Branded Ltd. today announced the return of Asia’s most anticipated global conference dedicated to the business of digital and live entertainment – Digital and Music Matters. Taking place in Singapore from 22nd to 26th May, the conference will play host to thousands of entertainment digerati and music A-listers, showcasing the global online entertainment and music industry, with a focus on the Asian region.Held at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, the conference will also premiere the inaugural “Gaming Matters, produced with GameSpot” workshop and will conclude with the live music festival, Music Matters Live held at Clarke Quay, which will be streamed live for the first time to a global audience via Official Festival Broadcast Partner, YouTube.

Now in its seventh year, Music Matters, the pioneer music industry event in the Asia Pacific, will feature a stellar list of speakers in the global music industry, including CEO and Founder of Atom Factory, Troy Carter, famed artist manager of Lady Gaga. Troy is a master at leveraging on all things related to digital media and has been instrumental in deploying radical new marketing techniques to grow the Gaga machine into a global media and entertainment powerhouse.

Music Matters 2012 will feature topics including a showcase of mega brands who use music to strengthen their reach including Coca-Cola, Nokia, Bacardi and Budweiser; what it takes to launch digital services in Asia; issues in music publishing and examining the key factors in running successful music festivals. The programme will also focus on key Asian music markets such as Japan, China, Korea, Singapore and India.

Top speakers at Music Matters include:

• Troy Carter, Manager, Lady Gaga and CEO and Founder, Atom Factory
• Bob Ezrin, Legendary Music and Entertainment Producer
• Andrew Hipsley, Senior Vice President and Chief Brand Officer, Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa, McDonald’s Corporation
• John Meglen, President and Co-CEO, Concerts West/AEG Live
• Bob Lefsetz, Author, The Lefsetz Letter
• Michael Paull, Executive Vice President, Global Digital Business, Sony Music Entertainment
• Stephen Bryan, Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy and Business Development, Recorded Music, Warner Music Group
• Shridhar Subramaniaum, President, Sony Music India and Middle East

Mentoring sessions will also take place concurrently with Music Matters, providing participating artistes with the opportunity to network and learn from the industry’s A-listers such as managers, publishers and industry professionals, encouraging discussion and creative collaboration and bringing Singapore to the forefront of Asia’s dynamic music landscape.

YouTube, Facebook and CapitaLand, aims to bring together local and international bands to Singapore, to gain new fans and be discovered. Together with some of Singapore’s best loved and home-grown talents, the dynamic line-up of almost 50 bands hail from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea and more.

With support from Official Festival Broadcast Partner, YouTube, the festival held at Clarke Quay over three nights will be streamed ‘live’ to a global audience for the first time. This comes on the heels of a successful world stream made available to fans of the Coachella music fest. In a similar arrangement to last year’s music staging, Music Matters Live will rock audiences from 24th to 26th May at several venues in and around Clarke Quay with the main arena at the Central Fountain Square.

Acts for Music Matters Live 2012 include:

• Drunken Tiger (Korea) – One of Korea’s biggest hip-hop names and will feature a part of an exclusive Korean showcase titled, The Korean Night presented by Korean Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)
• Midnight Youth (New Zealand)
• Minor Soul (Hong Kong)
• 9 Maps (Hong Kong)
• This Sanctuary (Australia)
• BTOB (Korea)
• Fire Ex. (Taiwan)
• Aftermiles (Indonesia)
• Gary Nock (UK)
• The Auditory Effect (Singapore)
• Yoon Mirae (Korea)
• M.I.B (Korea)
• RhythmKing (Korea)
• DJ Clazzi (Korea)
• J’Kyun (Korea)
• Orange Grass (Taiwan)
• Melodramas (UK)

There will also be additional showcases on top of The Korean Night, which will feature bands from Australia, Canada and more.

“Digital and Music Matters 2012 is the event that matters for anyone involved in the digital entertainment, media, technology and music business. We have an extremely high-profile list of speakers covering all that matters in the music and digital entertainment industries. With Gaming Matters we have broadened our flagship events, making the conference the one-stop access point for all to gain insight into the industry”, said Jasper Donat, Co-Founder of Branded Ltd and President of Digital and Music Matters.

He added, “We are also bringing the music to a global audience with our partnership with YouTube for Music Matters Live promoting bands which have been carefully selected from the hundreds of applications received from the world over.”

Digital and Music Matters 2012 is proudly supported by the Singapore Tourism Board, Media Development Authority of Singapore, and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. Other key sponsors on board for 2012 are;  Adobe, Google/ YouTube, KOCCA, Getty Images, Nokia, The Orchard, SingTel, Singapore Grand Prix, Gracenote, Omnifone, MPAJ, Akamai, Movideo, Haldanes and AsiaWorld-Expo.

For more information on the conferences and the music festival, visit www.allthatmatters.asia.