Berlin's music festival partners up with Turkey

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Popkomm Festival, which kicked off yesterday in Berlin, will be focused on Turkey and its music industry. With new series of portraits, topics such as music in cars and the black market in concert tickets will be discussed during the festival

ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily New

The Popkomm Festival, one of the world's major showcase festivals, with more than 400 solo artists, bands and DJs playing in over 25 official locations, kicked off yesterday in Berlin. Popkomm is an international music, entertainment and business trade show. Visionaries, analysts, managers, artists, critics, lawyers, researchers, journalists, and many other visitors and guests from around the world will meet again this year at the Popkomm conference. The focus this year will be on Turkey as the partner country of the festival. Two events, �The Turkish music industry and Turkish music in Germany� and the �Market Review Turkey,� will examine the state of the Turkish music market at home and abroad.

A panel Friday will concentrate on Romania and Moldova, and Thursday an event called �Music Matters� will examine the Asian music market. Next year Popkomm will be the guest of Music Matters in Hong Kong. Popkomm has always been and still is a venue for debates about cultural and economic policy. The world's largest association of authors and composers, CISAC; the International Music Managers' Forum; the World Intellectual Property Organization; and others are making use of the international meeting place provided by the conference not only to discuss pressing issues with leading representatives of business and politics but also to seek solutions. A series begun at last year's conference, �Automotive/Automobile Music,� will continue this year, starting Thursday. It will deal with what is, for many people, their pride and joy � their cars � and all the links between automobile culture and music. On Wednesday an event titled �Secondary Ticketing-Curse or Blessing?� will address the problem of the black market in tickets for live entertainment. Friday attention turns to �The Concert Business 2008-When Record Companies want a Piece of the Cake!� As sales of sound media continue to fall, people demand something new, but what happens in reality when promoters and labels clash? Also Friday, �The Future of Music� features one of the most fundamental and therefore one of the most keenly discussed issues: genres, styles, technical innovation and the vital question of what comes next. What would music be like if there was no one to discover or hear new developments? This is the main question of Friday's discussions. This used to be the function of the A&R, or artist and repertoire, manager. The festival examines if the emergence of such platforms as MySpace and YouTube mean that bands are no longer being discovered by agents in smoky clubs.

This year sees the introduction of a series of portraits titled �How did you do it?: the Popkomm (pro)files,� featuring outstanding artists. As part of the event, artists and reporters will tell their stories of success. It promises to provide a suitable conclusion to the day's activities. The Popkomm Conference, together with the exhibition and festival, forms part of the integrated Popkomm concept, which from Wednesday to Friday will provide visitors and guests from around the world with more than 35 panel discussions, discussions, workshops, papers and keynote speeches.

turkishdailynews

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