Waves Magazine #03

#03

TICKETS & INFO: WWW.WAVESVIENNA.COM

WAVES BRATISLAVA

This year, Waves will be extended to also include Bratislava. Find out more about the four festival venues in Slovakia’s beautiful capital.

3.-6. OCT. 2013 SLOVENIA & BELGIUM

Facts and figures – everything you need to know about the flourishing music scenes and markets of 2013’s Waves Vienna guest countries.

MUSIC STREAMING

With an in-depth analysis of the digital music market, Peter Tschmuck kicks off his article series on the boom of streaming services.

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With Slovenia and Belgium, Waves Vienna will again welcome two guest countries this year. The festi­ val will devote a significant part of its programme to the music scenes of the two countries. As will the Waves Music Conference with its panels, talks, and workshops. But we are aiming for more than just having bands from Eastern and Western Eu­ ropean countries play side by side and delegates exchange thoughts and experiences.

It is our goal to connect the Eastern and Western European music industries and to establish Vienna as a network hub for this purpose. We want music biz people as well as the audience to leave behind outdated ways of thinking, to look beyond borders, and to learn more about what the different parts of Europe have to offer to each other culturally.

One step in this direction is extending Waves to also include Vienna’s twin city Bratislava. No­ where else in Europe are two capitals located in such close proximity, nowhere else will you find urban centres of the East and the West as close to one another as in the case of these two cities by the Danube river. Shuttle buses (free of charge for Twin City Pass holders) will connect Vienna and Bratislava, which will offer complementary con­ cert programmes. Last but not least, a boat trip for delegates will round off this new offer.

And of course, further innovations are on their way for future editions of the festival and the music conference. In the meantime, immerse yourselves in the diverse programme of this year’s Waves – which will cover new talents and established acts, Belgium and Slovenia, Vienna and Bratislava.

— www.wavesvienna.com

MASTHEAD IMPRESSUM — Publisher Herausgeber Thomas Heher chief editor cHEFREDAKTEUR Manuel Fronhofer editors redaktion Michael Bela Kurz, Jonas Vogt translation Übersetzung Isabella Reichl Layout Layout Manuel Fronhofer publishing house Medien­inhaber / Verlag Mono­ pol Medien GmbH CEO Geschäftsleitung Martin Mühl ADdress Adresse Favoritenstraße 4 – 6 / III, 1040 Vienna, Austria E-Mail E-Mail info@wavesvienna.com Web Web www.wavesvienna.com PRINT Druck Print Group Styria Place of publication Erscheinungsort Vienna, Austria Publisher’s Post Office Verlagspostamt 1040 Vienna.

Any views expressed by named authors are solely the responsibility of those authors. Printing errors and mis­ takes reserved. Namentlich gekennzeichnete Beiträge spiegeln nicht unbedingt die Meinung des Medienin­habers wider. Druckfehler und Irrtümer vorbehalten.

a.com • www n .w ien

03. – 06.

10. 2013 www.wav e sv

True to the motto “East Meets West”, the club and showcase festival Waves Vienna is expanding to new territories in 2013.

04

Waves Bratislava On Saturday, October 5th 2013, Vienna’s twin city Bratislava will join Waves. An introduction to the four festival venues in Slovakia’s capital.

06 – 09

Slovenia & Belgium A brief outline of the music scenes and markets of Waves Vienna’s guest countries.

10 – 13

Music Streaming Part one of Peter Tschmuck’s article series “Is Streaming the Next Big Thing?“ analyses the digital music markets in different countries.

14

Slovenian Music Week A reflection on the bus trip to Ljubljana organised

by Waves Vienna and Austrian Music Export.

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04

Ahoy, Waves Bratislava!

On Saturday, October 5th 2013, Waves will be extended to also include Waves Bratislava.

Find out more about the four venues in Slovakia’s picturesque capital that will present a completely independent programme alongside that of Waves Vienna.

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3 nu spirit club (Medená 16) 4 old market hall • Festival Center (Námestie SNP 484)

Shuttle buses bet­ ween Vienna and Brati­ slava will depart at hourly intervals from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. and are free of charge for holders of the Twin City Festival Pass and the Twin City Day Pass (the Twin City Pass­ es cost only € 5 more than the respective passes for Waves Vienna only). The Day Pass for Waves Bratislava (excluding Waves Vienna) is € 14 (advance sale) and € 19 (evening box of­ fice) and will be available for purchase from Au­ gust ( just as the Waves Vienna Day Pass).

Old Market Hall Situated in the centre of Bratislava, the build­ ing of the Old Market Hall – which will be used as the flagship of Waves Bratislava festival – has an over 100 year history. However, it has been almost exclusively inaccessible to the public for years. This is now changing, as a group of cul­ tural professionals formed a civic organisation dedicated to the revitalisation of the building, which is slowly becoming the biggest meeting space and cultural centre in the Old Town of Bratislava, offering a variety of events, markets, and public services.

KC Dunaj~ Cultural centre Dunaj~ is an event venue, bar, and community space. It is located at the fourth floor of the Dunaj, a former shopping centre with indisputable architecture of Czechoslovak 80’s communism, and has a terrace with the most in­ credible view of the Old Town of Bratislava you can possibly get. KC Dunaj~ is well known for its rich programme, which attracts all kinds of

festival stages (only on Saturday, October 5th 2013) Ticketing (Ticket pick-up and box office)

young people. Whether you are into literature, concerts, or would like to have some good party time, KC Dunaj~ is the place to go.

Nu Spirit Bar If you really like good music and a pleasant at­ mosphere, Nu Spirit Bar is the right place for you. Located just a short walk from the historical centre and the Opera, Nu Spirit Bar is an oasis of good music in increasingly commercial Brati­ slava nightlife.

Nu Spirit Club Nu Spirit Club, the talk of Bratislava, is situated near the historic city center. A concert hall for two hundred people, an excellent bar with its own DJs, and the biggest offer of alcoholic beverages far and wide represent the best of what Brati­slava has to offer.

For further information on Waves Bratislava please visit www.wavesbratislava.com.

06

Presenting: Slovenia

Despite its small population and geographical size, Slovenia has lots of interesting music to offer.

Many genres are currently flourishing in the wake of the historical developments of recent years.

A brief outline of the music scene and market of Waves Vienna’s guest country.

Slovenia’s gaining in­ dependence, the change in the social system, and the consequent opening up of the market as well as the associated loss of the broader common Yugoslav cultural sphere in 1991 thoroughly shook the economic foundations of Slovenian mu­ sic. With the aid of private capital and sponsor­ ship, many new organisers and producers entered the market, creating a paradoxical situation: less and less (public) money for a growing number of events and acts. This led to the commercialisation of both the music scene and of the media infra­ structure, forcing local musicians to redefine how they operate and how they communicate with the public. An increasing number of Slovenian mu­ sicians therefore consciously shifted their gaze across national borders to actively get involved with international music industry trends. A posi­ tive consequence of all of these turbulent events is today’s lively and diverse music scene.

From Folk to urban Oberkrainer music (folk-pop music) is the most widespread form of entertainment in Slov­ enia. The style was formed by the ensemble Slavko Avsenik und seine Original Oberkrainer, which was then followed by thousands of similar ensem­ bles throughout the entire Alpine region. The two most frequent forms of organised cultural activity are wind bands and choirs, with more than 2,300 vocal ensembles and over 150 amateur society and school bands or wind orchestras operating in Slovenia. The field of serious music is also very dy­ namic; there are three professional symphony or­ chestras and two professional wind orchestras, as well as two opera houses and numerous chamber ensembles. The younger generation of Slovenian composers is actively focusing on the internation­ al market. This also holds true for contemporary, experimental music and sonic art as well as the younger generation of jazz musicians.

In recent years, the alternative part of the Slovenian rock scene has experienced a unique renaissance. Older groups – such as the globally notorious Laibach and the razor-sharp Demoli­ tion Group, as well as Res Nullius, CZD, and the ska-nuts Elvis Jackson – have been joined by a long line of stylistically diverse groups: Move­ knowledgement, ŠKM banda, Muškat Hamburg, Red Five Point Star, Multiball, Melodrom, Coma Stereo, Insane, Nikki Louder, Čao Portorož, etc.

It is certainly worth devoting particular atten­ tion to the intriguing events in the growing in­ die rock scene, which, in recent times, has been marked most of all by bands like Werefox, Barely Modern, The Toronto Drug Bust, Kill Kenny, We Can’t Sleep At Night, It’s Everyone Else, Napravi Mi Dete, Tide, Zebra Dots, Relight, etc. All of these bands share the aim of building a reputation for themselves globally. The most renowned Sloveni­ an metal group, Noctiferia, has already succeeded in making inroads into the international scene and is regarded as the founder of the new metal style “djent”. Following in its footsteps are Negligence and Metalsteel. The strong stoner rock scene is successfully represented by the group Carnaval.

The most exciting segment of mainstream pop is the urban movement, which also takes a peak at what’s going on beyond the national borders. Some of its key proponents: the soul singer and compos­ er Neisha, the pop-rocker Gušti, syncopated R’n’B aficionados Leeloojamais, and the “Balkan gigolo” Magnifico, who is already very successful in the European market. In addition, there is a younger generation of admirers of traditional music who form their own version of folk music on the basis of diverse genres and technological possibilities as well as collaborations, flirting with jazz (Maja Oso­ jnik, Vasko Atanasovski), rock (Katalena, Orlek), or global musical styles (Sagar, Vesna Zornik, Fake Orchestra). In recent years, Terrafolk, an explosive group of virtuosi, and the somewhat dreamy Brina have also reaped international recognition.

vivid dance scene The electronic scene is extremely lively, with internationally established DJs and producers (e.g. Umek and Valentino Kanzyani) increasingly being joined by younger representatives like pro­ ducers Poll A Rock and Ian Green, and the groups Milk Drinkers, BeatMyth (often working with the rapper N’toko), and Wanda & Nova deViator. The synth duo New Wave Syria flirts heavily with al­ ternative pop, electronics, and DIY rock. The most promising progenies of rx:tx, the best known Slov­ enian electronic label, are Oknai, a producer with an ear for hip-hop and new bass music, Yanoosh, a representative of dub electronic production, and the dubstep producer Nataša Muševič a.k.a. Dot. This kind of music is increasingly released either online or in the form of compilations like “Chilli Space”, behind which stand, amongst others, DJ Dojaja, who has been one of the most interesting Slovenian producers for many years, and Octex,

who is performing abroad with increasing fre­ quency. The best way to become familiar with the dance scene in Slovenia is to visit the Ljubljana clubs K4, F-Club, and Channel Zero.

Festivals of all kinds Slovenia offers lots of festivals of extremely di­ verse sizes and genre orientations, ranging from those that cover all of the music genres and last for more than a month (such as Maribor’s internation­ ally recognised Lent), to smaller and very specific festivals. The central festivals of classical music re­ main the Ljubljana Festival, the Festival Maribor, Seviqc Brežice, and the Radovljica Festival. Con­ temporary music is the focus of the Slowind Fes­ tival, Unicum, and the Slovenian Music Days. The largest jazz festival is the Ljubljana Jazz Festival, while other major jazz festivals include Jazz Cer­ kno, Izzven, Jazzinty, Marezijazz, Jazz Ravne, Jazz Kamp Kranj, etc. Bled’s Okarina Etno Festival and Ljubljana’s Druga godba present contemporary folk, ethno, and world music. A diverse programme of more experimental, contemporary musical con­ tent and sonic art is offered by Sajeta in Tolmin and the EarZoom Sonic Arts Festival in Ljubljana.

Due to the small size of the market, Slovenian rock festivals can hardly be compared with the larger international festivals. One exception is the festival Metaldays (formerly: Metalcamp), tak­ ing place in the idyllic surroundings of the Alpine town of Tolmin, which has been attracting some of the world’s most important metal acts for nearly a decade. In addition, there are mid-size festivals as Punk Rock Holiday, Schengenfest, and Rock Otočec as well as a number of bustling smaller fes­ tivals. The best chance for newcomers in the indie rock or electronic scene to introduce themselves to a bigger audience is Klubski Maraton, a club tour throughout the whole of Slovenia organised

by Radio Študent. Slovenian Music Week, by con­ trast, is a great stepping stone into the interna­ tional music scene, since an international expert panel gives individual acts the chance to perform at bigger festivals in the region.

the label situation Slovenia Pop, turbo-pop, mainstream rock, and the other more commercial genres are largely dom­ inated by three record labels: ZKP RTV Slovenija, Menart Records, and Dallas Records. In addition,

07 PHOTOS Cheezy Studio, Ales Rosa, Jani Ugrin, Stipe Surac / www.stipesurac.com

Representing the vivid club scene of Slovenia at Waves Vienna: Milk Drinkers.

Rock music from Slovenia: Werefox will be playing this year’s Waves Vienna.

Showcasing bands in Ljubljana: the Slovenian Music Week 2013.

An Alpine setting for renowned metal acts: the festival Metaldays in Tolmin.

there are smaller labels with enviable catalogues (ZARŠ – Založba Radia Študent, Moonlee Records, rx:tx, FV, Front Rock, Kapa Records, God Bless This Mess, On Parole, Monofonika, Panda Banda, Downtown Recordings, Eat This Production, Syn­ aptic Pathways, Cheap Tunes, Beton Records, etc.).

Indie-Grad is a web platform that brings together and presents the majority of Slovenia’s independ­ ent labels of various genres, providing a good over­ view of Slovenia’s independent music scene.

The most important record label in the field of folk and world music is Celinka, while the special­ ised label Zlati zvoki covers Oberkrainer music.

With its collection Ars Slovenica, the Society of Slovene Composers is the most important publish­ er for contemporary Slovenian music. An essential contribution to the release of (Slovenian) classical music is made by the publishing operation of the national radio and television, ZKP RTV Slovenija.

In recent years, just as elsewhere in the world, music publishing in Slovenia has been weakened financially by falling sales of physical media. This fact is primarily evident in reduced investment by record labels in new artists and releases as well as in the decreased sales network of music shops.

In spite of declining sales, the number of official­ ly registered newly released recordings has re­ mained approximately the same over the last five years (around 500 per year), but the number of copies sold of each title has dropped significantly.

Although the internet or digital music market in Slovenia is opening up and developing, we can safely say that it is still at its very beginnings. The first and, for now, only provider to decide to broad­ en its offer to the Slovenian market is iTunes.

music in the Media Radio is still the most important music medium in Slovenia. In an analysis of Slovenian radio sta­ tions, it was found that music made up the great­ est share of programme content, representing an average of 70 % of content and on some stations up to 85 %. There are currently 90 radio stations in Slovenia, broadcast by 55 broadcasters, of which nine broadcast nationwide (received by 50 % or more of the population). 30 stations broadcast re­ gionally (received by 10 to 50 %) and 16 broadcast locally (received by less than 10 %). The national broadcaster Radio Slovenia broadcasts seven sta­ tions, whereas the others are broadcast by local and commercial radio. The regional broadcaster Radio Študent is regarded as one of the oldest in­ dependent radio stations in Europe, having been in operation since 1969. The radio station with the most listeners in Slovenia is Radio Slovenia’s sec­ ond programme (Val 202) with a 10.6 % share of listeners, followed by the commercial radio net­ work Radio 1 with 10.5 % of listeners. On third and fourth place, respectively, are, again, Radio Slov­ enia with its first programme (6.6 %) and the com­ mercial station Radio City (6.2 %).

It is legally determined that at least 20 % of the daily music broadcast on every radio and television station must be produced by Slovenian composers and performers. In the case of radio and television stations of special significance (currently around 30), at least 25 % of the daily music content must be Slovenian, while for stations broadcast by the national broadcaster RTV Slovenia the share must

be at least 40 %. As there is no legislative regula­ tion defining how the quota must be met, the ma­ jority of Slovenian music is broadcast during the night, especially in the case of commercial radio stations. Expert opinion is divided with regard to the influence of the quota on the development and quality of the Slovenian music market.

All of the major print and digital media devote part of their content to music. Alongside television channels with a narrower genre profile and those with a more mainstream pop or even turbo-pop orientation, MTV Adria is regarded as the plat­ form that provides the biggest audience for rock, pop-rock, and indie music in the region. There are also a number of webzines which can be credited with the up-to-date following of events and a rela­ tively high number of readers: RockLine, RockOn­ Net, Profanity Webzine and Paranoid, 13. brat, and Nova Muska. The only two music magazines that operate on a professional basis are the printed Gla­ sna and the web magazine Odzven, which covers all music genres but focuses primarily on the Slov­ enian scene. The latter is produced by the Sloveni­ an Music Information Centre – SIGIC. The systematic international promotion of Slov­ enian music is also overseen by the Slovenian Mu­ sic Information Centre – SIGIC. It releases a series of compilation CDs presenting various genres, organises presentations of Slovenian music at in­ ternational trade fairs and festivals, and facilitates international networking.

An extended version of this text can be found on www.musicaustria.at; written by Viktor Škedelj Renčelj (SIGIC), translated by Neville Hall.

08

presenting: Belgium

Belgium is a small country, but it is also a European melting pot with a rich music history. Acts like Milow, Balthazar, or Girls in Hawaii have recently gained an international fan-base. And more are on the rise. Waves Vienna’s guest country introduces itself and its flourishing music scene.

With eleven million inhabitants, Belgium is a fairly small federal state in the heart of Europe, compris­ ing three regions (Flanders, Wal­ lonia and the capital Brussels), three communities (the Dutch community, the Federation Wallonia-Brussels, and the German community), and four language areas (the Dutch area, the French area, the German area, and the bilingual capital area). As a neigh­ bour of the Netherlands, Germany, and France (and England just a short swim away), Belgium pretty much is the border between Germanic and Latin Europe, a crossroad of different cultures.

Over the centuries, its territory has been con­ quered and ruled over by more European pow­ ers than there are composing members of the Strauss family. And being the European capital, Brussels is a genuine magnet for international immigrants, visitors and cultural influences.

This is why Belgium is rich in creative talent and overflowing with cultural activities. Music thrives everywhere!

a brief history It is difficult to market Belgium as a musical nation abroad – something it probably has in common with Austria. A small and complicated country with a rather dull image that is stuck to a handful of tired clichés (chocolate, fries, waffles and so on).

A pity, because its music heritage is nothing to be embarrassed about: Jacques Brel, Front 242, Adamo, Toots Thielemans, Django Reinhardt, Vaya Con Dios, Arno & TC Matic, Telex, New Beat, … Even the saxophone is a Belgian inven­ tion. Belgium has also proved to be a fertile home ground to some of the most influential record la­ bels in the history of modern music: PIAS, R&S, Les Disques Du Crépuscule, Crammed, or AntlerSubway, to name but a few.

For a decade or two, more and more consecu­ tive stories of Belgian artists “making it” across the borders have arisen. In the minds of many, Antwerp rock band Deus paved the way in 1994.

The international success of their exhilarat­ ing, creative, and unconventional debut album inspired other groups to believe it is possible to be born in Belgium, to sound unlike what typical radio formats dictate, and to still find an audience in European countries and beyond.

Soulwax/2ManyDJ’s, Girls in Hawaii, Venus,

Axelle Red, Hooverphonic, Ghinzu, Zita Swoon, Starflam, and K’s Choice are some of the groups who’ve managed to conquer ground abroad with little artistic compromise.

Ever since, a new generation arises every few years and shows itself increasingly ambitious.

While most of the aforementioned bands are still going strong, more recent Belgian success stories include Selah Sue, BRNS, Milow, Puggy, Triggerfinger, Stromae, Black Box Revelation, Goose, Montevideo, Great Mountain Fire, Ab­ synthe Minded, and Balthazar. Not all of these are household names in Great Britain, Spain, Norway, or Austria (yet), but every single one of them is determined to work their socks off and conquer hearts and minds, day by day.

fertile grounds?

So, assuming this isn’t all about silly chauvin­ ism and Belgium really is home to such extraor­ dinary music talent, would there be a logical ex­ planation to this phenomenon? Perhaps so – here are at least a few elements contributing to the country’s musical climate.

For starters, Belgium is blessed with a couple of influential national radio stations which dare to look beyond what Western mainstream pop culture has to offer. Stations such as Studio Brus­ sel or Pure FM reach a young audience and open their FM airwaves to a wide variety of musical styles, origins, and attitudes.

Next, Belgium has a long-lasting tradition of world-class summer festivals. Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Dour, Couleur Café, Nuits Botanique, I Love Techno, and Tomorrowland are some of the internationally best known and most awarded examples, but beyond that there are literally hun­ dreds of fine music festivals, attracting millions of visitors each year. And fun doesn’t stop when summer is over: a number of excellent concert venues are to be found in the largest cities (Anci­ enne Belgique and Botanique in Brussels, Vooruit in Ghent, Trix in Antwerp, Club Les Ardentes in Liège, …) plus a number of smaller clubs across the country run professionally by people with a heart for good music. Each year, they welcome many international acts.

A key aspect in helping young groups to blos­ som is allowing them to play and present them­ selves. Every other year, hundreds of new bands line up to enter Humo’s Rock Rally – a prestigious talent hunt taking place every two years, which few of our most successful artists did not partici­

pate in at some point. Besides that, Belgium has many other rock contests and supporting organi­ sations like Poppunt and Court Circuit, giving young talents advice regarding the music indus­ try and/or a helping hand in finding opportuni­ ties to play gigs.

music and figures In 2012, revenues of Sabam – Belgium’s copy­ right association, increased to 146,2 million Euro (+ 3.6 %). This first growth in five years’ time can largely be accounted to two key elements: (a) a further increase in the number of live concerts in Belgium and (b) a 14 % rise in income from music copyrights by Belgian artists abroad. Belgian mu­ sic is blossoming indeed!

And do Belgians still buy music? Like pretty much everywhere, sales are still going down year after year: – 12 % in 2012. Last year, Belgians bought 13,3 % fewer albums than the year be­ fore, while sales of singles and individual songs went up 12.6 %. 95 % of all albums are still pur­ chased on a traditional Compact Disc, though vi­ nyl (+ 38.3 %) and album downloads (+ 6.2 %) are gaining market share. Music streaming services are slowly gaining importance and now account for 3 % of the total music market.

The Belgian music market can be divided into two parts: the Flemish and the French-speaking market. In Flanders, Belgian music productions take up 41 % of total sales, compared to 12 % in the French-speaking part.

belgium booms A few years ago, Belgium was the focus country at Eurosonic festival in Groningen. Milow, Trig­ gerfinger, Girls in Hawaii, Ghinzu, Aeroplane, and Selah Sue were just some of the bands performing there. In 2013, Flanders Music Centre, WallonieBruxelles Musiques, and Sabam are proud to present some of Belgium’s most talented bands at Waves Vienna to the Austrian audience and to the international invitees. Be sure you don’t miss Girls in Hawaii, BRNS, Amatorski, Float Fall, Dans Dans, Compuphonic, Soldout, Flying Horseman, and Oscar & the Wolf!

For more information on various aspects of the Belgian music scene please visit www.muziekcentrum.be or www.wbm.be.

09 PHOTOS Gus Stella, Simon Vanrie, Jef Degraeve, Joris Bulckens

Girls in Hawaii are back! Presenting their new album at Waves Vienna.

Festival Les Nuits Botanique, in the heart of Brussels – Belgium has a long-lasting tradition of world-class music festivals.

Rock Werchter, the biggest Belgian Rock Festival, won the Arthur Award 2013 for “Best Festival” at the International Live Music Conference.

25.-28. Sept.

2013

Amatorski, one of Belgium’s must-see bands at Waves Vienna.

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10

the Next Big Thing?

Music streaming services are booming. But can labels and publishers as well as artists benefit from this development? In part one of his article series, Peter Tschmuck analyses the digital music markets of different countries with special regard to music streaming.

Is Streaming the Next Big Thing? – An International Market Analysis The global digital music market has continu­ ously expanded since 2008. The market share of digital music has risen by 22 % (US$ 4.2 bn) in 2008 to 57 % (US$ 5.8 bn) in 2012. In the same period, the physical music market lost nearly a third of its volume (IFPI 2013: 7). The drivers of the digital music market are not music downloads anymore but revenues from streaming services, which grew by 62 % (on US$ basis) from 2011 to 2012 according to the current IFPI report (2013: 24). Music streaming revenue, thus, accounts for 13 % of the global digital music market.

However, the relevance of the music streaming market differs from country to country, which can be particularly highlighted for the US, Germany, and Sweden. After case studies of these three na­ tions, the economic relevance of music streaming services is analysed for those countries included in the current “Recording Industry in Numbers” report of IFPI (2013).

The US recorded music market The Recording Industry Association of Ameri­ ca (RIAA) reported that in 2011, the digital music sales of US$ 3.56 bn1 outperformed the physical sales of US$ 3,38 bn for the first time by 51.3 to

48.7 % – without considering revenues from per­ formance and synchronisation rights. In 2012, the digital music sales increased by further 14 % to US$ 4,05 bn while physical sales decreased by 16.5 % to US$ 2,82 bn. In total, the recorded music sales dropped by 0.9 % from 2011 to 2012.

If the downside trend continues in the next few years – minus 18.5 % on average in the past five years –, the physical sales will drop to US$ 1.53 bn in 2015. The digital music sales would have to grow by a quarter to US$ 5.37 bn to compensate for the sales loss of the physical product.

This simple projection to 2015 should be con­ sidered with caution. It only holds true if the de­ crease in physical sales neither slows down nor accelerates. In addition, we have to consider that the composition of the digital music sales has fundamentally changed in the past few years.

When RIAA reported digital music sales for the first time in 2004, their growth was driven by master tones and ringback tones. In the follow­ ing years, mobile music sales mainly accounted for the increase of the digital US music market from 2005 to 2008, when the mobile music seg­ ment peaked at US$ 977.1 m. Since then, how­ ever, mobile music sales have dramatically lost ground and decreased by 82.9 % to US$ 166.9 m in 2012, which accounts for a digital market share of just 4.1 %.

The most important drivers of digital mu­ sic sales were music downloads from platforms such as iTunes and Amazon Music Store. Here, we have to distinguish between single track and album downloads. Single track downloads ac­ counted for the highest share of 40.1 % (US$ 1.62 bn) in the digital music market. Digital album sales lag behind with a 29.8 % share and sales of US$ 1.20 bn. The average album sales growth of 28.9 % nevertheless outperforms the single track sales – with an annual growth rate of 19.2 % – in the past six years. Despite this growth of dig­ ital album sales, significantly more CDs (210.9 m units) were shipped in 2012 than digital albums (116.7 m units). Although sales still increase in absolute figures, the growth rates of album and single track downloads started to decrease in the last two years. This indicates that the downloaded music market enters the stage of maturity.

Music streaming business models, therefore, play a more important role in such a changing industry environment. The sales share of sub­ scription and streaming services in the digital music market was 25.5 % in 2012. This share also includes ad-supported and subscription revenues as well as licensing payments of in­ ternet radios and webcasters to the digital col­ lecting society SoundExchange, which channels them to the rights holders. SoundExchange paid

Figure 1: Recorded digital music sales in the US (2004–2012)

Sales in million US$

After years of reces­ sion, optimism is back in the phonographic industry.

In the current report “Record­ ing Industry in Numbers” by the International Federation of the Pho­ nographic Industry (IFPI 2013), the first but small increase of 0.9 % in global record­ ed music sales was reported since 1999. The decreases in CD sales and in sales of other physi­ cal formats could be compensated by increases in digital music sales. The revenue streams of music streaming services seem to play a crucial role in the recovery. Spotify, Deezer & Co. report an­ nually growing numbers of users, which makes streaming the fastest growing segment in the phonographic market.

In a series of articles entitled “Is Streaming the Next Big Thing?” first published on his blog music­businessresearch.wordpress.com, Peter Tschmuck highlights the boom of music stream­ ing services and their business models. But he also asks whether and how labels and publishers as well as artists benefit from the growing stream­ ing music market. In part one the development of the digital music market in different countries with special regard to the music streaming mar­ ket is analysed in detail.

Source: www.riaa.org

11

The German recorded music market The German market for recorded music is char­ acterised by a relatively high share of 79.5 % of the physical product compared to other markets. In 2012, the physical sales accounted for € 1.41 bn compared to € 294 m of digital sales. The digi­ tal transformation of the German market, thus, is less far advanced than in the US, the UK, and France. However, with a decrease of 21 % since 2003, the sales drop has been less dramatic in Germany than in other markets.

Despite considerable growth, the digital market in Germany lags behind other markets. The sin­ gle and album download sales were the backbone of this growth. The digital album sales of € 144 m were dominant and accounted for half of the dig­ ital music sales in Germany in 2012. In contrast, single track downloads were at € 109.0 m, which resulted in a digital music market share of 37.2 %.

The German music streaming market has still potential to grow. National streaming services such as simfy.de had problems to gain a broad user base in the past. Spotify, however, has been operating in Germany since March 2012 and, thus, its revenues are not fully included in the year’s end statistics. In 2012, the subscription and ad-suppor­ted offerings generated revenues of € 36 m, which accounted for 12.3 % of the digital music market. Compared to 2011, the streaming revenue increased by 38.5 %.

In total, streaming revenue accounted for just 2.5 % of the recorded music market, whereas on­ line and mobile music downloads generated a share of 18.0 %. (BMVI 2013: 10). With a share of 70.8 %, CD sales are still dominant. This under­ pins the assumption that the digital transforma­ tion of the German recorded music market is still in its early stage. It has to be questioned whether streaming and download revenues can compen­ sate for the loss in physical sales in the near future.

A study by GfK market research (BMVI 2013: 14), however, concludes that record sales will account for 53.6 % and digital sales for 46.4 % of the total market in 2016. GfK predicts a further considerable growth of the download market to nearly a third, whereas subscription services

Figure 2: Recorded digital music sales in Germany (2008–2012)

Sales in million €

US$ 462.0 m to the labels and musicians in 2012.

The direct payments of interactive streaming services such as Spotify and rdio account for an­ other US$ 570.8 m. In total, interactive and non-­ interactive webcasters contributed US$ 1.03 bn to the digital music market in the US, which is less than the digital album sales. However, the music streaming segment has been growing by 58.6 % from 2011 to 2012.

If the access model should outperform the own­ ership model of music, the US streaming market has to grow significantly in the near future to com­ pensate for the expected sales drop in the physi­ cal product. There is potential for further growth if we consider the fast growing market for tablets and smart phones as well as the ongoing improve­ ment of broadband mobile internet access. On the other hand, however, it’s a big issue for streaming services to convert users of freemium models to paying subscribers. In the end, this rate of conver­ sion will decide whether streaming will grow at a sufficient rate to compensate for the loss in the physical segment. Whatever happens, it can be taken for granted that the phonographic market in the US won’t accomplish the sales volumes for recorded music of the millennium. Since then, the US recorded music market has shrunk by 52.9 % from US$ 14.58 bn to US$ 6.87 bn in 2012.

Source: Bundesverband Musikindustrie (2013); www.musikindustrie.de/fileadmin/piclib/statistik/ branchendaten/jahreswirtschaftsbericht-2012/download/Jahrbuch_BVMI_2012.pdf

such as Spotify, Simfy, Nuke, etc. will contribute 10.9 %. The rest of 2.1 % will be generated by adsupported offerings and upfront payments to the rights holders.

This four years’ forecast seems to be conserva­ tive in the current period of dramatic change.

Music access models have developed much faster in other countries than expected, as the Swedish example highlights.

The Swedish recorded music market The Swedish phonographic market (valued in wholesale prices) has shrunk by 39.6 % from SEK 1.83 bn in 2001 to SEK 1.11 bn in 2005. Dig­ ital music sales of SEK 22.5 m were reported the first time in 2005. Single track downloads of SEK 22.5 m accounted for half of the digital sales and 47.0 % were mobile sales. Streaming services gen­ erated a comparable small revenue of SEK 1.2 m in the same year. Three years later, CD sales fell to SEK 790 m, whereas digital sales increased to SEK 71.2 m. The download sales dominated the digital market segment with a share of 59 % and mobile sales (ringtones, ringback tone, etc.) with 23 %. The share of streaming revenue, however, increased to 16 % of the overall digital music sales.

2009 was dominated by public controversy about The Pirate Bay case. In mid-April, the founders were found guilty for copyright in­ fringement. They were sentenced to a year in prison and have to pay a high compensation for damages to the copyright holders.2 A short time before that, the Intellectual Property Rights En­ forcement Directive of the EU (IPRED)3 had been introduced in Sweden. The Swedish Wire report­ ed a drop in the overall internet traffic by 30 % the day after the law was introduced. If we consider a 50 to 75 % share of file sharing in the internet traf­ fic, we can suspect that the drop was caused by a lower level of file sharing activity.

The Stockholm based music streaming com­ pany Spotify AB benefited from the Pirate Bay in­ cident. From the beginning, Spotify defined itself as the legal alternative to file sharing. This was the best PR message in a period of international

media coverage of the Pirate Bay story. In August 2009, The Swedish Wire reported that Swedish record labels earned higher income from Spotify than from iTunes.

In 2009, however, the revenue from ad-support­ ed and subscription offerings accounted for more than 50 % of the digital music market and for 15 % of the overall recorded music market. (IFPI 2013: 58). Download sales, in contrast, dropped to a 42 % share of the digital market segment. This trend continued in the following years. In 2010, the download segment accounted for 22 % of the dig­ ital music market. In 2011, it decreased further to 16 % and in 2012 it was just 9 %. In contrast, the mu­ sic streaming revenue increased from year to year.

In 2010, music streaming accounted for 66 % of the digital music market. In 2011, the market share in­ creased to 82 % and eventually it peaked at 91 % in 2012. Thus, SEK 641 m (US$ 94.6 m) of SEK 704 m (US$ 103.9 m) were contributed by streaming services to the digital market. Sweden is, therefore, by far the best developed music streaming market worldwide. Due to the breath-taking growth of the streaming music market, Sweden became the eighth largest digital music market in the world.

The Swedish case provides good evidence that a quick transformation from a record to a digital mar­ ket can increase the overall market volume. The Swedish phonographic market has grown by re­ markable 26.9 % since 2008; 18.7 % alone from 2011 to 2012. Nevertheless, the Swedish recorded music sales are still lower by a third compared to 2001.

The music streaming markets in an international comparison The US, German, and Swedish case studies highlight that the digital transformation is at different stages in different countries. Whereas in Sweden the transformation to a digital music market has already taken place, the US is in the midst of the process and Germany just at the be­ ginning. An international comparison of different music markets based on IFPI data (IFPI 2013) underpins the assumption of various degrees of digital transformation in different countries.

12 The transformation has taken place in markets with a digital market share of more than 50 %.

China is the front runner with a digital share of 82 %, but with a still high piracy rate. India fol­ lows with 60 % in front of Sweden (59 %), the US (58 %), Norway (57 %), Thailand (57 %), Ecuador (54 %), and Paraguay (54 %).

On the way to a digitised music market are countries with a digital share beyond the inter­ national average of 35 % but lower than 50 %, such as Australia (47 %), Denmark (46 %), Can­ ada (43 %), South Korea (43 %), Ireland (40 %) Malaysia (40 %), UK (39 %), New Zealand (36 %), and Mexico (35 %).

The next group of countries has a digital share slightly below average: Singapore (33 %), Swit­ zerland (32 %), the Philippines (31 %), and Co­ lumbia (30 %).

The largest group consists of countries with a digital share in the overall recorded music mar­ ket between 20 and 29 %: Taiwan (28 %), Bra­ zil (27 %), Italy (27 %), the Netherlands (27 %), Spain (27 %), Hong Kong (27 %), France (23 %), Chile (23 %), Finland (22 %), Portugal (22 %), and Austria (21 %).

A digital music share that is well below aver­ age can be found in countries with digital mar­ kets that account for 10 to 20 % of the record­ ed music sales: Germany (19 %), Peru (19 %), Belgium (18 %), Japan (17 %), Bulgaria (16 %), Czech Republic (14 %), Turkey (12 %), Indone­ sia (12 %), Argentina (12 %) Slovakia (11 %), and Hungary (10 %).

Finally, we can identify a group of countries with an underdeveloped digital music market with a share of less than 10 %: Poland (9 %), South Africa (8 %), Venezuela (6 %), Uruguay (5 %), and Croatia (4 %).

A comparison of the different countries shows that neither market volume nor the geographi­ cal location of a market seems to determine the degree of digitisation. Whereas the US-market, the largest recorded music market in the world, has a considerable high digital market share, the second largest market in Japan lags behind with a digital share of 17 %. Since the physical prod­ uct still dominates the Japanese recorded mu­ sic market, Japan overtook the US as the largest market for CDs and other physical formats. In Europe, the large French and UK recorded mu­

Figure 3: Subscription and ad-funded revenue from music streaming in international comparison

Wholesale value

Digital

Wholesale value

in million US$

subscription

in million US$

94.55

91 %

—

UK

62.76

12 %

Norway

40.62

60 %

Country US

Sweden France

South Korea India

China

Brazil

Netherlands

Spain

subscription 207.86 56.81

59.05 23.87

14.35

18.25

16.49

Thailand

27.35

74 %

—

27 %

19 %

26 %

28 %

11.68

73 %

—

—

10.71 4.58

12.74

70 %

—

9.69

4.22

71 %

—

2.63

37 %

1.12

12 %

1.55

—

13 %

48 %

7.46

—

7 %

3.50

—

1.46

1.40

27 %

—

Hungary

0.38

25 %

Malaysia

—

Slovakia

0.35

44 %

Philippines Bulgaria Peru

Venezuela

—

51 %

—

—

—

—

—

—

5 %

14 %

23 %

—

—

0.11

0.38

60 %

0.28

—

—

0.30

—

7 %

—

0.61

7 %

0.39

10 %

Ecuador

11 %

25 %

0.63

5 %

—

20 %

0.38

0.74

0.28

Columbia

—

—

Chile

—

49 %

Singapore

13 %

12 %

1.57

0.45

0.90

—

19 %

22 %

2.43

38 %

South Africa

—

2.05

7 %

5 %

22 %

26 %

2.43

0.16

—

1.85

Portugal

Czech Republic

27 %

26 %

18 %

Turkey

Belgium

18.95

15.31

22 %

33 %

7.22

12 %

Argentina

19.45

24.92

—

14 %

29 %

7.84

Poland

9.48

—

11.63

8 %

Indonesia

Hong Kong

—

—

13 %

30 %

4.05

Mexico

27 %

—

17.32

Italy

Finland

—

market share

ad-supported

24 %

19.86

Taiwan

8 %

ad-supported

10.66

Germany Denmark

market share

Digital

0.27

8 % —

21 %

Source: IFPI (2013)

sic markets are at least on the way to digitisation, whereas the German market lags behind. A clear trend to digitisation can only be observed for the Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Norway, Den­ mark, with Finland lagging behind. Eastern Euro­ pean music markets, on the other hand, have less digitised music markets.

In Asia, the situation is mixed. Some countries – China, India, Thailand – have fully digitised mu­ sic markets, whereas other countries such as Ja­ pan, Taiwan, and Indonesia are still at the begin­ ning of the digitisation process. In Latin America, relatively small markets such as in Ecuador and Paraguay are highly digitised, whereas Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Uruguay have very low dig­ ital market shares.

It is, therefore, striking that a high digital rate does not necessarily correlate with a high rev­ enue share of music streaming. The RIN report of IFPI (IFPI 2013) provides a good overview of the relevance of subscription and ad-supported rev­ enue from streaming services. (Fig. 3)4 We can identify nine different groups of coun­ tries. Sweden is a category by itself, with a sub­ scription revenue share of 91 % in the digital music market in 2012. Sweden is, therefore, the second largest music streaming market world­ wide – behind the US – with a sales volume of US$ 94.55 m. Norway and Finland are the other two Scandinavian countries in global top streaming markets with a streaming share of 74 % and 70 % respectively. With a sales volume of US$ 50.10 m, Norway has an “over-dimensioned” streaming market compared to the small number of inhabit­ ants of five million. Therefore, Norway is the sixth largest music streaming market worldwide. Nor­ way is close behind South Korea, which has ex­ actly the same streaming share as Norway (74 %).

Taiwan and Hong Kong complete the list of coun­ tries with a streaming share well beyond 70 %.

The second category consists of countries with a streaming market share of more than 50 % but lower than 70 %. Among them, we can find sev­ eral Eastern European countries – Poland (63 %), Bulgaria (60 %), Slovakia (58 %), Czech Republic (54 %), and Hungary (50 %). However, two West­ ern European countries are also included in this category: Spain, with a streaming share of 52 %, and the Netherlands, with 54 %. Turkey (68 %), Brazil (53 %), China (52 %), and India (49 %) also have relatively high music streaming shares.

It is striking that only a few countries have an average streaming share of about 50 % or slightly less: Denmark (47 %), Portugal (45 %), France (40 %), and Argentina (34 %). It seems that the global music streaming market is divided in countries with a high – more than 50 % – stream­ ing share and in those countries with a share be­ low 30 % such as Italy (29 %), Singapore (27 %), Thailand (25 %), Mexico (19 %), and Belgium (18 %). Thailand is, furthermore, a good example for a market with a high digital but low streaming share. Canada, Australia, Malaysia, and the US are in the same situation. The US has the largest streaming market worldwide, but it accounts for just 8 % of the digital music market according to IFPI numbers. Likewise, in the UK, the revenue from subscription-based models accounts for just 12 % of the overall digital music sales despite a high number of music streaming services.5 The digital transformation of music markets is much more complex than a simple format shift such as from vinyl records to CD in the 1980s. The digital music markets are very dynamic. In the

13 Netherlands, for example, subscription models did not play an essential role in 2010, whereas ad-sup­ ported freemium offerings accounted for 17 % of the digital sales – apart from single track download with a share of 49 % and album download with 25 %.

A year later, however, the ad-suppor­ted revenue ex­ ploded to a 35 % share and the subscription revenue became visible for the first time with a 5 % share. In 2012, the subscription revenue rocketed to a 28 % share and equalled the single track download sales.

Digital album sales lag behind with a modest share of 12 % in the overall digital music market.

A similar dynamic can be observed for other countries. This indicates that the user behaviour has not yet stabilised and the change from an ownership to an access model is an erratic one.

Thus, in Switzerland we can observe a regressive tendency (IFPI 2013: 59). Whereas in 2009 and 2010, subscription services contributed 12 % to the digital music sales, in 2012 they disappeared from the market. In contrast, single track down­ loads increased to an all-time high of 51 % – if we consider correct IFPI data.

And there is no automatism that music con­ sumers have to be motivated by freemium mod­ els to pay for subscription services later. In Spain (IFPI 2013: 57), the subscription share was 27 % in 2010 and even 36 % a year later. In 2012, how­ ever, the subscription revenue share fell to 24 % in favour of ad-supported services, which accounted for a 39 % share in the digital music market. The reason might be that new offerings cannibalise or 232x175 waves_196x125 18.06.13 grow faster than existing ones. 22:00 Seite 1

Thus, there is no clear trend in the digitisation of the phonographic markets. Some markets are dominated by the download business such as in Germany, the UK, and the US, whereas in other markets, the penetration rate of streaming mod­ els is remarkably high such as in Sweden, Nor­ way, and South Korea. And in other countries such as in the Czech Republic, Spain, and China, the revenue from ad-supported services are pre­ dominant. Consequently, it is not easy to predict the future of the digital music market, especially when it comes to music streaming.

The article series “Is Streaming the Next Big Thing?” was first published on Peter Tschmuck’s blog music­businessresearch.wordpress.com.

Reprinted by kind permission of the author.

Footnotes RIAA reports “shipment” sales of its member labels to the retailers. Since stores can return unsold merchandise, RIAA subtracts returns so the final data is a net figure. For digital products, sales and shipments are virtually the same thing, since no returns exist (see www.riaa.com/blog.php? content_selector=riaa-news-blog&blog_selector=So-WhatExactly-Is-A-Shipment&news_month_filter=7&news_year_ filter=2009).

2 New York Times, “Court Says File-Sharing Site Violated Copyright” (www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/ europe/18copy.html?_r=0), April 18th, 2009 (accessed: May 3rd, 2013) 3 Directive 2004/48/EC (Enforcement of Intellectual Prop­ erty Rights) (eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do? uri=CELEX:32004L0048:EN:NOT) 4 By comparing IFPI data with date provided by national industry bodies, remarkable differences can be observed, 1

especially for the US. Whereas RIAA reported US$ 570.9 m from “subscription & streaming” with additional US$ 462.0 m payments from SoundExchange, the current IFPI Record­ ing Industry in Numbers reported just US$ 207.9 m of revenue for subscription. The difference of US$ 800 m has to be explained.

5 IFPI’s “Recording Industry in Numbers” only reports revenue from music subscription but does not include ad-supported revenue in the US and the UK. For the US further 12 % of digital music sales are summarised in the “other” category. We can assume that ad-supported income can be found there.

Sources Billboard.biz, IFPI Digital Music Report 2013: Global Recorded Music Revenues Climb for First Time Since 1999 (www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/ 1549915/ifpi-digital-music-report-2013-global-recordedmusic), February 26th, 2013 (accessed on April 30th, 2013).

Bundesverband Musikindustrie, 2013, Musik­industrie in Zahlen 2012 (www.musikindustrie.de/fileadmin/piclib/ statistik/branchendaten/jahreswirtschaftsbericht-2012/ download/Jahrbuch_BVMI_2012.pdf ). Berlin.

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), 2013, Recording Industry in Numbers 2012. London.

New York Times, “Court Says File-Sharing Site Violated Copyright” (www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/europe/ 18copy.html?_r=0), April 18th, 2009 (accessed May 3rd, 2013).

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), “So What Exactly Is A Shipment?” (www.riaa.com/blog.php? content_selector=riaa-news-blog&blog_selector=So-WhatExactly-Is-A-Shipment&news_month_filter=7&news_year_ filter=2009), July 9th, 2009 (accessed April 30th, 2013).

The Swedish Wire, “Swedish crackdown on piracy reduces file-sharing” (www.swedishwire.com/jobs/648-swedishcrackdown-on-piracy-reduces-file-sharing), August 4th, 2009 (accessed May 3rd, 2013).

The Swedish Wire, “Spotify overtakes Apple’s iTunes” (www.swedishwire.com/jobs/687-spotify-overtakes-applesitunes), August 10th, 2009 (accessed May 3rd, 2013).

3007

www.musicaustria.at

WE LOVE MUSIC / WIR LIEBEN MUSIK

14

Off to Ljubljana!

From February 5th to 8th, the Slovenian Music Week took place in the beautiful city of Ljubljana.

As Waves Vienna is welcoming Slovenia as one of its guest countries this year, a bus tour to the event was organized for some music biz delegates in cooperation with Austrian Music Export. A reflection.

hopeful local acts The Slovenian Music Week showcases hopeful local acts. Music from Serbia, Croatia, and Hun­ gary is represented too. Scoring for this year’s partner country Austria: Effi, Clara Luzia, and The Beth Edges. And there are workshops as well as talks adding to the business side of the event.

PHOTOS Matevz Kocjan, Jani Ugrin (3)

It’s early February in Vienna. Winter is start­ ing to push people’s toler­ ance limits, but, retrospec­ tively, it had only just reached its half-life period. Help is at hand: the second edition of the Slovenian Music Week is calling. Off to the south! There’s no doubt that one reflexively reacts to such a promising call with a definite “Yes!” and the best, most elaborate associations of warmth.

It’s early in the morning; into the bus and off we go. South bound, swiftly through Styria and across the border. While Maribor approximately shares the same longitude with Graz, Ljublja­ na does so with Klagenfurt. So we drift to the right over a couple more snow-clad mountains.

Ljubljana, the capital of the young republic, has more to offer than the architectonic sins of the Eastern bloc. Modernity can be found between beautiful historic buildings. With little more than two million people, Slovenia has about as many inhabitants as Vienna. So what kind of sto­ ries will Slovenian music workers tell us if Aus­ trian-bred artists already claim the title of world champions in moaning about the poor conditions they have to deal with? Which options are there in such a small country? Does one reach the lim­ its of what is possible more quickly?

But first things first: arriving, checking in, and having our expectations refuted by the event…

Kino Šiška is a building complex including a modern hotel, conference infrastructure, plus a location for events; for live gigs as well as canned music – for urban culture, as they say. And a bar offering a wide range of international drinks that spoils you for choice. But before it comes to that: a business matchmaking session under the motto “Meet the Austrians” for concert promot­ ers, media people, musicians, and label owners.

Which will merge into a casual evening with live music later on.

Clara Luzia

Business matchmaking at…

The Beth Edges

…“Meet the Austrians”

Arbitrariness needs to be taken into account as a surprise factor, a local concert promoter tells us of his troubles. It’s always a balancing act with bu­ reaucracy; changing opinions and attitudes are an integral part of the apparatus.

The busy gentleman from the radio station which influences the music taste of its student au­ dience also organises events and releases records; on the one hand, people are aware of the limited opportunities, on the other hand, they want to do something and not remain inactive.

No doubt, in this respect, the situation in Aus­ tria is easier, we have to admit self-critically when the nagging starts again. But still, there’s a general consent that giving up and yielding to the lack of opportunities would be the more boring and hardly acceptable option. Keep it up! Because that also seems to be the motto of the weekend: While, in the morning, more than 5,000 pensioners express their contentment with the current government, around 25,000 young people take the opposite view and gather

in the beautiful city centre in the evening to pro­ test against the system.

starting points At the same time, The Beth Edges baffle their audience with their neat and energetic perform­ ance. Our travel party is sitting together, talking some more and reflecting, eventually finishing our last drinks. The bus heading home will de­ part early if you go to bed late. So it’s either be­ ing reasonable or continuing regardless. Some will try their luck in the night, where the demon­ stration has turned into a party. A good thing to have seen something like this; in a country which right now offers many starting points for a good feeling. Even though the south did not keep off the winter. It’s mid-February in Vienna. And it will be winter for a while longer.

Text Michael Bela Kurz

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19.07.13 13:24