Waves Magazine #04

#04

tickets & info: www.wavesvienna.com

Focussing on Belgium

On day one of Waves Music Conference 2013, the music market of Belgium was being analysed. Find out more about the event’s Western European guest country, as we recap the presentations, panels, and showcases.

2.-5. O CT. 2014 Focussing on Slovenia

True to the motto “East Meets West”, Waves Music Conference 2013 featured Slovenia alongside Belgium as a guest country on the second day.

We summarise the insights into the Slovenian music market.

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Waves Vienna 2013 and Waves Bratislava 2013 are over – and once again our résumé can be a very positive one.

Let’s start with Waves Vienna: with 12,900 visitors, the music programme was once more better attended than in the previous year. 137 acts played at 16 locations – from Flex at the Danube Canal and Odeon Theatre at Taborstraße to Fluc at Praterstern and Pratersauna. At a number of gigs we even had to close the doors on people, because the clubs and off-locations were filled to capacity.

With more than 800 delegates, Waves Music Conference recorded an increase of professional attendees as well. In addition to issues such as “Women in the Music Industry in Eastern Europe” or “Direct-to-Fan-Marketing”, as well as the presentation of the focus on Austria at next year’s Eurosonic festival in the Netherlands – the biggest and most important showcase festival in Europe –, the music markets of the two guest countries Slovenia and Belgium were the key subjects of the conference. You can find out more about the panels and presentations on the two countries in this edition of Waves Magazine.

For the first time, Waves Vienna also hosted Waves Film Fest at Topkino in 2013. The programme of the small festival included music-

related films – for example “Welcome To The Machine”, “Schlagerstar”, and “Oh Yeah, She Performs” – and the audience really enjoyed it.

Another reassuring feedback for future editions of the festival.

Last but not least, one more, and probably the most important, of this year’s novelties: Waves Bratislava. As part of the plan to further promote the core topic of Waves, “East Meets West”, Waves Vienna’s sister festival was a complete success with almost 3,000 visitors at seven venues. We’d like to thank our partners in Bratislava, Tibor Holoda, and the team of his agency Pendant.

To get you a little excited about 2014 already, we’re happy to announce the date for next year: Waves Vienna 2014 will take place from October 2nd to 5th. Of course, we are already working on the programme as well as on new venues and other ideas to keep things interesting and fresh.

Rest assured: we still have some surprises up our sleeves.

Thanks to everyone attending the festival and the conference, working there, or helping to make it happen in any other way – we are really looking forward to seeing you again at Waves Vienna and Waves Bratislava in 2014. To a marvellous new year!

— www.wavesvienna.com

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With the 2013 editions of Waves Vienna and Waves Bratislava still fresh in our minds, it’s time to look back on the two club and showcase festivals as well as on Waves Music Conference.

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Editorial

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Waves Music Conference: Belgium As part of the focus on this year’s guest countries, presentations, panels, and showcases provided insights into the Belgian music scene. A rundown on what the experts had to say.

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Waves Music Conference: Slovenia In accordance with the motto “East Meets West”, Waves Vienna welcomed Slovenia as the second guest country in 2013. Its music market was examined during Waves Music Conference.

MASTHEAD IMPRESSUM — Publisher Herausgeber Thomas Heher chief editor cHEFREDAKTEUR Manuel Fronhofer translation Übersetzung Isabella Reichl Layout Layout Manuel Fronhofer publishing house Medien­inhaber / Verlag Monopol 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 mis­takes reserved. Namentlich gekennzeichnete Beiträge spiegeln nicht unbedingt die Meinung des Medienin­habers wider. Druckfehler und Irrtümer vorbehalten.

Supported by

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Focussing on Belgium

In accordance with its motto “East Meets West”, Waves Vienna 2013 was dedicated to the two guest countries Slovenia and Belgium. On its first day, Waves Music Conference was all about “Belgium Booms”, as it carefully examined the country’s music market.

INternational careers This approach of an individual sound composition has helped various Belgian musicians to build international careers: with their mix of dance, soul, swing, chanson, and latin sounds, Vaya Con Dios created a musical style that was rather unusual in the 80s but nevertheless commercially quite successful. During the 90s, acts such as Deus, K’s Choice, and Soulwax entered the stage.

At the moment, the Belgian music scene is known particularly for musicians who made it with the help of a DIY approach and, paradoxically, cover songs. Milow’s acoustic version of “Technology”, for instance, sold far better than the original by 50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake. The same holds true for Triggerfinger and their cover of Lykke Li’s “I Follow Rivers”. With regards to the genres singer-songwriter, hip hop, and electro, Selah Sue and Stromae are currently the internationally most successful acts.

The second part of the afternoon focussing on Belgium was dedicated to the country’s music market. “Ambassadors”, consisting of producers, band managers, and event managers active in the Belgian music industry, in particular pointed out the linguistic diversity of the nation and its influence on the local music business. Despite the fact that Belgium is one of the smaller European

PHOTO Martin Wirbel

Before the conference attendees had the opportunity to enjoy free Belgian beer on the roof terrace of the conference venue Urania and to listen to the two Belgian acts Girls In Hawaii and Amatorski, the afternoon programme provided an introduction to the country’s music scene in a series of interesting presentations and panels hosted by Marc Decock (programme manager of Ancienne Belgique, promoter, and DJ).

First, an overview of Belgium’s music history was presented: during the 60s, the pop and rock scene was almost exclusively dominated by musicians from the UK, France, and the Netherlands.

One band that was able to gain recognition outside of Belgium at that time was the string-rock combo Wallace Collection, whose first hit, “Daydream”, was sampled by various artists (Tricky, Portishead). But after a colourful disco era, the big Belgian music scoop came only in 1977. With the new wave classic “Ça plane pour moi”, Plastic Bertrand exported the country’s probably most famous hit. At the same time, the local pop scene was booming and the first festivals were organised. Since than, Belgian musicians have increasingly attempted to establish their own innovative style instead of following musical role models from other countries.

Panel: The Belgian Music Market

countries – the linguistic discrepancy could hardly be bigger. While the North speaks Dutch and the South speaks French, the capital, Brussels – at the centre of the nation – is bilingual. In addition, there are some German-speaking communities in Western Belgium. But how does this multilingual environment influence the music scene? Does the Flemish audience accept French-speaking musicians and vice versa?

The Belgian media landscape is divided with regards to languages. Flanders and Wallonia have their own print media, TV stations, and radio stations, with the latter having to meet a certain quota for songs sung in the language of the respective regions. Various organisations and music promoters have been trying to expand the individual regional music scenes to the entire national territory for years. breakthrough contest “Our language is music”, that’s the motto of the annual band contest Humo’s Rock Rally. Five bands from the Flemish and the Walloon region, respectively, are competing in the semi final.

The Black Box Revelation and Deus made their breakthrough after taking part in this contest. It seems that the decision to sing in English paves the way for an international career. But that’s just a guess. After all, the musician Stromae is proof of exactly the opposite.

As far as the international music market is concerned, Belgium is one of the major players in the area of events. A great number of renowned festivals such as Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, or Tom-

morrowland attract music lovers from all over the globe. And many international acts kick off their tours in Belgium. By now, the country at the heart of Europe should be known not just for its waffles, comics, and beer, but also for its many ambitious and amazing bands, some of which were playing at this year’s Waves Vienna Music Festival. And maybe some of you even discovered their new favourite act amongst those musicians.

Presentation: The Belgian Music Scene Speaker: Marc Decock (Ancienne Belgique; be) Panel: The Belgian Music Market Host: Marc Decock (Ancienne Belgique; be) Speakers: Jean-François Jaspers (Jaune Orange; be), Gerrit Kerremans (Studio Brussel; be), Maarten Quaghebeur (Rockoco / Glimps; be), Damien Waselle (PIAS; be), Paul-Henri Wauters (Botanique; be) Panel: How To Work Best With Belgium Host: Marc Decock (Ancienne Belgique; be) Speakers: Rutger De Brabander (Nada Booking; be), Herman Hulsens (Peter Verstraelen Bookings; be), Jean-François Jaspers (Jaune Orange; be), Joseph Meerseman (Manager BRNS; be), Jeroen Siebens (Fritspecial; at / be) Text reproduced by kind permission of MICA – Music Information Center Austria; for further reviews of the Waves Music Conference programme please visit www.musicaustria.at (in German language only).

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So bekommt Weihnachten wieder einen Sinn!

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Focussing on Slovenia

Day two of Waves Music Conference dedicated several talks, presentations, and a showcase to Slovenia, the second guest country of this year’s Waves Vienna. One of the panels gave insights into the characteristics of the Slovenian music market.

essential support Manček states that the ministry of culture does financially support his venue, though only to a rather modest extent. Nevertheless, this financial support has been essential in order to survive.

Now, the municipal administration of Ljubljana, too, maintains a department for the subsidisation of cultural events. Without the help of the city and the state it would definitely not be possible to bring certain attractive international acts to Slovenia and to cover the costs of such endeavours.

In this context, Luka Zagoričnik makes it clear that he considers it a general development that lots of concert promoters – like many other proponents of the cultural sector – are increasingly dependent on public funds.

What, then, do the above points concerning the difficulties and opportunities of the market mean for an Austrian band that wants to tour Slovenia?

According to Andraž Kajzer, that depends on the intended scope of the tour. It’s possible to play three venues with an audience of between 100 and 300 people in Slovenia. And when considering the big picture, he holds, that’s indeed worthwhile.

Miran Rusjan agrees: there are many clubs, but the public’s interest varies a lot and is difficult to predict. Everything is possible – from a dead loss to an unexpected success.

PHOTO Martin Wirbel

In his introduction, promoter Matjaž Manček points out that there are a good deal of charming venues and bars in Slovenia for international acts to play at. But he’d describe the opportunities for young bands as a constant up and down; and things have gotten more difficult in recent years. The record industry is undoubtedly suffering the most.

Manček addresses an issue already mentioned by host Luka Zagoričnik in his opening presentation: in contrast to the situation in the 1990s, there are hardly any record stores left in Slovenia and particularly in Ljubljana. Most labels consequently sell their records at their artists’ concerts. And the overall difficult economic situation, says Manček, also affects the music market. He holds that, in order to counteract the difficult conditions, lots of support is needed. He specifically talks about the self-organisation of artists, which he thinks to be improvable. But, according to Manček, the state subsidy programmes, too, could be expanded.

Host Zagoričnik adds that in Slovenia – just as in most other European countries – concerts are the most important part of the business, with things being easier on a rather small-scale level.

Zagoričnik asks about networking; whether there is any and whether it makes the jobs of promoters and organisers any easier.

Manček states that it’s actually essential for a small market such as that of Slovenia to enter into cooperation with others and to build a good network. Austria in particular is extremely important for the Slovenian music market; and the opportunity for a band to play at Waves Vienna, for instance, is of enormous importance.

It’s considered a general development that lots of concert promoters – like many other proponents of the cultural sector – are increasingly dependent on public funds.

However, Kajzer adds that Slovenian bands are confronted with natural limits especially when trying to go for the entire former Yugoslavian market. 20 years ago, before the war, that was different. He’d even go as far as to say that Slovenian bands are currently at a crossroads: should they orient themselves towards the East or the West?

Manček answers: “Both of course”. But he agrees with Kajzer in so far as Slovenian bands indeed have to deal with a massive language problem.

Slovenian hip hop, for instance, doesn’t stand a chance in the other successor states of former Yugoslavia, whereas, the other way round, Bosnian hip hop does have an audience in Slovenia. An audience member points out that the situation in Macedonia is exactly the same. That means: there’s a real disadvantage for bands from those former Yugoslav countries that don’t have SerboCroatian as their national language and who want to sing in their respective national language. A “one-way barrier”, says Manček.

Zagoričnik further wants to know whether the independence from the Anglo-American scene is merely an illusion.

Manček points out the Estonian scene as a noteworthy example. The Tallinn Music Week has brought about lots of positive developments. Due to the enormous efforts that were made there, today, the country is way ahead of the Slovenian scene. It is now possible in Estonia to get 150 people to a gig of a totally unknown band. After all, says Manček, the aim of a promoter is not to book the same bands for the same audience again and again. Quite the opposite: there is a vast variety of interesting projects and it would be a shame to restrict oneself to only the obvious and risk-free.

The audience, he says, definitely appreciates the path that Kino Šiška Ljubljana has chosen.

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Showcase: N’toko

adds. Recent talks about the establishment of a Music Export Office, however, put him in a hopeful mood. The panel ends with this partially positive, partially self-critical outlook.

Panel: The Slovenian Music Market Host: Luka Zagoričnik (SIGIC / Radio Student; si) Speakers: Andraž Kajzer (Kapa Records; si),

Matjaž Manček (Kino Šiška; si), Miran Rusjan (Moonlee Records; si) Text reproduced by kind permission of MICA – Music Information Center Austria; for further reviews of the Waves Music Conference programme please visit www.musicaustria.at (in German language only).

B e z a h lt e A n z e i g e

essential support So how do you survive in a hostile environment like that, Zagoričnik wants to know. Kaj­ zer: the previously discussed issues are the reasons why labels are increasingly trying to find their audience directly at live concerts. A further problem, he says, is that the majority of downloads of his bands’ tracks are done from outside the country. That’s quite remarkable.

The online market in Slovenia hence seems to be comparatively less developed.

Rusjan and Kajzer subsequently explain that there are platforms providing good information about Slovenian indie bands as well as Radio Student, which plays a valuable role in the Slovenian music life. That’s why both of them are looking ahead with confidence.

An audience member points out that there actually are good bands, good clubs, and good radio stations, but that there’s a substantial lack of management structures and promoters who could support Slovenian bands. This contribution is met with broad agreement amongst the panel participants.

But networking, too, – even though it’s already well-established – has to be expanded, Mazek

PHOTO Martin Wirbel

Still, according to Zagoričnik, bands are right back at zero. The format radio only plays about 20 tracks on heavy rotation, which makes it practically impossible for young bands to get airplay. And on Slovenian television, there’s no music to speak of.

Ku ltu r vor de r Haustü re Das Kulturangebot Wiens bietet für jeden Geschmack und jedes Alter etwas. Neben Stars aus der ganzen Welt sorgt der eine oder andere Musical-Hit aus Wien – auch international – für Aufsehen. Für alle Top-Events und die zahleichen Kulturveranstaltungen gleich reinklicken unter www.veranstaltungen.wien.at. foto Bildagentur Zolles / Wache Markus

Michael Bublé

Samstag, 25. Jänner 2014 Ausverkaufte Mammutkonzerte und spektakuläre Auftritte verschafften Michael Bublé schnell den Ruf, einer der besten LiveActs der Gegenwart zu sein. Nun gibt der Kanadier sein erstes WienKonzert in der Wiener Stadthalle.

Depeche Mode

Samstag, 8. Februar 2014 Depeche Mode, die auf über drei Jahr­zehnte an der Spitze der internationalen Musikszene zurückblicken können, genießen eine schier unglaubliche Zuneigung von Seiten ihrer Fans. Diese Sympathie ist Ausdruck ihrer bleibenden Bedeutung, die sich in musikalischen Messen für die Massen artikuliert. Am 8. Februar beehren Depeche Mode im Rahmen der „Delta Machine Tour“ die Wiener Stadthalle.

ELISABETH

Der Musical-Welterfolg nur noch bis 31. Jänner 2014 im Raimund Theater Das Musical aus der Feder des Erfolgsduos Michael Kunze und Sylvester Levay erzählt die dramatische Geschichte des Lebens, Wirkens und Leidens von Kaiserin Elisabeth. Bewegen-

Bietet Raum für Konzerte und vieles mehr: die Wiener Stadthalle, Wiens größte Event-Location. de Musik, eindrucksvolle Choreographien und ein opulentes Bühnenbild – ein verzaubernder Ausflug in die Welt der Habsburger!

DER BESUCH DER ALTEN DAME Ab 19. Februar 2014 im Ronacher Das Musical „Der Besuch der alten Dame“, basierend auf der tragischen Komödie von Friedrich Dürrenmatt, wird mit Pia Douwes und Uwe Kröger in den Hauptrollen als große Musicaltheaterfassung in Wien uraufgeführt.

MAMMA MIA!

Ab 20. März 2014 im Raimund Theater „Mamma Mia!“ ist eine charmante, herzerwärmende Musical-Komödie voller Esprit und aufregender Musik und eines der erfolgreichsten Musicals der Welt. 23 der größten Hits von ABBA werden in eine bewegende und zugleich urkomische Geschichte verwoben und sorgen so für einen fröhlichen Musical-Abend für die gesamte Familie. Österreichische Erstaufführung der deutschsprachigen Fassung!

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