Lewis Silkin LLP co-head of media and entertainment Cliff Fluet spoke on Friday, October 23, 2026, at the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) in Amsterdam. His talk, titled “The State Of Things With Cliff Fluet,” covered topics from artificial intelligence to recent industry mega-deals. These topics related to a central theme: who currently holds power in the music industry, and how that is shifting.
Fluet used Radiohead’s release of its seventh studio album, In Rainbows, as a starting point. The band released the album in October 2007 and invited fans to pay whatever they wanted for it. Some observers read the move as evidence that recorded music had lost its value. Fluet said the question was about something else. “The question was never really about price or value,” he said. “It was about who owns the relationship with the fan.”
Fluet argued that Radiohead was not making a statement about what music was worth, but about engagement, independence and going direct to fans. According to Billboard, those principles still define where astute members of the music industry are focused.
The talk took place as part of ADE Pro, the event’s programming track for industry professionals. According to Billboard, ADE Pro hosted 148 panels, 25 mixers and other sessions, bringing the number of Pro programs to 188.
Source: Billboard
