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COMPANY FOCUS: SLOW TRAVEL BERLIN

1/7/2013

 
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Berlin can seem like an overwhelming, sprawling place to visit sometimes. That's why anyone spending time in the city needs to follow the guys at Slow Travel Berlin to get the very best info regarding off-the-beaten-track hangouts and activities.


Name of company:
 SLOW TRAVEL BERLIN  
Type of Business: Local Travel & Info Hub With Broad & Sometimes Atypical Ambitions
City/Country: Berlin, Germany
Year Founded: 2010
Employees and their roles: Paul Sullivan (Founder & Editor), Brian Melican (Sub Editor), Natalie Holmes (Listings Editor), Rebecca Loyche (Art Listings) plus a team of lovely and excellent contributors inc. Marian Ryan, Giulia Pines, Paul Scraton, Tam Eastley, Grashina Gabelmann, Natalye Childress, Marcel Krueger, Vanessa Remoquillo, Rhea Boyden and Wyndham Wallace.
Company motto: Slow Travel Berlin is first and foremost a repository of eclectic information about the city from a range of perspectives. Our take on travel is very sustainable, something that's needed in a city as swamped with tourism as Berlin. We feature regular contributions from city residents on subjects ranging from food and family life to art and personal experiences with an aim to encourage deeper, more varied exploration and promotion of small, locally-minded businesses and services. We aim to facilitate any quest to get beneath the skin of the city a little, or discover it at a more leisurely pace. We offer an insider’s view that at the same time tries to be as inclusive as possible. 
Company Highlights so far: Company Highlights so far (best achievements): Consistently delivering high-quality content on Berlin that is deeper and broader than most, and with zero budget. We've also hosted two really fun (and quite big!) events this year: our "Day of Cuisine, Creativity and Culture in Berlin" at the Markthalle IX (April 2012) was packed with great and free things to do, including a Locavore food market, things for kids, a literary corner with bookstalls and music performances. It was really popular and we might repeat it next year; and The Slowlympics (August 2012), which was our non-commercial, Monty-Python-esque take on the Olympics that included Compact Discus throwing and Slow Cycling races. 
Goals for next 12 months: We'd like to do more events this year, both large and small. We've also been testing the water with various tours and workshops (photography, walking and cycling tours, film making - all sustainably minded), which we will launch properly next year. And we're producing a couple of books, the first of which should be ready for Spring and will be a fantastic companion for anyone wanting to get to know Berlin's hidden nooks and crannies a little better.
Biggest Challenge ahead: Growing a business model that is fair, non-hierarchical and transparent. Expanding without losing our Slow ethic. 
Key Projects: The main thing right now is getting our first book finished, and broadening our tours and services 
What are the main things are you looking for at the moment: Now that we're expanding, I think we could do with someone to help manage everything. Someone who knows about marketing would be a great help too, since we need to start spreading our vision (and commercial services) beyond the local blogger scene. And we are always happy to link up with like-minded services and people in different cities and countries.

Homepage address:
http://www.slowtravelberlin.com
Facebook address:
https://www.facebook.com/SlowTravelBerlin
Twitter address:
https://twitter.com/slowberlin

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: BASTI WEINERT

1/7/2013

 
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name: Sebastian Weinert
company: Freelancer
job: Production, Event, and Tour Manager
city: Berlin
working on: Since 2005 I’ve been working as a professional production- and tour manager for various companies. From the beginning my work was focused mainly on rock´n´roll shows for the Berlin based promoter Trinity Music. Over the years I did nearly all kinds of different production work from concerts, sport events to exhibitions and business events. Since 2007 I’ve been one of the production manager for the Citadel Music Festival in Berlin. From 2009–2011 I was also responsible for the local production for the „Telekom Extreme Playgrounds“ @ Velodrom/ Berlin. In 2010 and 2011 one of the biggest experiences was to supervise the Popkomm showcase festival which included up to 7 venues and more than 80 artists in 2 days.  Next projects will for example include the World Economic Forum 2013 in Davos.
favourite artist(s): Too many to name them all. But to mention a few of my all-time favs: Social Distortion, Wolfbrigade, The Generators, Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys....
But I always look out for all kinds of new and good music. 
first gig: One of my first shows I ever visited was Depeche Mode in 1993 at the „Songs of Faith & Devotion“ Tour. 
highlight(s) of the last year: Absolutely to work with Henry Rollins was one of the best experiences ever. And as every year to work at the Citadel Music Festival with different artist such as Soundgarden, Snow Patrol, Alanis Morrisette etc.....
musical hero: HENRY ROLLINS!!!
listening to:  music ;)

Connect with Basti 
HERE

THE NMO ESSAY: THE EP - AN EXCUSABLE PROJECT, AN EASY FORMAT?

1/6/2013

 
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The EP – an excusable project, an easy format? 
An essay by Martin Hjorth

EP is an abbreviation of “extended play”, which basically means that we’re confused from the beginning. It may have made sense when we defined different kinds of musical releases based on what actually fit on a particular vinyl. Back in the days, the EP used to be a 7” that contained more songs than the typical single. So far so good.

Before I go on, I should perhaps say that some of my favourite records are EPs. I even released a few EPs myself, so I’m not trying to run this format into the ground. But what is an EP in 2013, and which problems do we encounter when speaking of this format? Let’s start by taking a look at what it’s
not.

A friend once said that an EP is merely “a demo with better recordings”. I don’t agree, but symbolically there is some truth to this. I’ll get back to that. Can it then be considered the same as an LP, simply shorter? Again, this simply isn’t possible from a symbolic point of view.

Nowadays, you’ll come across EPs that contain one song in three different versions: An original recording, a remix and a live version – or perhaps an instrumental version. That is basically the same as calling something a “festival” even though it’s only one night. So why not just call it a single instead of an EP? Let’s have a look at this idea of
quantity.

Quantitatively speaking

After that clumsy headline, let’s have a look at some examples. You might remember the debut EPs by rock bands such as Arcade Fire, Interpol, Vampire Weekend and Tokyo Police Club. These served to build a certain hype before the bands (or labels) were ready to record and/or release their respective debut LPs, which would be known as the official “debut albums”. So in terms of marketing, their EPs weren’t “real” as these weren’t really the “debut”. They
were EPs, but the bands released something more “real” when it was an LP? Huh!

This is, however, not to say that many journalists and fans don’t pick up on this; many writers are good at clarifying what kind of
debut they’re speaking of (first release, first full-length, first major label album etc.). Let’s stick to Tokyo Police Club for a second. They released their first EP, “A Lesson in Crime”, in 2006, containing 8 songs and a total length of about 16 minutes. Three of these songs were released as singles. Three singles on one EP! In 2007 they released a second EP called “Smith EP”, which originally contained only 3 songs. Back then, Adam Moerder wrote the following in his review on Pitchfork:

“Oh, what a coy temptress is this Tokyo Police Club. With only about 20 minutes of released material under their belt, [they’ve] generated a tidal wave of well-deserved hype... as the indie world collectively holds its breath for the TPC full-length, they first punch us in the gut with the “Smith” EP, a three-song, eight-minute release that could pass for a free iTunes preview.”

Besides serving as an example of building hype through the EP format before releasing the “real” debut album, these EPs also serve as an example of how many tracks you can put on an EP and still release it as the same format. The “Smith” EP was, by the way, initially only released digitally. Personally, I always thought of their first EP as a sort of “mini album” rather than an EP, exactly because of the number of songs - something that also allowed them to test out different styles.

Mini albums and double EPs

Let’s cross the pond and have a look at Wales-based (but English) indie pop outfit Los Campesinos!. After releasing their debut
full-length in 2008, they followed up with the quite brilliant “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” in the very same year. The latter consists of 10 brand new songs and a total length of 32 minutes, compared to the 42 minutes and 12 songs that made up the debut full-length. And yet, somehow, this second album was indeed not officially an “album” or a “full-length”. It was, rather, a “mini album” or an “EEP” (extended extended play). Supposedly, there were contractual reasons behind this.

Right, let’s go back across the Atlantic and have a look at Modest Mouse, a band known for long releases, whatever the format. In 1997 they released “The Fruit That Ate Itself” EP, spanning 9 songs over 21 minutes. Very short songs for their standard! The number of songs is, however, what is interesting here, and the Japanese version even contains
five more songs. That is, an EP with 14 tracks. Their EP “No One’s First and You’re Next” from 2009 is a collection of B-sides, unreleased songs and new material. These 8 songs make up a total of 33 minutes, more than many “full-length” albums released today.

Now consider Sufjan Stevens. His “All Delighted People” EP from 2010 is 59 minutes long. That’s almost one full hour of music and only seven minutes shorter than his breakthrough
full-length “Michigan” (2003) and ten minutes longer than his LP “Seven Swans” (2004). Sure, he followed his 2010 EP with a full-length that is slightly longer, “The Age of Adz” (74 minutes), but an EP of 59 minutes certainly stretches the idea of an “extended play”.

So we have EPs that could in one way or other also be considered singles, maxi singles, LPs, mini albums. Sticking close to the full-length album is also the quite rare “double EP” (a relatively new example of this is Beirut’s “March of the Zapotec/Holland” EP). And we have the classic and stricter vinyl definitions of the format. But they matter less in this (sigh) increasingly digital world, right?

Cost benefits and indie ideals

The past few decades, the EP format has been popular mainly within a punk and indie discourse (and no wonder seeing how confusing it is to understand what it even is!). If you were buying records in the 80s, the EP was exclusively the output of indie labels and artists. They were simply good value for money. Indie bands were unlikely to compete in the singles market in the UK (the top 40 was all important) as they tended not to be singles-led acts. There were of course exceptions, The Smiths being amongst the most famous, but the EP was seen as value for money and somewhat of an antithesis of what being a major label artist was about.

Back then the Majors brought in the 12” single as their way of offering value for money. These tended to be 3-4 tracks with remixes and instrumental versions of the same song. But what about the cost factor today? You can sell an EP for a lot more than a 7” single, and they are thus easier to recoup on. At the same time it gives you a better idea of what a band stands for. As Kevin Douch, owner of Big Scary Monsters Recordings (based in Oxford), says: “From a fan’s point of view it offers a lot more than a single, musically, so you really get a good idea of a band.”

David Laurie, owner of the London-based label Something in Construction, agrees: “They can be a nice summation of a themed body of work that is more than a couple of songs and less than an album. For new acts, they are a nice way of drawing an audience a little closer to what an artist is about than a single track; and they’re not as, well, time-consuming as an album.”

In the early days, Big Scary Monsters was built on a few key EPs by bands such as Secondsmile, Jeniferever and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. They all went on to do well and at the same time help build the label’s name. The fact that the EP is neither a single nor an album (the way most people would define ‘album’) is what gives the EP its niche quality. It is, however, also what makes it occasionally problematic: Magazines have never quite figured out where to place them in their reviews section, and shops have never really embraced stocking them.

David Laurie elaborates: “Some media types don’t cherish them quite so much. Many magazines won’t review them, [which is] a shame because they are often not a second tier frippery at all. Many, especially older journalists, who still recall B-sides as a concept, will view them just as a single with extra B-sides.” At the end of the year, you also see plenty of magazines and websites listing the best EPs of the year, while others include them in their list of “best album” (notice how many have included the Burial EP in 2012 in this section).

These might not be huge factors to indie labels, who rely on selling directly to fans via word-of-mouth and very small marketing budgets, but for many others it will make it a less appealing format. In the case of Big Scary Monsters, though, it has been a most useful tool: 8/10 times they have opted to release an EP before releasing a full-length album when beginning work with a new band.

For Hannes Tschürtz, CEO of Ink Music from Austria, the EP is now mainly somewhat of a “bridge” between albums. They occasionally use EPs to open a campaign for a new artist, which gives the format more of a promotional and strategic purpose. In their case, the EPs hardly bring the money back they cost but instead serve as an investment.

Future embrace of the mainstream?

Regarding the mainstream market, there is generally good reason to avoid confusion, and the EP does often represent just that. And how often do you see major artists and major labels release EPs? One infamous example is Lady Gaga’s “The Fame Monster”. The 8 songs make for 34 minutes of music. Almost 10 minutes longer than the Official Chart Company in the UK defines the limit (anything longer than 25 minutes cannot be an EP). So that was apparently an EP whilst she has only released two “studio albums”. Again: Huh!

We live in an age with easier access to our cultural archive than ever before. Incidentally, we’ve also been called an “ADD culture”. If you consider this combination of technology, attention span, and accessibility there could be a change underway. Maybe not a paradigm shift as such but the idea of the EP as the “mini album” would make sense to a certain extent. Talking to Kamilla Traberg of Copenhagen/London-based label Good Tape Records, she told me that she liked the format because of her own inability to stay focused: The EP has the ability to show what a band is capable of without boring you.

In this hypothesis we would have to consider the dynamic between habit and collective romanticizing: Although more and more established labels sign “singles deals” instead of traditional record deals, the
idea of the album transcends idealism and is still somewhat of a “condition” in terms of taste and consumption. It’s what artists are supposed to do - we expect them to release albums. It’s what we’re used to, and it’s what our parents are used to. Major labels have been criticised heavily for not adapting to the new (digital) conditions of the music industry, but there’s a reason why they can actually still sell full-length albums, and it’s more a question of habits than marketing. The EP is still too confusing, too weird, too unusual. But everything needs to start somewhere, right?

Excuses and liberation

But enough about the future and the past. Let’s go back to the idea of the “demo” and “the real” (this is neither a theological nor philosophical notion in this context). When calling something a “demo” you imply directly and literally that it’s not finished, either creatively or in terms of production/mixing/mastering. When putting out an EP the piece of art as such is (or is
to be) considered “finished”. And yet we most often don’t take it seriously in the same way as an “album”.

Granted, most of the people who will read this are probably nerds like me who will have several favourite EPs that are right up there with the “real” full-lengths in terms of quality. For some listeners, the EP might even have something more authentic to it; partly because the recording and/or production is often not quite as good or smooth as that of an LP (which is why we have been accustomed to calling an LP a “studio album”), and partly because of who usually chooses to work with EPs – that is,
not the mainstream labels and artists.

But even the glorification of the EP underlines its different status altogether. A common joke about music snobs is that they always “liked the EP better”. This actually calls for a discussion of Plato’s “simulacra”, but we can also stick to calling the EP a work of art that is closer to the pure “idea” or even genius whilst the “album” is the somewhat corrupted piece of art. It’s not exactly news to anyone that we often (pretend to) prefer the rough diamond over what we could call “polished”.

In an interview with the blog Aquarium Drunkard in 2011, Swedish group The Radio Dept. expressed something similar to this idea of what is ‘pure’. Martin Larsson from the band said: “An album really defines you in a way, and it’s kind of boring to be defined when you’re trying to be creative or do something different.”

Larsson even speaks of a certain fear of how people will define you for
years based on full-lengths, which is why they can be seen as less ‘corrupt’: “I really love the idea of an EP. You don’t have to think and just do what you want. You don’t have to go through the whole media cycle and neither does the audience.”

The Rumour Said Fire had an impressive breakthrough in their native Denmark with their debut EP “The Life and Death of a Male Body” in 2009. Singer Jesper Lidang does see it as a sort of mini-album, but he concedes that the strength of the EP is the fact that you don’t
have to create something coherent, which enables musicians to simply share whichever new songs they want to share. This way you don’t have to be held artistically responsible to a possibly dated view of “meaning” and “history”, he says.

David Laurie of the Something in Construction label adds: “For more established acts, they can be a nice mini-statement that doesn’t have the same this-is-going-on-your-tombstone-or-Wiki weight. They can be fun or experimental or just a nice release for ideas that you don’t have to live with for two years.”

So we can also glorify the EP. In the verdict, the judgment of taste, many people do take the LP and the EP seriously, but it still becomes a question of
status. If an EP is great and receives glowing reviews, congratulations! If it’s not received well either critically or commercially, well, it was just an EP. It’s an artistic freebie in this sense. Excusable.

Why so serious?

Some would call it a kind of euphemism for a demo, and very often that would be true. But we’re not culturally and socially allowed to call anyone out for having created, crafted, released and promoted something that is “less serious”. This is where the EP format, from a philosophical point of view, gets extremely interesting: It is considered a finished piece of art but is subject to a relativised judgment of taste and not the merciless honesty and responsibility connected to the “album”. It is somehow a piece of art and artistically
in transit. Flexible. We can view it as finished or unfinished, something less serious or something less in general, and at the same time as something more pure. There is a kind of magical, aesthetic discrepancy at work here.

So the ‘problem’ might essentially be more of an aesthetic conundrum. We may simply have decided to accept the mystery. David Laurie of the Something in Construction label, categorises the EP as “the middleman”, which might very well summarise some of the problems and paradoxes as well as potential found in this format.

We touched upon the theme of temporality earlier: The length of various releases, attention span and ADD culture. David Laurie half-jokingly remarks how the blogosphere seems to be afraid of albums and of all the MP3s they might miss during the course of listening to one and encourages new acts to make EPs. But despite an intrinsic conceptual arc, they are still advised to put out the most single-y track of the EP first: “Be very prepared for people to only listen to, and thus judge you on, one track. And it’s probably going to be track one or the first one you put out.”

In the spring of 2012 the Gothenburg duo Air France decided to call it a day. They released two brilliant EPs and never a full-length album. The last EP, “No Way Down”, was particularly good (the aforementioned Something in Construction released it in the UK). One song, “Collapsing Outside Your Doorstep”, uses a sample with the voices of two kids. One says: “It’s sort of like a dream… isn’t it?” to which the other kid responds: “No. Better”. The statement is beautiful and much more autobiographical than the band could ever have hoped for themselves.

This last EP was such an accomplishment and did indeed feel like a short album, statistics aside (six songs, a little shy of 23 minutes). Pitchfork included it on their year-end list as one of the
albums of the year. And yet people have been lamenting that they never released “an album”, thinking the EP cannot possibly be their best work. They must have been holding something back.

The music itself is dreamy, but the disbandment is what allows the dream to take on a new shape: We can now keep wondering what the band could have become if they had released – dare we say it? – an
album.

But this is the key: To keep wondering. We have been busy the past few years criticising major labels for handling the transition to the so-called digital age clumsily. They were sleeping giants. But we must not risk the consequences of not keeping up, major or indie, composer or producer, listener or writer; what we need is to genuinely keep wondering and keep asking (ourselves) questions.

If we cannot define something clearly, we should at least have the decency to reflect on the state of things, and the idea of the EP has so much to offer in this regard: What do we want from it, what can it offer, do we really need to define things? Should the EP format be more accessible, or is it thriving exactly because of the quasi-negation: Its status as a non-album of sorts? Is it even a problem that an EP can be… anything?

Pop music already has trouble being included within the realm of
art, so should we be concerned that the EP can be seen as an artistic loophole or freebie that can be excused? On the other hand, its playful character might somehow be able to set it free to make it true or real to many people in a sense the full-length cannot. These are dangerous adjectives to throw around, but if it makes us reflect on the state of music isn’t that exactly what gives it the artistic legitimacy we are searching for?

REPORT: ICELAND AIRWAVES

12/12/2012

 
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Iceland Airwaves 2012

31 October – 4 November || Words and photos by Vasilis Panagiotopoulos

Iceland Airwaves has changed drastically over the years. Starting out, in 1999, as a one-off stunt in an airplane hangar, thirteen years on it has become an international professionally run multi-venue event that sells out months in advance. Probably one of its most defining changes has been the recent closure of legendary club NASA, formerly the heart and soul of Airwaves and despite the vehement public outcry – especially within the artistic community – the club is still threatened to be torn down to give way for a hotel. As a result of this, Harpa, Rekjavík’s stunning concert hall has become Iceland Airwaves’ new home giving the festival a sleeker more upmarket feel.

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Gusgus
Despite the unfortunate cancellations of Swans, Poliça and Django Django the 2012 Airwaves line-up consisted of a long list of highlights, including Gusgus, Phantogram, Retro Stefson, Dirty Projectors, FM Belfast, Sóley, DIIV, Philco Fiction, Friends and its indisputable headliners Sigur Rós.

But what about the newcomers? The NMO travelled to the Icelandic capital in order to bring you a selection of the best new acts at Iceland Airwaves 2012:

Nova Heart (CN)

http://soundcloud.com/novaheart/beautifulboys

Chinese-born, US/Canada-bred, former MTV VJ
 Helen Feng was voted the no.11 coolest rock star by Beijing Timeout Magazine. Nova Heart’s new wave sensibilities and uplifting electropop beats were brought to Reykjavik all the way from Beijing. Aided by her huge stage presence and a series of well-thought-out tunes the unsuspecting crowd that gathered on Thursday night at Gamli Gaukurinn was in for a real treat. 
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Oyama
Oyama (IS) 

http://soundcloud.com/oyamaband/oyama-dinosaur

Oyama won’t get an award for being original, but their fuzzy noise-rock is honest, cleverly melodic and highly-addictive and they surely deserve credit for that. The band’s Friday show at Bar 11 was jammed-packed by eager shoegaze fanatics. Júlía Hermannsdóttir and Úlfur Alexander Einarsson’s boy-girl vocals will please all Lush and, Jesus And Mary Chain fans out there. 
 
Tilbury (IS)

http://soundcloud.com/rvkmusicmess/tilbury-slow-motion-fighter-1

On first listen Tilbury sound pretty dull. It takes a while to get into their peculiar dreamy world.  Þormóður Dagsson’s softly-spoken voice and quirky melodies convey a dark nostalgic beauty. No wonder that this is an all-star band comprised of members of Skakkamange, Jeff Who?, Valdimar, Sin Fang and Hjaltalin. Unfortunately the writer only got the chance to see a short-but-sweet daytime show. So stay tuned for more… Highly recommended


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Nelson Can
Nelson Can (DK)

http://soundcloud.com/music-week/nelson-can-apple-pie

Nelson Can like the minimalism of the White Stripes’ and The Gossip. Consequently the female punk-trio rely solely on bass, drums and some percussion. That didn’t prevent them from causing a mini-riot at Deutsche Bar on Thursday night. Expect ample amounts of attitude, Nordic wit and Danish charm. What’s not to like? 

Pascal Pinon (IS)

http://soundcloud.com/ramdadadej/pascal-pinon-bloom 

Ethereal female ensemble Pascal Pinon started playing music at the early age of 14. The young Icelanders specialise in genuine and intimate performances such as the one on Thursday afternoon in Eldhús, a tiny house specially built for Airwaves on Ingólfstorg Square; coined the festival’s smallest venue. They played material from their brilliant new album produced by Alex Somers with lyrics in Icelandic, Swedish and English. Managing to charm all passers-by 


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Retro Stefson
Further new acts worth checking out are folk-pop female extravaganza My Bubba & Mi, eighties devotees Kiriyama Family, stripped-down rock’n’roll duo The Echo Vamper, alternative rockers Two Tickets To Japan, eccentric popsters Monotown, shoegazers Dream Central Station and finally upbeat disco-pop crew Boogie Trouble.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: JONAS VEBNER (MUSIC EXPORT NORWAY)

10/10/2012

 
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name: Jonas Vebner
company: Music Export Norway
job: Head of GSA Office
city: Berlin
working on: Having recently relocated from London to Berlin to head up our GSA office, I’m currently spending most of my time meeting old/new colleagues in these territories. In addition to developing project proposals for 2013, we’re also introducing some schemes we initially set up for the UK market. I still work 20% towards the UK and part of my time is spent following up my successor in London. I still do a Nordic showcase series here called Ja Ja Ja which has spawned an editorial new Nordic talent music blog and we’re currently exploring some interesting new avenues for the platform. I’ve started preparations for By:Larm, the premier Nordic music conference, were we co-produce the international program. But the majority of my work is constantly dialoguing with our Norwegian music industry professionals (and their international partners) who are already active in the GSA market or trying gain entry: advising on service providers/partners, entry strategies and general information, mediating contact between professionals and administering our various schemes/tools. We are also about to into Pfuelstraße 5 in Berlin, a great creative environment full of other music companies. Oh, and I’ve just started my intensive German course!
favourite artist(s): Chopin, Debussy, Thelonious Monk, Roy Orbison, Bill Evans, the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, T. Rex, Arthur Russell, Serge Gainsbourg, Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Guided by Voices, Yo La Tengo, Andrew Bird, Fennez, Beach House, Grizzly Bear to mention a few that comes to mind. 
first gig: My first proper gig was probably seeing Lauren Hill at 16 which I remember being a big deal as I was well into Fugees in my teens.
highlight(s) of the last year: I’m really pleased about how the Ja Ja Ja platform has developed over the last 3 years and excited about the new editorial site we recently launched with the Line of Best Fit. I’m also very chuffed about having been given the opportunity to relocate to Berlin and further develop our GSA office. 
musical hero: Music is surely one of the most sublime  art forms, but has also been a powerful tool to address social and political issues (from Shostakovich to Rage Against the Machine). The case of Pussy Riot got a lot of attention recently, but unfortunately censorship is quite widespread. The guys over at Freemuse work hard to advocates freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide.
listening to:  Of new stuff I’ve been really enjoying Jessie Ware’s Devotion, Janka Nabay’s En Yah Sah, Tim Burgess’s No I Love You, Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland’s Black is Beautiful, Flume’s coming album, Savages recent live EP, Sizarr, Actress’s album RIP, Efterklang’s latest and a new discovery for me in Hélène Grimaud’s Reflections (thrilled to learn she is soon to play with the Berlin Philharmonie). Some (new) Norwegian music to watch out for; Stian Westerhus’s The Matriarch and the Wrong Kind of Flowers, the debut of Moskus (winner of Young Nordic Jazz Comets award), Mikhael Paskalev (who is playing our next Ja Ja Ja night!), Highasakite, 1982 + BJ Cole, Machinebirds, Alfred Hall, CLMD, Terje Bakke, Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Okkultokrati, Bloksberg, Hanne Kolstø, Neneh Cherry & The Thing + the remix album (feat. people like Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, Four Tet, Kim Hiorthøy) . Still very much appreciating Susanne Sundfør’s latest album - catch her this November when she’s touring Europe. I’m also excited about Young Dreams impending release on Modular.

Connect with Jonas
HERE

REPORT: REEPERBAHN FESTIVAL 2012

10/10/2012

 
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The seventh edition of the Reeperbahn Festival offered everything you could hope for: A strong lineup, easily accessible seminars, a nice lounge area for the delegates and the obvious advantage: Reeperbahn itself, the central street of Hamburg’s St. Pauli neighbourhood. You’re never more than 10 minutes away from the farthest venue, which makes it easy to make it to as many shows as possible. Oh, and let’s not forget the free stuff either. Verdict? The NMO had a blast at Reeperbahn Festival 2012

Arriving at Reeperbahn, you rarely experience an overwhelming sense of doubt as it’s quite clear where you will find what you need. And let’s be honest, there are many different needs that can be fulfilled at this particular location! As with most well-organized festivals, it doesn’t take long before you run into a colleague, a friend, a business associate or simply someone you know because he or she threw a killer keynote speech at the last festival you went to.

One of the hot topics this year was the merger between Universal and EMI or, in other words, the former’s acquisition of the latter. It was a big part of Ben Challis’ introductory keynote speech, and it was the object of much attention in general: Whispers in the corners, heated discussions and quite frankly a certain amount of fear from a lot of people.

We won’t bore you too much with the business side of things. We met some great people, had some interesting meetings and went to a few conferences of which one of the best was on transparency in the music business. A topic rarely discussed but very central to many of us. But let’s focus a bit on the music now, yeah?

The first day:

Whenever you arrive too early at a festival you have a lot of time to build up expectations. When you combine that with the restless impatience of a coffee addict (guilty), you better be treated to something good when it all kicks off. Yours truly has been a fan of Einar Stray for quite a while, so when I heard the Norwegians were playing a semi-acoustic show on the outdoors Stage East, I had to go. The small venue is slightly odd with its limited visibility and tropical vibe (were those palm trees?!), but all the bands I saw there did quite well – Shiny Darkly being another highlight – in spite of the difficult outdoors conditions with the street contributing with quite a lot of potential background noise. Einar Stray himself sings in a somewhat withdrawn yet very present voice, with an airy, mysterious feel to it, which works well with the rest of the band’s backing vocals. The long instrumental parts are quite brilliant and somehow, meant in the best way possible, live up to the old cliché of the ‘Nordic’ sound.

Next up was Berlin-based band Mighty Oaks at the small and cozy Imperial Theater. The trio excels in their own personal interpretation of folk and Americana traditions. The band used to live in Hamburg and did indeed play like they felt at home. They put their acoustic guitar, bass guitar and electric mandolin (later exchanged for an electric guitar) setup to good use and occasionally combined it with singer Ian Hooper’s kick drum and tambourine with great effect.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I had to go see how Swedish youngster Amanda Mair had developed since the world first heard about her after signing to the strong Stockholm indie label Labrador. An interesting thing about her show at Schmidts Tivoli was the demographic diversity, underlining the broad appeal in her music. When her band finally entered the stage, it was, indeed, the band and not Amanda herself. Instead, she let the band kick off things before casually strolling in; despite her young age she knows how to make an entrance, and though not a diva she has the potential to become one of the more sympathetic divas out there. Her voice is still her biggest asset, but her songwriting is very mature for her age. A somewhat obvious example is the song House, which was the first she ever wrote and also her first single in Sweden. At times, the oft-heard comparisons with Kate Bush made sense, but Amanda Mair may very well be, well, Amanda Mair in all her underplayed theatrical glory.

One of my favourite venues at the Reeperbahn Festival is Café Keese, and the first band I caught there was one of Copenhagen’s finest bands, The Rumour Said Fire. Their folk-pop is based around the songwriting of Jesper Lidang who seems inspired by acts such as The Decemberists, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and other contemporary American bands. The band has evolved greatly and is now a wonderful live band, having added a keyboard player for their live shows. The band started with a couple of songs off of their first full length, The Arrogant, before playing new song Voyager from their forthcoming sophomore album, Dead Ends. They tested their new material successfully but, quite wisely, didn’t forget to play some of their earliest songs – of which the audience responded quite enthusiastically to the radio hit The Balcony.

At this point it was indeed time to test how quickly one could get from one end of the Reeperbahn to the other as I was only minutes away from missing the beginning of the Dad Rocks! show, an old NMO favourite. Born in Iceland, based in Denmark, Snævar Njáll Albertsson often plays shows alone but occasionally has up to eight people with him on stage. This time around there were four of them to accompany him and his trusted, acoustic guitar with which he never ceases to amaze his listeners with fingerpicking and clever chord progressions. Add some violin, trumpet, upright bass and a very competent backup singer, and what do you get? The best Dad Rocks! show yours truly has seen to date with a very attentive audience, supplying the room with a warm atmosphere.

Two days to go:

With so many people and so many shows, it can be difficult to keep up and get enough sleep. At this point we could simply conclude that we had a great couple of days following the first evening of concerts, but there are certain shows that I simply have to mention.

Another old NMO favourite is Ewert and the Two Dragons from Estonia who played at the aforementioned Café Keese on Friday. The place was packed – and with good reason. The show started with a steady beat that caught everyone’s attention, and the band simply didn’t look back. This is pop music with a folk twist, not the other way around. Ewert and the Two Dragons understand this important distinction and make it work to the fullest.

You know that need to be blown away by something loud though? That’s where I was at this point. Luckily, all I had to do was walk a bit down the street, turn right and follow the noise. Luxemburg’s finest purveyors of noisy rock and post-hardcore, Mutiny on the Bounty, played (as always) one hell of a show at Kaiserkeller. Pure power and ultra-tight, one couldn’t ask for friendlier noise!

But the best was yet to come: I’d be lying if I said that I expected my best concert at Reeperbahn Festival 2012 to be Spring Offensive, mainly because they haven’t yet released enough for me to be able to form a proper opinion. The Oxford-based quintet played in the small Molotow bar to a dedicated crowd eager to hear every single chord, sound, syllable and detail coming from the stage. The five band members could barely fit the cramped stage, but they somehow seemed comfortable, sending out one emotionally overwhelming song after the other. They don’t play math-rock per se, but you do sense that they’re hailing from that tradition (Oxford has had quite the math-rock scene the past six years or so). The set was incredibly tight and seemed, above all, sincere. The lyrics are an important part of the band’s identity, and the way in which the entire band sang along was a testament to the honesty manifested in their all-out aesthetic. The beautiful harmonies came to full force when the band played an acoustic, stripped-down version of Carrier in the middle of the crowd. Breathtaking.

Amongst the Saturday highlights were Foxes (UK) and Indians (DK). Whilst the former was pure pop pleasure for those of us with no time for feeling pop guilt, the latter was well-executed dream pop based on beautiful synths. No wonder 4AD snatched him up recently!

There were downsides as well, the luxury of not being able to choose between great concerts being one of them, whilst some problems were bigger: The big Stage West, outdoors, had horrible sound and seemed a difficult stage for many bands who had problems creating a good atmosphere. At the end of the day, though, The NMO had a great time at Reeperbahn Festival 2012. Thanks for everything, Hamburg, and see you next year.

text: Martin Hjorth, The NMO



EWERT & THE TWO DRAGONS: THE STORY CONTINUES

8/7/2012

 
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The NMO is extremely proud to be part of the latest success for the massively talented and increasingly acclaimed, up and coming act from Estonia, Ewert & The Two Dragons.

It was announced on 2nd August that the Tallinn-based folkpop band has signed an exclusive global songwriting deal with BMG Germany and we are happy to say that The NMO was instrumental in helping the band land this golden opportunity.

Ewert & The Two Dragons was a
 Featured Artist earlier this year following an NMO-led campaign that saw the band become the most hyped performer at Eurosonic Festival. We first came across the band in their hometown back in March 2011 during our annual trip to Tallinn Music Week. The band was quick to catch the eye and were booked immediately to perform at European events such as Berlin Music Week, Waves Vienna, Lost In Music, and Eurosonic.

Following the official NMO focus on the band, there was an instant reaction from our members who were coming across this name for the first time. Several intrigued parties were key Berlin-based companies and the NMO was able to connect the band's manager,
Toomas Olljum, with some of the most interested people. He says " I met the NMO for the first time at Tallinn Music Week after which they ran a story on Ewert and The Two Dragons that resulted in initial e-mail correspondence. The NMO was then also kind enough to fix us important meetings in Berlin and one of them has led to this publishing deal with BMG". He continues "The NMO`s slogan is "putting new music on the map" which sounds pretty pretentious but it's only pretentious when you don`t live up to the hype. The NMO has always kept the finger on the pulse when it comes to finding new talent, wherever it is from, and that`s the key - being aware of the talent out there and giving it the support".

Founder of The NMO, Paul Cheetham, claims that this result shows why the NMO is perhaps unique within the music industry. "The key to the NMO is that we are able to be more than a mere blog or even a tastemaker. Our added ingredient is that we can pick up the phone or send off an email to decision-making people who we think should pay attention to the particular band we are featuring and, as was the case with BMG and Ewert & The Two Dragons, ensure that any initial interest we gain is not lost. In this case, Toomas happens to be a very smart, active and ambitious guy and he was quick to jump on our offer of help in arranging meetings for him. He flew in to Berlin for a day, had a few meetings and a beer with us and the rest is quickly becoming history. Toomas has been a member of The NMO since we met in Tallinn last year, and it is people like him that the website is designed to help so we are really thrilled to see our input has given him, and his artist, a helping hand".

Florian Schrödter, A&R BMG Germany commented  “Ewert & The Two Dragons is one of the most promising indie-folk music discoveries in Europe this year and we proudly support such great talent coming from Estonia.”

The band seems to be going from strength to strength, with a
 full European tour underway as well as a debut run of dates in the USA supported by Filter magazine.

For more information about Ewert & The Two Dragons go
HERE
For business enquiries about the band contact Toomas Olljum HERE
To sign up to The NMO go HERE


CONFERENCE REPORT: TALLINN MUSIC WEEK- pt1

4/12/2012

 
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After three years of baby steps, Tallinn Music Week is suddenly all grown-up and sporting the latest in fashionable long trousers - they grow up quick these boutique events, don’t they?

There were notable changes to this year’s event; the dates had been moved one week later in the calendar, which meant some of us managed to get a few days break between the SXSW slog and hitting the Baltics: the conference had an improved professional aesthetic, with raised stages to seat the panels, colour-coded decoration and lighting, and a clearer time schedule throughout the weekend; and, most plain to see, was the fact that the delegate count had increased, substantially, by almost 50%. The place was FULL and buzzing like a beehive. There were plenty of first-timers present, chattering away like kids on a school trip, excited as heck to be in this most magical of cities to witness an event they had only ever heard wonderous whispers about.

The opening night, and the guests were herded towards Rock Cafe, a castle-like venue perched atop the hill that winds up and out of the city centre. Clutching delegate passes as if they were golden tickets to a chocolate factory, everyone mixed and merged with everyone else, grabbed fistfuls of free food when possible, necked complimentary wine and beer, and switched back and forth between the VIP balcony and the two rooms housing the stages. There couldn’t be a better way to kick off this (or any) festival than a set from Finland’s finest twisted-indie act, Rubik – a band that has come on leaps and bounds since their first appearance at Tallinn Music Week two years ago. As soon as the Finns left the stage, the pleased crowd swarmed over to the main room where Estonian pop princess, Iiris, was about to appear for her album-release performance. There’s been much interest around Iiris ever since she bounced on stage as a teenager at the 2nd edition of Tallinn Music Week and she proved in this, her biggest gig to date, that she is ready to fulfill her potential. This was all a pretty perfect way to get the Tallinn party started and everyone knew it.

We meandered out into the dark night, back down the hill towards the old town. There is something about Tallinn - its spires and steeples, cobbles and kellars that is completely fairytale-like. Tallinn Music Week is almost designed to ensure the visitor feels as warm, snug, spoilt, and safe as possible and it feels like each delegate is subjected to a dose of some kind of magic potion in order for them to feel immediately relaxed, open-minded, and in awe at the surroundings and set up of this, still relatively new, event.

Presenting its fourth edition, Tallinn Music Week is still very new amongst the many showcase conferences going on around the world but it has already gained an enormous amount of respect and recognition within the music industry, and is now starting to pick up awards for being one of the best new events in Europe. It’s an incredible achievement.

The secret to the success is that the event partly reflects the personality of its main organiser, Helen Sildna. Tallinn Music Week is a pure realisation of her original vision; cultured, passionate, dynamic, intriguing, inclusive, and soulful - everything she would insist on. The seamless mixture of classical, jazz, rock and pop is surely unique amongst the myriad music events already in the calendar. Despite its rapid growth, Tallinn Music Week somehow seems to remain a truly bespoke occasion. There is a feeling of specialness about being a delegate. It is easy to return from Tallinn feeling satisfied, with genuine new contacts, fresh perspective, and having discovered some truly fascinating new acts to explore further. We all hope this will continue.

Day two stirred and rose with the weak Baltic sun but there was nothing languid about the start to the event proper. A crammed main conference hall, gathered to be welcomed by Estonian President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves - a man who has made quite an impact on those who have previously visited this event and heard his inspiring, knowledgable welcome addresses. His relaxed yet accurate message, his genuine love and knowledge of modern pop & rock music puts a charlatan like David Cameron to shame (if Dave was capable of feeling shame, that is). The President stole the show and set the bar very high in terms of quality performances.  Having the presence of the nation’s head of state was a glowing confirmation of the value that Tallinn Music Week has earned for itself, but it has not always been the case that such lavish attention has been bestowed on the event. Only four years ago, the inaugural edition was met with a good deal of local sceptisicm and political indifference at best. A small band of international guests arrived, liked what they saw, and reported back that here was a place that deserved recognition, despite its position off the beaten path. The fact that the local attitude has been turned emphatically around and political interest is, clearly, extremely real, there is all the more reason to really grasp and appreciate the enormous, almost unthinkable challenge that Helen had to overcome. With a small team of loyal followers she set about making a difference with a tenacity, skill, and determination that is simply awe-inspiring and has already managed to give Tallinn Music Week not only a place in the local calendar, but has also firmly established the event as an International annual occasion.


to be continued

THE NMO SEMINAR: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS

4/2/2012

 
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The NMO presented a series of panels at this year’s Tallinn Music Week. Here is an abridged version of Paul Cheetham’s introduction to the panel on “Entrepreneurship In The Music Business“ which featured John Rogers (Brainlove Records), Brendan Walsh (Brending Consulting), Paul Baylay (25 Media), Dan Koplowitz (Friendy Fire Records), and Toomas Olljum (Made In Baltics Management).

Entrepreneurship is much more than just starting and running a company.  Apart from the obvious risks involved, it’s a process through which individuals identify opportunities in the marketplace and generate and utilise resources in order to create value in a product or concept that perhaps didn’t previously exist.  Entrepreneurs tend to be the more creative thinkers who become owners of their own destiny, either through their own choice or through necessity. The ones who I speak to tell me that they feel they have more freedom to think and to experiment than if they were employees or confined to a department in a company.  Perhaps for this reason, it is not uncommon that economic, social, cultural, and scientific change is quite likely to begin from the work of an entrepreneur.

But what does it take to be successful at this? There are, of course, many obvious attributes required: passion, energy, a positive disposition, perseverance, dedication, knowledge, flexibility, motivation, leadership......the list goes on. But it’s not enough only to have a huge love for what you do - in this case, music - as after all, the definition of an amateur is someone who does something purely for the love of doing it and that does not always lead to successful business. To be successful you should bring a balance of professionalism and amateurism to your approach to work - that is; be good at making business decisions while maintaining a genuine love for what you do.

You need to be able to mix expertise in your chosen field with a passion for what it is you are an expert in, and be able to apply careful planning AND blind faith all at the same time. In summary; a succesful Entrepeneur is someone who is somehow able to blend science with religion.

So, why do we need Entrepreneuers in the music business? Producer, Musician and Author, George Howard, writes this:“There has never been a better time to be a music entrepreneur. Fundamentally, entrepreneurs see problems and fix them. Given the state of today's music business, the opportunities for an entrepreneur to succeed are as high as they've ever been. In few other businesses can someone with little  - or no - capital or connections go from a bedroom operation to affecting culture on such a large scale in such short order“.

To know the answer to the question of why we need more entrepreneurs in the music business, we should look at the alternatives. For me, the music industry has changed beyond belief in recent years. The big companies have disintegrated.  Individuals have broken off or been cast away and have gone in their own direction, packaging and selling their expertise as a service back to the remaining large companies, as well as to other smaller, entrepreneurial operations.  The music business is less of an industry and more of a community of experts, a network of advisers, gathering together and helping one another to survive.  Not too long ago the music business was a big, glamerous industry.

Huge corporations held the keys to the few doors that offered a way in to the higher levels of the business.  As we move away from that recent history we realise what an enormous, distasteful, and quite depressing con it all was. A scam that Tony Soprano would be proud of.

Talking of which, I used to recommend a book called “Hit Men“ by Fredric Dannen, as a fine example of how the music business operated, particularly the all-powerful major label recording industry, especially the US labels. If you haven’t read the book, it’s a behind-the-scenes documentary-style description about how the major label system grew and cornered the market in ways that are most interesting to read about.  The book describes itself as “the highly controversial portrait of  he pop music industry in all its wild, ruthless glory: the insatiable greed and ambition; the enormous egos; the fierce struggles for profits and power; the vendettas, rivalries, shakedowns, and payoffs. Chronicling the evolution of America’s largest music labels from the Tin Pan Alley days to the present day, Fredric Dannen examines in depth the often venal, sometimes illegal dealings among the assorted hustlers and kingpins who rule over this multi-billion-dollar business.“

I’ve had this book for about 12 years and read and re-read it several times. I’m just finishing it again now. The time I read it previously was about 6 years ago – at a time when social media as we know it was in its infancy or didnt even exist yet.  When I read it back then it still felt like an accurate portrayal of what someone could expect if starting to deal with major labels and major companies. So, I’m actually slightly shocked to read it now and realise that in just a few years that this book suddenly feels of very little use as a reference to today’s record industry.

It describes in full, lurid colour a time of big, big sales, huge deals, untouchable global superstars, and massive egos - especially of those running the companies, such as Walter Yetnikoff, David Geffen, Morris Levy, for example.

This is also a story of corruption, deceit, extortion, abuse of power, and, for want of a better term, artistic slavery.  More pertinently, it shows just how few people have been in control of so much of the business for so long.  I read this book now and I don’t recognise this closed version of the business any more and I’m really rather pleased about that.

For those of us who are suddenly the older guys in the business we remember this era very clearly. This is the business we grew up in and tried to work in. It’s all we knew.

We’ve lived through a revolution and it felt enormous and terrifying but in the end left us energised and excited.  But some didnt make it. They couldn’t adapt as the hurricane of change swept through and destroyed everything we knew in what felt like the blink of an eye.  It has been a heavy time for everyone and it’s not quite over.  But I feel the ground leveling off. There seems to be a calmness and a sense of hope that the worst is over and we are well under way with rebuilding and modernising the world we live and work in.  The people in this room here today are some of the ones that managed to survive. Just about. For now it feels good to be here and to be able to pass on our knowledge and our experiences, to others who might need this advice.  In return we are being kept alive in this new era thanks to the motivation we get from the new generation, the younger, more energetic people who arrive with new ideas, innovative methods of working, amazing new inventions, and, of course, new music.  Personally, I find all this vital to my own view of where I am in the business these days.  I’ve discovered that the more I try to give to others the more I seem to receive in return. It’s recipricol, it’s altruistic, it’s creative,  and, above all, it’s enjoyable.  This is, I think, the essence of the new music business.

While everyone sat around talking about what the next music business model would look like, these new people came in who didn’t need, or intend, to wait – and, anyway, they didn’t even know what the old music business model had been.  They just got on with creating their presence in the industry. There was never really a well-thought-out music business model in the first place, it just grew randomly and wildly for several decades, so there is no point in trying to harness or comparmentalise the vast amount of newness in the industry, it seems.

Finally, to all of you here who are just starting out and want to be a manager, a musician, an entrepreneur, a someone, but feel that you are struggling to make your mark, I recommend that you listen to all the very smart people we have on the panels today.

I suggest you ask questions about anything you feel you need to know – however embarrassing or stupid you might feel. Just ask. I promise you, it could make all the difference.

To prove this point: Our special guest today is Mr Ed Bicknell, one of the most successful artist managers of all time. The very first seminar I attended many years ago, Mr Bicknell was the guest speaker there too. He was an amazing speaker, I was absorbed and mesmerised by his stories of success and achievement. To this day I don’t know how I got the courage, in a room full of strangers, to put my hand up to ask him what I thought, even then, was a very naive question. I asked him “How did you know what to do?“. He laughed and I felt  awful, like I’d asked the most stupid question ever. But he wasn’t laughing at me. It was because his answer to my question was “How did I know what to do? I didn’t have a fucking clue what I was doing!“.  To hear this from a man who, even at the time he claims he didn’t know what he was doing, was actually managing an artist that was heading to #1 on both sides of the Atlantic was exactly the reaction I needed to hear. The idea that there was some secret exam I must pass or a certain Gateway to Knowledge I should discover was instantly erased.  It showed that even the most successful people need to start somewhere, and it’s usually at the beginning, with no idea of how to do what it is you want to do. “Just go out and do it and see what happens“ he concluded and I heard angels singing in my head. The next day I “began“ working in the music business.  I’d like you all to remember that.

I’ve passed this little story on to everyone I’ve ever met who I’ve tried to help to get started in the business. I’m sure Ed won’t remember the conversation but I definitely do and it certainly made all the difference to me.

I hope that the panel we are about to present will be able to answer enough questions for you, show the diversity that exists when it comes to the kind of entrepreneur that operates in the music business, and leaves you all with the spark of inspiration that might be the thing you need to go and get started on your own career as an Entrpreneur in the music business.  Thank you.

This speech was delivered as part of the Estonian Music Managers Master Class Programme in Tallinn, Estonia on 31st March 2012.


THE NMO PRESENTS SEMINAR PROGRAMME @ TALLINN MUSIC WEEK

3/13/2012

 
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The NMO will proudly present a series of panels at the Tallinn Music Week conference on 31st March.
The seminar is arranged in association with the Estonian Music Managers Masterclass Programme which was set up in 2011 to help develop local talent in the areas of artist and business management. Panelists this year will include the legendary and extremely entertaining Ed Bicknell (Dire Straits), Tessy Schulz (Tessy Schulz International Management & Consultancy), Tina Krueger (Karsten Jahnke), Hannes Tschürtz (INK Music), Jonas Sjöström (Playground Music Scandinavia), Brendan Walsh (Brending Management), Paul Baylay (25 Media), John Rogers (Brainlove/Projekta), Dan Koplowitz (Friendly Fire Recordings), Virpi Immonen (Backstage Alliance), and, manager of local acts Ewert & The Two Dragons and Iiris, Toomas Olljum (Made in Baltics Management).
For a full overview of this year's event take a look HERE.

    The NMO Newsblog


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