent, whilst also respecting the new generation of music fans and their desire to access the artists and their music.

The industry is slowly finding its way in the new, evolving paradigm and whilst I don’t know the total solution (and maybe there are several), I think the real secret lies in “artist service”, and not “artist exploitation”. To me that means supporting a framework where we facilitate and encourage the dialogue between the artist and their fans, but we also focus on giving the artist what they need – creative guidance, marketing and promotion, manage artist rights, room to breathe, places to play and create, and the ability to earn a living.

There is no silver bullet, nor is there one solution that will unite the industry with the artists and fans; but we need to keep looking.