Settling On Berlin And Hamburg

The next installment is Hamburg Reeperbahn Sept. 17-20, which will likely do similar numbers. After going through a short period when as many as five cities were having thoughts about staging showcase-conferences, Berlin Music Week and Reeperbahn have come through as the two that are sustainable.

The gatherings in Berlin and Hamburg have steadily grown, now rivaling Eurosonic-Noorderslag in The Netherlands and the UK’s ILMC as Europe’s most significant live music business pow-wows.

Apart from the dozens of acts playing the showcase fest in Berlin clubs including Astra, Postbahnhof, Magnet, Lido, and Fluxbau, Berlin Music Week also ran in parallel with Berlin Festival, which this year moved its main stage from Tempelhof airport to the Arena Park in the Kreuzberg area of the city.

The festival lineup included Editors, Chase & Status, Darkside, and Woodkid.

The acts lined up for Reeperbahn include Blood Red Shoes, Boys Noize, Blonde Redhead, The Subways, Hozier, and Mallory Knox.

The conference speakers include famous German artist Herbert Grönemeyer, former AEG Live promoter Rob Hallett, A&R Worldwide and MUSEXPO founder Sat Bisla, Cooking Vinyl chief Martin Goldschmidt, Coda Agency chief Rob Challice, and new ILMC owner and former IQ editor Greg Parmley.