MUMBAI: Musexpo Europe will bring a stellar line-up of international speakers and artists to London for its inaugural event to held from 27 to 29 October.

Taking the stage during the conference, which takes place at London's Cumberland Hotel will be some of the most experienced executives in the worldwide music business alongside some of the hottest new names to emerge in recent times. Artists from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Canada and the US will appear at the Metro and Borderline venues during the evenings.

Moderating the Musexpo Europe keynote panel is well-known CNN International (and former BBC Worldwide) news anchor Owen Thomas. Among the list of top executives confirmed to speak are senior international executives including Sony Music UK and Ireland chairman and CEO Ged Doherty, live legend Harvey Goldsmith, Steve Schnur, worldwide head of music and marketing at games giant Electronic Arts and EMI's new A&R chief Nick Gatfield. Meanwhile Sire Records founder will be in conversation with Tommy Ramone, the only surviving member of legendary band The Ramones, to discuss the birth of punk.

Leading the digital debate will be key players from all sides of the spectrum including Universal Music Group International's senior VP digital Rob Wells, Nokia senior music manager Steven Stewart, Omniphone CEO Rob Lewis, entrepreneur David Goldberg from US investment firm Benchmark Capital and Ian Rogers, CEO of hot US artist platform Topspin.

Elsewhere panels will feature speakers from all sectors of the international business. Managers will be well represented, with the likes of Bruce Flohr (Dave Matthews Band), Doug Mark (Motley Crue, The Game), Jonathan Shalit (Myleene Klass, N-Dubz), Adam Tudhope (Keane) and Iain Watt (Mika). There will also be a strong turnout from the live sector with speakers as diverse as Michael Chugg and Ossy Hoppe – two of the top promoters in Australia and Germany respectively – and Jessica Koravos from AEG, while publishers will include Chrysalis Group's Jeremy Lascelles, Sas Metcalfe from Kobalt Music and Christian Wahlberg from Murlyn Music. Among the UK label managing directors will be Shabs Jobanputra (Relentless), Mark Jones (Wall Of Sound), Max Lousada (Atlantic), Martin Morales (Disney) and Nick Raphael (Epic).

Tackling one of Musexpo's key underlying themes of breaking talent will be some of the world's most influential radio executives including Clive Dickens (Absolute), George Ergatoudis (BBC Radio 1), Nic Harcourt, KCRW Los Angeles), Richard Kingsmill (Triple J Network, Australia), Gene Sandbloom (KROQ Los Angeles) and Jeff Smith (BBC Radio 2). Also addressing the same issue will be top US music supervisor Alex Patsavas (The OC, Grey's Anatomy) and Alicen Schneider from NBC Universal.

Musexpo and A&R Worldwide founder Sat Bisla says: This event is all about bringing creative people together so they can share ideas, music and new business opportunities. It's the people who attend who have made MUSEXPO so successful in the US and I'm delighted we've got such a great line-up for our first European event, with more names due to be announced over the next few weeks....

The evening showcase gigs, which are being organized at The Borderline and The Metro clubs in conjunction with The Great Escape Festival, will feature buzz artists as diverse as the UK's hotly tipped thecocknbullkid and The King Blues (added this week to BBC Radio 1's Upfront playlist), Floor Thirteen (Canada), Laura Izibor (Ireland) and The Temper Trap (Australia).

Bisla says, The whole point of the artist showcases at Musexpo is to present artists who we believe have exciting international potential in front of a tastemaker audience. Katy Perry performed as an unknown at Musexpo in Los Angeles earlier this year and I'm sure that other artists performing in London will follow in her footsteps into the charts around the world....