‘The Magic Of Live Is Very, Very Human’: Takeaways From Bridge Conference Day 1

The first edition of Bridge Conference has kicked off in Umag, Croatia, May 20, with the ambition of becoming Europe’s main event at the intersection of the music and tech industries.

Monika Udovičić, from Croatia’s ministry of tourism and sports, welcomed around 200 delegates from more than 20 countries. The mayor of Umag, Vili Bassanese, also took the stage to welcome delegates. He said the fact that Umag now had this music business conference in addition to Sea Star Festival, which opens its gates right at the end of Bridge Conference, was a real “win win” for the city.

The first session of the day was part one of a two-part “Data vs. Gut” conversation, where panelists Cindy Castillo (Mad Cool), James Minor (SXSW), Miroslav Miletić (EXIT), Pavla Slivova (Colours Of Ostrava), and Virag Csiszar (Sziget), shared their thoughts on how important data has become when planning, and especially booking an event, and if their own gut feeling was still relevant in 2025.

Minor pointed out the most important reason not to rely on data only, explaining that there was a lot of fakery involved when it came to streaming or social media stats.

For Castillo, who described herself as “fully gut” person, it wasn’t even a question. To her, “music is an emotional business,” and emotions couldn’t be quantified in the way data could.

While data may help confirm a gut feeling, it could never replace it.

For Slivova, it was a “constant dance” between gut and data, because, as she emphasized, data didn’t just involve online streaming and social data, but especially ticket sales.

How well certain acts were selling was a good indicator to base booking decisions on, however, even there, an artist’s appeal could change drastically from market to market.

Castillo cited examples of artists who may sell out an arena in the UK, but have no following at all in Spain, and vice versa. With so many factors at play, many of them cultural, one couldn’t fully rely on the data.

Csiszar said she found herself caught in the middle of both camps, explaining how she increasingly relied on data, the higher up the bill the artist in questions was. A headliner that costs a lot of money needs to work, she said, so at that level she was more inclined to rely on data that when putting together the lower end of the main stage bill, or the countless alternative stages and places of discovery the festival offers.

Miletić said his team relied on data to some extent, ideally, just to confirm a gut feeling. He emphasized that the annual survey EXIT launches right after each edition, which asks festivalgoers about artists they would like to see in the coming year, was way more important.

Csiszar confirmed the same for Sziget, saying that she’s always surprised by at least some of the top choices of fans each year. Her team’s job got made especially challenging by the fact that the festival welcomes such a large number of international guests – from markets with completely different tastes and cultures.

Another reason not to just rely on data is the fact, as Minor pointed out, that there are several examples of artists doing incredibly well on streaming services, but not necessarily on social media. Plus, nothing replaced going to other showcase events to see whether some of the most hotly tipped emerging acts were any good live.

All panelists agreed that one shouldn’t be afraid to take chances on a lineup decision, even if it sometimes didn’t work out. There was also agreement that impressive stats not translating to ticket sales was the far more likely outcome than a gut decision backfiring.

Another panel on day one looked into way in which AI and tech are revolutionizing live. With Pip Rush of Arcadia Spectacular, and Victor de la Serna of Elrow, you had two panelists speaking, who still rely heavily on analogue materials and human hands-on building techniques to create their events and event settings.

Elrow just launched a Saturday nights at the Ibiza club UNVRS, according to de la Serna, the technologically most advanced club in the world. Elrow’s signature décor, however, which will turn the club into another world, is still handcrafted in a factory on the Spanish island.

De la Serna summed it up when he said, AI couldn’t replace true inspiration, but could help in all areas where true inspiration wasn’t needed.

Arcadia Spectacular, known for their spectacular and massive sculptures, some of which weigh 150 tons, is working on a touring indoor show that’ll explore the connection between humans and tech.

Rush found the idea interesting of deploying technology at events that would allow promoters to read the data in real time, to, for example, gage energy levels among the audience, or check out which keywords were trending, etc.

He did encourage people to not look at a screen during a festival or event, but admitted that reaching people on their smartphones before and after the event held some interesting possibilities in terms of engagement and marketing.

He also pointed towards decentralized social media, where artists and fans were once again engaging like in the early days of Facebook and the like.

“I think it’s quite easy at music events to miss what the actual magic of it is, and the magic of it is very, very human. You cannot take that away,” Rush summed up a theme of Bridge Conference’s day one.

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