Life after Popkomm: Entrepreneurs in Berlin established a non-profit association which sets up an innovative convention to focus on viable business solutions for the music industry.
The traditional German music industry trade fair Popkomm, originally scheduled for 16-18th of September has been cancelled. Dieter Gorny, chairman of the Bundesverband der Musikindustrie (German Federal Association of the Music Industry), had announced the cancellation on the grounds that "many companies can no longer afford to participate in the Popkomm due to Internet piracy".
This announcement was met with incredulity among members of the music scene. Ultimately, the crisis in the music industry is a crisis of exploitation mechanisms, not of the music itself. There are numerous creative initiatives and business models already in place that meet the challenges of the Internet and turn them into opportunities. It is time to set up a platform that focuses on pragmatic solutions on how to deal with the arts in a digital era.
Therefore a group of music executives, software- and creative industry-experts have gathered to establish all2gethernow, a non profit-association that will function as the host and organizer of the music and culture convention of the same name, scheduled September 16th-18th in Germanys most vibrant capital Berlin.
all2gethernow will put forward three main sections:
a2n #camp
a2n #conference
a2n #cloud
On September 16th and 17th, a2n #camp will hold a vast variety of sessions workshops, presentations and interactions for all topics related to the current music market and shall compile solutions for future business models. Participants will soon be able to register and bring forward questions and topics prior to the sessions at
www.a-2-n.com.
On September 18th a2n #conference will highlight the results of a2n #camp and will also feature a number of highly prolific international speakers to present their best practice examples, case studies or ideas with 20 minute presentations, followed by a brief Q&A sessions at the RADIALSYSTEM V - New Space for the Arts.
During all2gethernow, clubs and venues join the a2n #cloud, to offer live music without any genre boundaries all over town. Again, the Open Source character of a decentralised music festival is to be understood as an invitation for all stakeholders to participate. all2gethernow will provide the network, aggregate and operate as a host.
all2gethernow wants to encourage dialogue about the way forward in an industry that was hit first by the digital revolution. The subsequent fundamental changes produce new solutions for sustainable business models, which act as significant indicators for other creative industries as well. From 16th to 18th September, Berlin will serve as the perfect backdrop for this most needed debate.
