Now that the last of the Lan Kwai Fong-induced hangovers have faded away, it’s time to take a dispassionate and indeed sober look at the fifth annual edition of music-biz confab Music Matters, which wrapped up on the evening of May 28 in Hong Kong with a series of live shows in LKF-district bars whose raucously bibulous atmosphere suggested a cross between Sodom and Gomorrah and the Gotterdammerung.

Music Matters (which is produced by Hong Kong-based media and entertainment marketing agency Branded) was attended by 750 delegates from 25 countries, was supported by 26 sponsors and 28 media partners, and featured performances by 37 bands from 12 countries. Most of the usual suspects were present.

Panel discussions tended to be rather flat and less lively than in previous years; although there were many new faces among MM panelists, most of those who appeared on stage were of the male persuasion, and there wasn't enough input from artists and other creators. The panel format itself could use a serious rethink, in my humble opinion.

As usual, there was great networking/schmingling (i.e., schmoozing + mingling), and lots of the valuable value-added information you get when bright minds bounce off each other at such confabs. 

One of the conference’s more thought-provoking panels was “Namaste India” on the afternoon of May 28, which, among other topics, touched on how FM radio is changing India’s media mix. Oranjuice Entertainment Partner V. G. Jairam noted that while radio’s role as a music-promo medium is fading in most parts of the world, it’s only now coming into its own in India.

Jairam said some 700 FM stations are set to begin operating in rural India in the next few months, complementing the roughly 250 FM outlets now on the air in the country’s larger markets. FM plays a crucial role in smaller Indian communities, he explained, because broadband isn’t widely available and many communities lack electricity. “FM represents a huge revolution in smaller towns, where people can now listen to the music they want to, as opposed to (state-run) All India Radio” Jairam said, adding that mobile phone-based radio is an important part of India’s radio revolution. 

Speaking of India, that country has become far more receptive to tours by international acts than fellow Asian heavyweight China, according to uber-agent Neil Warnock, CEO of the Agency Group. “There are more and more problems with the Chinese government in booking major talent,” Warnock said during the “Conversations With My Agent” interview on the afternoon of May 28. “There’s a resistance to Western music. In India, there are more and more promoters who want to have Western music.” He added that he’s impressed by the growing number of Indian acts which he thinks will eventually have a major impact on the international music scene.

Mining for musical gold – that’s Mongolian ethno-rock band Altan Urag, which played a lively set on the afternoon of May 27. The band also signed a performing-rights deal with BMI during MM. In what may well be a music-biz first, Altan Urag’s career is being bankrolled by the Vancouver-based SouthGobi Resources mining company. “We were looking around for a musical act to sponsor,” explained SouthGobi CEO Alexander Molyneux, admitting that the deal “doesn’t really help us as a mining company. “ But it’s a clever corporate PR move, and it certainly does raise SGR’s profile in the music community -- for what that’s worth. “My vision is for Altan Urag to become a global band,” said Molyneux. Meanwhile, there is no truth to the rumor that SGR’s next sponsorship deal will be with the Gobi-tweens.

No industry conference is complete without its share of jargon, bafflegab and just plain verbal weirdness. Here are some choice sound bites from Music Matters 2010 panel discussions and speeches (discretion prevents MAMN from naming those responsible for these verbal gems):

• Choking the consumer
• We’re going to know about it and we’ll let you know
• Abstraction layers
• Globility of mobile
• The level of intimacy in an app
• Developing on top of the Apple
• A lean-back experience on your couch
• Korean music travels well because it’s blessed by God
• Tight integration
• Consumer journey
• And finally, the MM 2010 Mixed Metaphor Prize Winner: When we want to grow a pie, we have to be on the same side of the fence.

MM’s best moment was undoubtedly the May 28 conference-closing “audience” with Jason Mraz, in which meister-interviewer Ralph Simon (why doesn’t Ralph have his own TV show?) engaged the American singer-songwriter in a sparkling conversation that was interspersed with superlative performances by Mraz of some of his best-known tunes.

While Mraz’s good-vibe neo-hippieisms may cause one’s inner cynic to chortle, the plain fact is that the guy is a natural musician who oozes talent and sincerity. His gift for prosody – the rare, Muse-given talent to weave words and music into a seamless synthesis – is second to none. “If you can sing an idea, it can really carry,” Mraz told Simon.

And that’s a very good reason why music really does matter.