It didn't match the record-breaking year of 2009, but the World Music Expo in Denmark Oct. 27-31 showed the annual gathering is pretty much recession-proof by attracting 2,440 delegates from 94 countries.

That's a little down on last year, when 2,700 delegates made it the best-attended WOMEX since the annual conference and trade fair started in Berlin in 1994. However, attendance at WOMEX was still enough to show Europe's biggest music biz gatherings are flourishing despite hard times.

Some national and international conferences have seen attendance drop by much more than 10 percent.

The 2,440 delegates represented 1,360 companies and came from 94 countries. They included 850 concert and festival bookers, 600 labels, publishers and distributors, and 350 national and international journalists, including 170 radio broadcasters.

The usually bustling trade fair attracted 650 exhibitors, the same as in 2009, although there was a little more space-sharing as the 260 stands they occupied was 20 less than last year.

The showcases featured 59 acts, a couple more than last year. They were staged at the DR Koncerthuset and Copenhagen Forum, which housed the conference and trade fair after a late switch from the Bella Centre. The Forum is much nearer the city centre.

It's the second year the event has been staged in Copenhagen and it's due to return in 2011. The local partners are Roskilde Festival and Copenhagen Jazz Festival.

Historically WOMEX has roamed around Europe like a musical caravan, stopping off in such places as Berlin, Brussels, Marseille, Stockholm, Rotterdam, Essen, and Seville. It made its only visit to the UK in 2005 at Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The various conference sessions covered world music issues, including one dedicated to making sure artists have the right paperwork to cross borders.

The annual WOMAD Festival in the UK has occasionally been l eft short of an act or two because various band members didn't have the relevant visas or work permits.

Risto Kivelä, chairman of the European working group for culture and mobility, Robert Jachim from the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen, and Matthew Covey of Tamizdat - a New York-based project devoted to encouraging cultural exchange - were among those trying to simplify "the complex and sometimes frustrating laws" that govern artists' international mobility.

Other topics to come under discussion included the Tsapiky music of southwest Madagascar, music from New Zealand and the Pacific region, the resurgence of English folk music, digital distribution, social media, and cultural economy in developing markets.
Next year's WOMEX is in Copenhagen Oct. 26-30.