One slightly off-putting thing about music-biz confabs is that you tend to find yourself in the same set of conference halls and meeting rooms with the same bunch of people. No matter how brilliant the analysis and scintillatingly witty and wonderfully informed the speeches and repartee are, things tend to get a bit stale after a while.

Which is why I think the organizers of Music Matters have hit upon a winning idea in the form of a streetside music festival in Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong nightlife district on the nights of May 28 and 29. Some 40 bands from 10 countries will be sharing their groovadelic sounds with the good people of Hong Kong in what's being billed as Hong Kong's first-ever musical event of this kind.

As in its four previous editions, the Music Matters conference itself (which takes place May 26-28 at Hong Kong’s Grand Hotel) features an impressive lineup of speakers, panelists and performers, including:

• Daniel Ek, CEO and co-founder, Spotify
• Jason Mraz, Grammy Award-winning recording artist
• Norman Cheng, chairman and CEO, Gold Typhoon Entertainment
• Daniel DiCicco, president, Sony Music Entertainment Asia
• John Kennedy, chairman & CEO, IFPI
• Ken Ohtake, director, Music Publishers Association of Japan/president, Sony Music Publishing (Japan)
• Rob Wells, SVP, Digital, Universal Music Group
• Terry McBride, CEO, Nettwerk Music Group
• Rob Lewis, CEO, Omnifone Group Limited

As industry schmoozefests go, Music Matters is one of the best. Bring lots of business cards!