“La vie c’est dur sur la Côte d’Azur” -- so say the denizens of the Riviera with an ironic Gallic shrug. I thought I would come away from the 2010 edition of music-biz confab MIDEM (held, as always, in Cannes’ Palais des Festivals et des Congrès) paraphrasing that old saw as “la vie c’est dur dans l’industrie musicale.” But instead I found the mood at MIDEM to be one of determined optimism.

Sure, it’s easy to get caught up in MIDEM’s infectious schmooze and booze vibe – not that there’s anything wrong with that! – but the recurring theme of the annual confab’s plethora of seminars and panel discussions was that it’s time to stop griping about how file-sharing is destroying the music biz, blah, blah, and get on with the tough but exciting work of building a new business model that works for everybody who produces, distributes and consumes – sorry, listens to – music.

One example was the 2010 IAEL (International Association of Entertainment Lawyers) MIDEM Seminar, which started bright and early at 10 a.m. (ouch!) on Sunday Jan. 24. Presiding over the seminar was a somewhat stressed-out but very capable Stephen Masur, senior managing partner in New York-based entertainment law firm MasurLaw.

My impression after sitting through – and staying awake during -- the three-hour talkfest was that collective licensing is indeed the way to go. As John Ingham, CEO of  technology company ESP, put it: “Grant licenses to consumers via ISPs and then ask the ISPs for money.” (Ingham provides a good overview of the collective-licensing solution on the IAEL website). Noted Sebastian Moellman, head of legal and business affairs at German’s Brainpool TV: “ISPs need to be part of the value chain,” adding that a global rights database is also a key element of the licensing solution.

Other random observations from this year’s MIDEM:

• Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Chairman Masao Morita doesn’t understand Bob Dylan’s lyrics. During a one-on-one interview session with your humble correspondent, Morita noted that the language barrier doesn’t prevent foreign artists – even those with highly idiosyncratic lyrics such as his Bobness – from being popular in Japan. "I don't understand what he is singing," said Morita, son of legendary Sony co-founder Akio Morita. "But he is still very popular. He's a great Sony artist." Morita also said he wants Japan’s recently passed law prohibiting unauthorized downloading to include provisions for punishment, adding that he opposes getting rid of DRM. You can see the whole half-hour interview (for a limited time) here.

• MIDEM’s introduction of speed networking was a good idea, but needs some fine-tuning. For example, the Jan. 24 Japan speed-networking event went pretty smoothly, with a klaxon-wielding staffer announcing the end of each three-minute meet-and-greet session. But there was some confusion over who was selling and who was buying. Organizers need to do a little more advance planning next year so that networkers have a clear idea of whom they should be talking to in the limited time available. More interpreters would also be a good idea.

• Attendance at MIDEM 2010 was about 7,200, down 10% from 2009. But as MIDEM director Dominique Leguern pointed out at the conference’s final press conference, some 28% of the 3,200 companies (from 78 countries) that attended MIDEM were first-timers, and most of those came from the digital sector. That explains the positive buzz I got from the conference – there was a real sense of community and energy in the air (forgive me for sounding like an unreconstructed hippie … man). It was like cramming a college music-education course into five days.

• Twitter is not for twits. Not a particularly original observation, but for a Luddite like me, the presentation by Leslie Poston, founder of social-media consultancy Uptown Uncorked, on how to use new media such as Twitter to promote artists was a real eye-opener. It turns out that one of the most effective Twitter users in the artist community is none other than M.C. Hammer, whom I had relegated to the “where are they now?” category.

• MIDEM, which prides itself on being a conference with a global reach, could use more of an Asian presence, both in terms of panel topics and delegate attendance. This is admittedly easier said than done, given the language barrier(s), but I'd like to see a more Asia-friendly MIDEM.

• For me, the best musical performance at this year’s MIDEM was Isle of Man singer/guitarist Davy Knowles' stunning 30-minute set during the Jan. 25 “British at MIDEM” showcase. His lyrical, impassioned singing and playing brought to mind the late, great Rory Gallagher. Knowles (no relation to Beyoncé, presumably) played a hammer-on solo on his cover of David Crosby chestnut Almost Cut My Hair that had jaws dropping in the audience. Fucking brilliant.

• While strolling along the Croisette (Cannes’ seaside promenade) early in the evening of Jan. 26 on my way to the Finnish-Asia networking dinner, I was accosted by an attractive young woman who offered me a free drink. Naturally, I accepted. The only condition was that I enter the café in front of which she was standing and give a listen to a musical performance taking place therein. As I sipped my drink, I wondered whether it had been spiked, as the eerily weird sounds of Duo Zikr entered my cranium. The duo comprises Igor Silin from Russia and Olga Tkachenko from the Ukraine, who sat facing each other on stage, clad in red-and-gold robes while performing synthesizer-backed vocal improvisations that were somewhere between Tibetan monastic chants and Byzantine liturgical music. Different, to say the least. The Finnish-Asia dinner was rather more down to earth, and was a good chance to meet new and old friends from the Nordic nation’s vibrant music industry, which continues to punch above its weight internationally.

• The MIDEM website is an amazingly rich resource for anyone interested in the future of the music industry -- yes, it does have one!. (In the interest of transparency, I should mention that I have been providing consulting services for MIDEM.)

• This grab bag of MIDEM-related items would have come your way earlier had I not spent four days soaking up the delights of Paris after the conference. As I looked out the train window at the French capital’s grim suburban sprawl on my way to Charles de Gaulle airport to board my flight home to Tokyo, one of Paris’ many train-hopping buskers struck up a soppy version of La Vie en Rose on his accordion. It reminded me of the rosy sense of optimism about the music industry’s future that MIDEM had given me. La vie c'est dur, mais la musique nous aide à la supporter.