Berlin Powwow Pulls 2,000

The newfangled Berlin Music Week is claiming success after 2,000 delegates showed at the “Word On Sound” forum at the city’s Osthafen festival centre.

It ran Sept. 5-9 and the music business powwow covered crowd-funding and other methods of financing records, digital business models and provided delegates with networking opportunities.

The BMW delegates came from more than 20 countries and the event was covered by more than 300 journalists.
 
Federal jealousies once led to at least four German cities, including Munich and Frankfurt, to be put up for hosting an international music bash, but the success of BMW – and the growth of Hamburg’s upcoming Reeperbahn Festival & Campus – means that now there are only two serious contenders.
 
The actual Berlin Festival Sept. 7-8, which is produced by Stefan Lehmkuhl of Melt Booking and for the last two years has been owned by the UK’s Festival Republic, also came close to selling out its 25,000-capacity at Berlin’s former Tempelhof Airport. 
 
The lineup included The Killers, Sigur Rós, Franz Ferdinand, Friendly Fires, Paul Kalkbrenner, Bonaparte, Litle Dragon, Tocotronic, and Kraftklub.
 
As for BMW’s live music content, 20,000 people bought tickets for four nights of bands spread across dozens of the city’s venues and curated by former Popkomm booker Paul Cheetham, while another 18,000 opted to go clubbing and took one of the five shuttle bus tours that covered 50 participating clubs and more than 100 dance floors.
 
Hamburg’s upcoming Reeperbahn Festival & Campus will likely pull similar numbers. One of the discussion panels is about how the current market isn’t good for agents.
 
Greg Lowe from The Agency Group’s London office, Claudio Trotta from Italy’s Barley Arts, Marc Lambelet from Black Lamb in Switzerland, and Rense van Kessel from from Dutch agency Friendly Fire will be among those telling former IQ editor Greg Parmley what a tough time they’re having.
 
Other panels will look at intellectual property, whether raised standards in the event and outdoor businesses are doing any good, and – naturally – an explanation of why Germany is a musical wonderland.
Hamburg Reeperbahn Festival & Campus is Sept. 20-22.