Rogue State

The group says it is hosting the M3 Summit in order to provide a place for people in the music business to meet. "I think that, in addition to everything that happens during conference week, we really needed to have some business meetings," says Starr. In recent years these meetings have often taken place in rooms, nearby pools, and on verandas at hotels along Washington and Collins avenues -- and far away from WMC headquarters at the Fontainebleau Hotel. (This year's WMC will be at the Wyndham Resort.) "Rather than trying to do it one-on-one and scheduling individual meetings with all these different groups and people, we said, 'Let's get them all together in a room and talk about all of this stuff,'" she says. Of course WMC also bills itself as an industry conference; consciously or not, Starr is implying that WMC has been ineffective in providing a place for music industry professionals to get business done.

Which leads back to the question: Does the M3 Summit want to supplant WMC as the conference of choice for the music industry? Starr cagily responds, "We're not trying to take over Miami." Stay tuned.