re:cord MusicDay – What it’s all about!
Music, music, music – lots of us, the re:publica team included, can’t make it through the day without our own personal soundtrack. Of course, we’re interested in more than just the melodies and a musical backdrop while we work. That’s why we’re excited to be able to give you a preview of the diverse range of topics on offer at the first re:cord MusicDay on May 7, 2015.
The range of topics on offer at the new sub-conference is varied and diverse (a general introduction and further info can be found here). Big Data, fingerprint files, the mechanisms and agreements of digital music infrastructures, or an open source operating system for music are just some of the many different aspects being discussed at re:cord – MusicDay.
For instance, the session "We know what you will be listening to next summer" will discuss how Big Data is affecting and changing A&R work in the music industry, how new talents are being discovered and how user behaviour itself is changing. The panel features Michela Magas, founder of the Music Tech Fests in Stockholm and co-founder of the Stromalite design research lab, which has worked together with the likes of Nike, Apple and Nokia, among others. Prithwijit “Jeet” Mukerji of Universal Music and Graham Ball from the University of Westminster will be joining her in the discussion.
In the "Algorhytm is a Dancer – wie Big Data die Musik verändert" session, the music journalist Kevin Schramm will be discussing how data managers are helping both labels and artists with their work. He also aims at illustrating the interplay between Big Data, music sales and the listening to, and making of, music. He will also be presenting the results of his study that analysed which German rapper had the largest vocabulary.
In "The UX of Music" Rainer Henze will discuss what an open source operating system for music could look like and how it could be implemented. The panel "Spotify, Deezer und Co. – Warum die Nutzer Streamingdienste lieben und Musiker sie verfluchen" (why users love streaming services and musicians hate them) will feature Lutz Knappmann, deputy editor-in-chief at sueddeutsche.de, and representatives from the industry answering questions and discussing potential solutions to the controversy surrounding streaming platforms and how artists and providers can improve their cooperation in the future, as well as considering ideas about what the digital future of the music industry could look like.
Speaking of the digital music industry: the "Fingerprint Files" panel will be coming together to critically discuss new methods and possible changes to song “tracking” with publishers and technology providers, such as Gavin Burke from Audio Workshop and Marc Grittke from the GEMA. In "Pop will eat itself" Martin Butz gets to the bottom of the question of “is everything a remix?”. Music has always been borrowed and adapted, but this process has now been continuously pushed further ahead through the immense access made possible through digitalisation.
Last but not least, we of course can’t forget this year’s re:publica motto “Finding Europe”. "Italo Pop Poesia – Die große Schlagerlyrik-Gala" by Jörg Braun and Maike Hank promises new intercultural, in-depth textual analysis and poetic expression thanks to Google Translate. Participants will learn to love Italian music. Aficionados will presumably need no invitation to do so.
Of course, this is just a first glimpse into the program for re:cord MusicDay. Further sessions can be found under the usual ‘Program’ tab on our website, with all additional sessions expected to be listed in the schedule by the end of the week.
And don’t forget to pencil in the BMC Backstage "Music meets Digital Culture" on May 6. It wouldn’t be a music event without something for your ears: an assortment of live concerts and DJs will get you dancing on all three conference days.
photo credit: J E Theriot "mannequin head on concrete with headphones" (CC BY 2.0)