Hong Kong – Jamie Cullum’s rendition of Radiohead’s Hi and Dry concluded the fourth annual Music Matters conference in Hong Kong on June 4. It was just one of several piano based songs the Golden Globe nominee, modern jazz singer performed in between stories about his career before well over 600 attendees from around the world. Social networking, brand awareness, mentoring sessions, digital music downloading and closer relationships between telecommunications and record companies were among the topics that dominated this year’s event. During the keynote address, Universal Music Japan CEO Kei Ishizaka revealed that digital music accounted for US$953 million last year in Japan, accounting for 20 percent of the country’s total music sales. “Digital and physical music can coexist,”he insisted, and to prove his point, revealed that while young people “can’t live without their mobile phones”, half of the Top 10 albums on Japan’s local charts are taken up by people over 40. “This year, people really responded to the musical aspect of this year’s Music Matters event and that will be a major focus of our plans for next year,”said Music Matters President Jasper Donat. “We have interesting development plans which will be announced in the near future.” Next year’s Music Matters event will be held in the first week of June 2010.