Current, Recent and Recurring Projects
🐝 BZZZZ! 🐝
The music industry probably has never been so full of challenges and opportunities at the same time. And this might be especially true for markets like Austria. So we decided to do something about it. „Bzzzz“ is a dedicated music conference to discuss local talents‘ and businesses future and potentials, to tackle the obstacles, to address the challenges; to learn, and of course to meet. For the „we“ in that case I brought the most relevant music industry organisations on board, the FV Film- und Musikwirtschaft (Chamber of Commerce), IFPI Austria and Austrias collection society AKM.
My work on the project was the idea itself, to set the event up, find a suitable name and general concept, including bullet points of the programme and the main round of speakers. Save the date: May 5th.
SPRING DATES (2023)
This is where you (probably) can meet me and when you know you might not meet me behind my regular office desk during the next weeks:
22-25 Mar | „Building Bridges“ – Mission for Austrian Music Export / M4Music, Zürich
20-22 Apr | International Music Publishers Forum, Stockholm
28 Apr | Amadeus Austrian Music Awards, Vienna
08-13 May | Tallinn Music Week, Tallinn
CIMIX CONFERENCE
2023 kicks off with a conference for the audiovisual industries in Vienna, called Cimix. It is meant to bring together Film and Audio industry in particular, which gives perfect reason to present Europe in Synch there. I will do so on Friday (13 Jan, 16:30h) and be part of the concluding panel of the conference.
MORE PODCASTS
One of Austrias best known podcasts, „Erklär mir die Welt“, invited me to demystify the music business and talk about how to actually make a living off his:her art. You can listen to the episode here.
On that occasion i created a collected lists of podcasts I have recently been invited to speak in.
FALL DATES (2022)
20 Oct | Vienna Music Business Research Days | Vienna
Hosting a panel discussion on “Parallel Worlds of Music Streaming?” with Dave Hesmondhalgh (University of Leeds, UK), Hyojung Sun (University of York, UK), Fabian Schütze (analogsoul, Leipzig, Germany), Yasmin Hafedh aka Yasmo (musician, Vienna, Austria)
25 Oct | Tag der Tiroler Film & Musikwirtschaft | Innsbruck, Austria
Keynote: „Musikverwertung in Zeiten der Streamingdienste“
Panelist: „Musik in Tirol – Potentiale einer umfassenden Standortentwicklung“
12 Nov | Symposion Menschenrechte/Musikrechte | Vienna, Austria
Panelist
17 Nov | Studiengang Kulturmanagement der mdw | Vienna, Austria
Lecture: Musikwirtschaft
19-22 Nov | Black Nights Film Festival | Tallinn, Estonia
Speaker/Panelist | Mentor
23-26 Nov | Linecheck! | Milano, Italy
Speaker/Panelist | Mentor
30 Nov & 07 Dec | Soundbase | Vienna, Austria
Lecture: Music Business 101
10-14 Dec | Les Arcs Film Fest | Les Arcs, France
Europe in Synch Ambassador
ANALYSING THE ‚RADIO PROBLEM‘
In the light of debates circling around major reforms within the radio fleet of austrias public broadcaster ORF, Der Standard interviewed me to analyse the situation and how i respond to Radio Director Ingrid Thurnhers claim that the young, alternative station FM4 might become more of a young version of the (in the past quite succesful) mainstream pop channel Ö3. I explain, that, on the contrary, Ö3 should become more of an adult version of FM4. Here’s the full story. – the article was published 11 Oct 2022
KEYNOTE SPEACH FOR AKM
Austrias authors, composers and publishers society AKM asked me to hold a keynote speech about the future of distribution and marketing at their annual summit, entitled „Music from the regions“. Here’s the script (german only). – 5 Oct 2022
LOW BUDGET, HIGH SPIRIT
I was asked to contribute to German high-class magazine Low Budget, High Spirit, that offers lots of stories, tips and backgrounds from the inside(s) of the independent music business. It is only published once a year on paper, but offers a wide range and great collection of long reads and articles. I did a piece on gatekeepers in the modern day industry and how they affect our work in small(er) markets. You can order a physical copy here. – the magazine was published in August 2022
EUROPE IN SYNCH
Synchronization in the music business‘ context means providing music for films, TV, advertising or games. It can be magical, it can be incredibly complex and yet also very simple. „Europe in Synch“ aims to enable all parties on the table, to collect and distribute know-how, build and evolve a network around this ever more crucial part of rightsholders value chain. It is a joint initiative by 8 organisations and companies from across Europe.
A topic close to my heart, I contribute by creating an overall communication strategy for a 4-year project term period until 2026. I will have the honour and joy to therefore work with a bunch of beloved colleagues from the publishing and sync field to put this topic on everybodys mind. Watch out for more news! – Project duration 2022-2026
VISITING FESTIVALS AND HOSTING PANELS IN FALL 2022
This sounds like quite a busy season already: I will be moderating a panel on „Digital Music Distribution in Eastern Europe“ at Waves Vienna (Sep 9), where my guests Alona Dmurkhovska (Music Export Ukraine), Tomas Lacina (Believe CZ/SK) and Agnese Cimuska (Music Export Latvia) will discuss obstacles and opportunities of the digital age and how the political environment affects their work in the region.
At this years Reeperbahn Festival, i will be Introducing Europe in Synch with my fellow colleagues Nis Bogvad, Markus Linde and Nikolina Finska (Sep 22, 15:30, Arcotel Suite 616). You should definitely check this out and say hi!
„THE SHOWCASE TRAIN“ & MORE AT TALLINN MUSIC WEEK ’22
When my friends at Tallinn Music Week told me about their one-day-move to bordercity Narva for their 2022 edition, i came up with the idea of „The Showcase Train“. It not only transported delegates to the city but created an excellent opportunity to meet and get to know representatives from the international showcase circuit. It turned out to be a great format for a decent conversation along a comfortable 2h ride. Furthermore in the Tallinn part of the conference I had the honour of hosting an interesting panel on the future of the Baltic scene. – Project finished May 2022
EUROVISION, ONCE MORE
Wrote a piece on #Eurovision for Austrian newspaper DER STANDARD. It is (or can be) so much more than a competition – and after being a bit of a joke and clownshow for a long time, it somehow managed to find its place. To me it still carries a lot of memories and claims from childhood. So, this year, more than ever, watching a show from Italy, we should remind ourselves: „Insieme! Unite, unite Europe!“.
Read the full article here.
(My personal favourite this year, by the way, was Portugals entry.)
HEMI MUSIC INNOVATION HUB
I’m delighted to join an extraordinary round of beloved colleagues from across Europe and become a part of HEMI – Hub for the Exchange of Music Innovation 2022. This incubation programme will train and mentor select innovative music industry companies and entrepreneurs throughout the year. I’m eagerly looking forward to hearing about brillant new ideas for the music business, to meet new people that follow those ideas with passion and dedication – and hopefully being able to help them on their way forward. – March – November 2022
SOUND OF V
The Vorarlberg Music Prize „Sound of V“ gives away 25.000 Euros in total to up and coming talent from the region – i will be one of three jurors in this years competition. This years final takes place at beautiful poolbar in Feldkirch (July 9, 2022). Details.
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF RUNNING A RECORD LABEL ON A SMALLER MARKET?

MUSIC & MONEY
Since I turned from regular guest to actual resident of Tallinn, Music Estonia had the idea of making me the host for a series of music business seminars throughout spring. We’ll tackle „Music & Money“ from all sides, will talk about income streams, copyright and contractual relationships between the artist and her/his surrounding workfield of publishers, labels, agents and managers. Plenty to talk about – and I’m very much looking forward to it! (Full programme). – Project duration February – May 2022
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