Ana-Marija Cupin (Repetitor, RS)
Ana-Marija is the bass player and founding member of the band Repetitor from Belgrade. She’s a graphic designer, painter, and yogi, as well as one of the founders of alternative Belgrade art space Kvaka 22.
Brigita Gračner (Radio Študent, SI)
Brigita is a member of the Radio Študent music editorial department, writing reviews, preparing playlists and interviews, and hosting the 100 decibelov show about the Slovenian music scene. In addition, she’s the vocalist and keyboardist of the bands Ovum, Uho za Oko and Akami – the latter released their debut album “Sunburnt” in 2017 via Radio Študent Records. Until 2013, Brigita was an active member of the programming board of the Workers and Punks University educational platform, where she coordinated the film club, which took place at the Slovenian Cinematheque. She was also the organizer of the Šentriff Film and Culture Festival.
Eva Matjaž (Poligon, SI)
Eva is a co-founder and the principal of the first Slovenian creative centre Poligon. As a psychologist and social worker, she has taken on different roles in the field of cultural and creative industries for over 15 years. She researches and implements different economic and social tools to support different (creative) communities. She’s part of a pioneering team that introduced coworking and crowdfunding in Slovenia. She’s also the co-founder of the Library of Things (Knjižnica REČI).
Fabien Miclet (Independent European Affairs Consultant, FR)
Fabien is a French-Irish specialist in European funding, music policy, and project management. Until the end of 2017, he was in charge of the coordination of Liveurope, the first EU-supported platform bringing together some of the best live music venues from all around Europe, including Kino Šiška. He’s now an independent consultant operating between Lisbon, Brussels, and Paris. Among various projects, Fabien works with the European Commission and the European Parliament on a variety of policy initiatives, including the newly established Music Moves Europe process.
Helen Sildna (Tallinn Music Week, Musiccase, EE)
Helen is one of Estonia’s most celebrated cultural entrepreneurs, who promotes and produces concerts, festivals, and social campaigns. She’s helped develop the export and marketing strategy for Estonia’s creative sector. She’s an outspoken member of the Baltic-Nordic creative community, vocal on equal rights, diversity and internationalization. She’s the founder and owner of Tallinn Music Week, which started out as a music industry conference and showcase festival in 2009, then broadened its concept further into an all-encompassing city festival. Helen is a board member of Music Estonia. In 2014, she received the Tampere Music Award for Exceptional Achievements in Music Business, in 2015 she was nominated for Citizen of the Year by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, and in 2016, the Estonian President awarded her the Order of the White Star of the Fourth Class for her contribution to Estonian music life and civil society.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Ingrid Kohtla (Tallinn Music Week, EE)
Ingrid is the Head of Communication and Programme Curator of the international city culture and talent showcase festival Tallinn Music Week. She’s also the Director and Producer of Estonian Television’s music and audio-visual culture programme, and a seasoned club and events promoter. She’s worked as the editor-in-chief of pop culture magazine Wasp & Caterpillar, written music reviews for various Estonian and international outlets, and lectured at the Estonian Academy of Arts about subcultures and music criticism, specialising in the state of the post-subcultural realm in our meta-modernist era.Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
John Robb (Louder Than War, The Membranes, UK)
John grew up in Blackpool before punk rock came along and saved his life. He’s the singer and frontman of the Membranes – the highly influential post-punk band who were a big influence on the soon-to-come Sonic Youth and Big Black American scene. The Membranes recently reformed and will release their new album in 2018, recorded with a 20-piece choir. John was one of the leading post-punk fanzine writers in the UK, the first person to interview Nirvana, and the guy who coined the expression “Britpop”. His music and culture website louderthanwar.com is currently one of the biggest such sites in the UK. He also writes books and articles, runs a music and books festival called Louderthanwar, and is in demand as a speaker with his spoken word show, spawned by the success of his talks on zen and the universe, veganism and punk rock.
Koen ter Heegde (Yugofuturism, Subroutine Records, NL)
Koen is an independent promoter, agent and label manager. He co-founded Subroutine Records, which has released dozens of artists since 2005. He runs the Yugofuturism booking platform, which introduced acts from South-eastern Europe (e.g., Repetitor (RS)) to the Netherlands and vice versa (e.g., The Homesick (NL)). He has been active on independent scenes in various roles for two decades, and he has an extensive network in the Netherlands and the region. He works at Rotterdam venue Roodkapje. Last year, he initiated the 24-hour Van Onderen festival, focusing on the Dutch underground.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Marko Godnjavec – Jizah (Nika / Beton, SI)
Jizah DaFunk – born as the almost unpronounceable Marko Godnjavec, is a music fanatic. He has been inspired by alternative, hiphop, electronic, punk & jazz music as far as he can remember. He attended musical gigs with a religious zeal, was a party animal with the dream to work at a music store, and kept listening to music whole day long. As a teenager, he travelled around the world to see different styles and genres of music, and he started working at a record store shop, which was his first step towards everything he is doing today. For the last 15 years he has been working as an alternative concert/party organizer, freelance music journalist and radio persona with the full time job as a publicist for Slovenian Warner licensee Nika Records, and he is also owner and A&R of his small label Beton Records.
Mateja Demšič (City of Ljubljana, SI)
Mateja is a historian with an M.A. in Historical Anthropology. She’s headed the City of Ljubljana Department for Culture since 2013. Previously, she worked with youth and established the network of youth centres in Ljubljana, with one dedicated to young musicians. In her work, she focuses on shaping cultural policies that aren’t supposed to be limited by locality or national borders. She participates in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, in the field of literature.
Markus Linde (Thag’s Agent, DE)
Markus has been successfully running his Thag’s Agent imprint for 13 years now, making him a veteran of independent German sync agencies. With a long professional history in the record business (marketing and A&R for CBS, BMG, Sony Music), publishing (Managing Director at Freibank Music Publishing) and artist management, he draws from experience and knowledge, as well as from a love for music. He has a long and excellent track record for music placements in national and international advertising campaigns and films. His services include music rights research and clearances. For his music research and inspiration, Markus refers to a wide range of selected sources, among them publishing and label catalogues, from the majors to the smallest independents.
Natalia Talayero (Beloud, ES)
Natalia is the co-president of Music Managers Forum Spain and the founder of Beloud, an innovative company that provides services for artists, record labels, and promoters. She manages artists such as Eldorado and Ana Alcaide and has also organized and promoted tours in Europe for emerging international bands.
Nur Al Habash (Italia Music Export, IT)
After an initial career in diplomacy and international organizations, during which she devoted her spare time to music festivals and webzines, Nur Al Habash worked as Rockit.it editor-in-chief from 2014 to 2017. Rockit is the main online source of Italian music, the biggest database of artists and online community in Italy, featuring editorial content, music streaming, and other online music services. In 2017, she founded Italia Music Export with the Italian copyright collecting society (SIAE), the first music export office in the country.
Sammy Andrews (Deviate Digital, UK)
Sammy has a long history at the forefront of the new music landscape and is considered one of the music industry’s leading digital advisors and futurologists. She gained a 360-degree view of the music industry through her background as a concert promoter, artist manager, and independent record label founder. She went on to head up digital departments at XIX and Cooking Vinyl Records before joining the board at Entertainment Intelligence, and now she is the CEO of Deviate Digital. Deviate Digital provides an extensive array of services, from high-level digital strategies for blue-chip companies to artist and product campaigns, creative digital marketing, training, streaming strategies, media buying and data insights/analysis, as well as an entire arm of the company dedicated purely to creative asset design and development. The diversity of Deviate’s client base reflects this with household name artists, brands, promoters, ticketing companies, start-ups, labels, managers, distributors, trade organisations and publishers amongst them.
Sasha Yerchenko (Atlas Weekend Festival, UA)
Sasha is the Programming Director of the Atlas Weekend festival and a co-founder of the Atlas Booking agency. In the early 2000s, she worked as a project manager, PR manager, and booker at the leading event agencies in Russia and Ukraine (T.C.I., Spika Concerts, PMK Event Agency, etc.). From 2009 to 2014, she worked as a radio host and a news editor. In 2009, she joined the team of the Koktebel Jazz Festival as coordinator and later as the Artistic Director of the festival (2012–2016). In 2015, she became the booking manager for Danish band Blue Foundation in Eastern Europe and started collaborating with Red Snapper (UK) and The Hardkiss (Ukraine). After eight years, she decided to leave the Koktebel Jazz Festival and move on with Atlas Weekend (she joined in 2015), which became the biggest international festival in Ukraine.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Steffen Holly (Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technologies, DE)
Steffen became an electronic technician before he studied music. After his music career, he worked in a record company, then later as a supervisor for music and sync rights, before becoming the Director of Audio Products & Technology Licensing at MAGIX AG in 2000. With the buyout of Fraunhofer AudioID to the MAGIX subsidiary M2Any (today mufin GmbH), he led the development of hybrid recommendation. In 2009, he became the CTO for AUPEO! Personal Radio, being responsible for product development and content licensing. Since January 2013, he has led the Media Management & Delivery business unit at Fraunhofer IDMT.
Stepan Kazaryan (Moscow Music Week, Bol Festival, RU)
Stepan is a Moscow-based concert promoter and art director. He organises the only music conference/showcase festival in Russia, Moscow Music Week. The aim of the event is twofold – to educate Russian musicians and promoters, and to offer young Russian bands the chance to perform in front of international music professionals. Stepan is also the man behind Bol Festival, the biggest Russian festival devoted to underground music of all genres. In addition, he’s the CEO of his own music agency Connected, the art director of the night program at 16 Tons Club in Moscow, and the promoter of the boutique showcases Afrodiziak and Islamic Beats, dedicated to African- and Islamic/Arab-influenced music. He likes to say that Moscow and Saint Petersburg today are like New York and London in the late 1970s, and he’ll be more than glad to tell you more about them.
András Bodrogi (New Media Expert, HU)
András worked in various fields of the Hungarian music industry (EMI Hungary, Music Export Hungary, WM Music Distribution …) as a new business and marketing manager, gained expertise in digital music, new media, and online communications, and helped labels and artists in this challenging era of music content creation and performance. Currently, he’s an expert trainer at Google Ground Budapest, helping local and regional YouTube partners, creative agencies, artists, brands and content creators to reach their goals with audio-visual content on YouTube.
Anita Richelli (Paper And Iron Booking, DE)
Anita is a booking agent for Paper and Iron Booking Co. Founded in 2005 and based in Berlin, the agency looks after the European and UK performances of artists such as Angel Olsen, Ryley Walker, Jenny Hval and others. Anita also works as a promoter for shows in Berlin. She is originally from Verona and started organizing gigs during high school, in her own DIY place called Casetta Lou Fai. Later, she joined Interzona, a cultural association in her hometown, where she was involved as a volunteer and DJ, as well as responsible for the program and communication. In 2012, she spent some time at the Rex Cultural Centre in Belgrade. She loves writing, traveling and learning new languages.
Daniela Grečnerová (Tootoot.FM, House of Ukulele, SK)
Daniela has worked in music and the media industry for the past 13 years and co-founded the Tootoot.FM ticketing and data platform – a winner in the Startupawards.SK Digital Category. Being responsible for marketing and PR at Tootoot, she launched the new Tootoot Data product with a focus on making the most of audience data. She pitched Tootoot at Midem and Eurosonic, as well as held a partnership agenda meeting in London in 2016. In August 2017, she co-founded the House of Ukulele creative PR and digital marketing agency. Previously, she also worked at Funradio as the Executive Manager of the Music Department, and at Zoznam.sk as a PR and marketing manager and spokeswoman.
Didier Gosset (IMPALA, BE)
Didier is the Communication and Membership Manager of IMPALA, the European association of independent record labels, based in Brussels. IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector, return more value to artists, promote cultural diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political access and modernise perceptions of the music sector. An avid fan of music, Didier also runs Black Basset Records – a record label born out of the desire to put a spotlight on aesthetics with no media attention –, writes for The Word magazine, and has just launched a new radio show in Belgium.
Gabrielė Tamutytė (Tilto namai, LT)
Gabrielė is a young music manager based in Vilnius. A few years ago, she established the Tilto namai independent music management and booking company for local alternative artists and bands touring around Lithuania, including Sheep Got Waxed. Together with Garbanotas Bosistas, the band has toured Europe and China, as well as visited a decent amount of showcase festivals. Having a good eye for young alternative ”hidden treasures”, Gabrielė has helped several newcomers find their place onstage.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Helen Smith (IMPALA, BE)
Helen is IMPALA’s Executive Chair. Originally from Scotland, she is based in Brussels. She drives the organisation’s key strategies with the board on a political, commercial and promotional level, helping put thousands of independent companies and artists on the map of Europe by leveraging collective strength. Helen has also developed IMPALA’s Awards schemes, IMPALA’s Digital Action Plan, as well as its Action Plan for Music and Action Plan for Finance. She is a board member of several organisations, including WIN, the Worldwide Independent Network.
Jernej Šavel (Dubioza kolektiv, SI)
Jernej was born in 1976 to Yugo-hippie parents, who instilled in him an (un)happy love of music. When they took him to a concert by the band Buldožer when he was six years old, everything normal was over. Since the beginning of the 1990’s, he’s been in a band. His first serious one was Psycho-Path (1993–2008). During that time (2003–2008) he collaborated with IDM producer Kleemar, then soon after the band broke apart, he joined Zagreb group Lollobrigida (2008–2013). Following a short pause and after almost giving up, he responded to an invitation from the band Dubioza kolektiv; they’ve now entered into their fourth year together. He’s also a social worker and a former radio host.
Lucija Ivšić (Punčke, Los Angeles Agency, HR)
Lucija is the frontwoman, manager and booking agent of Croatian band Punčke. She works at the Los Angeles Agency in Zagreb, both as a booking agent for all of the agency’s protégés (Josipa Lisac, Brkovi, Jonathan, Lovely Quinces, Tram 11, Dječaci …) and as a production assistant on many of the concerts organised by the agency (The Kills, Warpaint, The Cult, Duran Duran, Sigur Rós, Pet Shop Boys …). Occasionally she works with foreign bands, helping them arrange gigs in the Balkans. She’s also active in the production of film and photography festivals (Motovun Film Festival, Days of Croatian Film, Organ Vida …).
Mary Anne Hobbs (Great Britain)
One of the most influential music media personalities in recent decades, Mary Anne has been broadcasting great new music for BBC 6 Music, Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 4, GLR and Xfm for more than 20 years. Before that, she also worked as a journalist for NME and in television. At 18, she ran away to London and lived with a band in a bus on a carpark for a year. She never looked back. Mary Anne has been touring the world as a live DJ for a decade, playing to her biggest crowd of 15,000 people at Sonar festival in Barcelona, one of the many international festivals at which she has worked as a highly successful curator and performer. She currently DJs at major cultural events, such as the Tate Modern Extension launch in London, and she acts as Artistic Advisor and curator at the BBC 6 Music and Manchester International festivals. She worked with Clint Mansell on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack for Darren Aronofsky’s Oscar-winning film “Black Swan”.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Mariusz Herma (beehype, PL)
Mariusz is the founder of beehype (http://beehy.pe), a music website run by around 100 music journalists from all over the world and featuring the best acts from their local scenes. He works at Polityka, the leading weekly magazine in Poland, as a culture journalist and as the editor-in-chief of the magazine’s new mobile app Fiszki Polityki.
Matthieu Philibert (IMPALA, BE)
Matthieu, a citizen of France and the U.S., joined IMPALA, the European Association of Independent Music Companies, in 2011 as the Public Affairs Manager, after a three-year stint at eBay. On behalf of 4,000 independents and national associations across Europe, Matthieu is actively involved in EU discussions in Brussels about copyright, access to finance for cultural and creative SMEs, promoting cultural diversity, and competition. IMPALA’s Digital Action Plan encapsulates the independents’ current policy priorities, the over-arching focus of this document being the need for Europe to devise an industry-wide policy focusing on the unique strength and diversity of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors
Monika Marušić (The Garden Croatia, LAA, HR)
Monika realized at an early age that she wanted to be involved in radio and music, and her dream career kicked off when she began working for both independent and commercial media. This evolved into working in PR for the music industry, her guiding motto always being that if something is great, everyone should know about it. She’s currently in charge of communications for the renowned Croatian club The Garden, which hosts festivals such as Love International, Soundwave, and Defected Croatia, and The Garden Brewery, a craft brewery and event venue. She also works for the LAA agency and cooperates with festivals such as Outlook, Dimensions and Sea Star. She continues to work for various media outlets, appreciating the opportunity to interview a bunch of her favourite artists and attend some great conferences, as well as spin wicked tunes on her radio show for almost a decade.
Mirca Lotz (We Make Waves, fwd:like waves, DE)
Mirca is a booker, promoter and event organizer based in Munich – but often found elsewhere in the world. She’s part of innen.aussen.raum, a non-profit that promotes shows at off locations, from the riverside to the factory where the Orient Express was built. With her booking and event agency [fwd: like waves], she books shows in Europe and stages shows in Munich. Additionally, she promotes shows and events for Filmfest Munich, as well as for die urbanauten and others – often in public spaces (Kulturstrand München, Corso Leopold, Play Me I’m Yours). She’s the co-founder of We Make Waves, a new worldwide network for women in the music industry and connected creative fields, based on learning, sharing, connecting and exchange.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Nikki McNeill (Global Publicity, UK)
Nikki is the founder of Global Publicity, which specialises in worldwide PR and communications for music, festivals, and events. Launched in 2007, the company recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary and is widely recognised as one of the leading independent PR agencies, with a reputation for hard work, honesty, and professionalism, consistently delivering effective campaigns that raise the profile of artists, events, and festivals around the world. Nikki is passionate about the global music scene and only works with clients she truly believes in, dedicated to achieving the best results with campaigns that cross borders and get people talking. She loves what she does, and once the work is done, she can always be found on the dance floor, where her passion for music first started.
Olya Moldavskaya (The Orchard, UK)
Olya has been working in the creative media industry since 2000. Born in Latvia, she has studied and worked in Riga, Moscow, and London. Since 2013, she has overseen the Russian and Eastern European markets at the Orchard. Holding a dual role with a focus on the developing digital industry, Olya works closely with both rights holders and retailers, keeping her eye on new trends and emerging markets.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Sarah Besnard (ATC Live, DE)
Sarah is a booking agent living in Berlin and dividing her work between the ATC Live Berlin and London offices. She represents a roster of up-and-coming artists from the UK, Europe, and the U.S. ATC Live was founded in 2011 and looks after over 300 international artists, including Sleaford Mods, Girl Band, Austra, etc.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Serene Sass (Warner Music Group, UK)
Serene is Vice President of Warner Music Group’s Licensee Business, looking after a number of emerging markets in India, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, Israel, Turkey and the Middle East. She oversees Warner Music’s business in these territories, as well as supporting local artists from these regions to make it onto the global stage. Serene is an international label executive and has been at Warner Music for the past 15 years, helping to build its global footprint, build its digital presence and support local talent from many parts of the world. She has also worked extensively with the United Nations on many humanitarian music initiatives, ensuring that the voices of musicians from anywhere in the world have a platform. One of the key UN projects she worked on helped facilitate the UN reaching a billion people in one day through music.
Tanja Kos (A1 Slovenija, SI)
Tanja is a marketing communication expert in charge of events, special brand owned projects and sponsorships for A1 Slovenija telecommunication company. Most of the projects she is involved in are socially responsible i.e. collaboration between generations (Lahkonocnice.si), raising awareness for youth issues such as violence or unemployment (Žur z razlogom), inviting creative communities into A1 projects (Orto Longboards, TapeArt, Dance, Bikes…) and promoting young Slovenian artists by including their music in A1 commercials over last few years.
Ania Kasperek (Chimes Agency, PL)
Ania is a music manager and a co-founder of management, consulting and PR agency Chimes, supporting artists, music events, and music brands through the development of strategies and their implementation into daily business. She currently manages Icelandic pop singer-songwriter Hildur. She’s passionate about Nordic culture and inspired by Scandinavian entrepreneurship and scale-ups.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Danijel Sikora (Pozitivan ritam, HR)
Danijel entered the music business while still in high school, when he joined his first punk band. In college, he started booking shows, then it all exploded during the 1990s when he and his comrades founded Zagreb’s notorious club Močvara. At the turn of the century, he was involved in the inception of the now similarly infamous Moonlee Records. Today, he runs his own label, Geenger Records, with the motto: “Awesome new music from the Vukojebina!” He works at Pozitivan ritam, a Croatian company doing business in all things music. The company stands behind some of the biggest festivals in the region, handles distribution and merchandise, and runs, among other projects, its own label, PDV Records.
Dorit Chrysler (Austria/USA)
Dorit Chrysler is an internationally renowned composer, producer, and singer, and one of the few theremin virtuosos described in superlatives by global media. In her solo work, the proclaimed “supreme sorceress, goddess or mistress of the theremin” flirts with various genres, from pop and electronica to classical and film music. She has performed with the San Francisco Symphonic Orchestra, at CERN in Switzerland and the Coachella and Roskilde festivals, as well as composed music for films and TV series (for example, Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom). She regularly collaborates and performs with artists such as Cluster, Trentemøller, Elliot Sharp, Chicks on Speed, Faust, Marilyn Manson, Lee Hazlewood and Adult. Her latest solo album “Avalanche” was produced by Anders Trentemøller. Dorit Chrysler lives and works in New York, and is the founder of the NY Theremin Society and the first theremin school for children, KidCoolThereminSchool.
Elise Phamgia (Liveurope, FR)
Elise, who holds a Master’s Degree in European Affairs, has been building up an expertise in international and European cultural cooperation projects between Paris, Lyon, and Montreal. She’s now the project coordinator for Liveurope, the first EU-supported platform bringing together 14 iconic live music venues in Europe, including Kino Šiška. Launched in 2014, the support for Liveurope has been renewed for four extra years in 2017.
Eric Eitel (Music Pool Berlin, DE)
Eric is a curator and consultant for tech, art and culture projects. He’s a board member at all2gethernow, a Berlin-based culture think-tank, and a co-founder of Music Pool Berlin, a consulting platform for musicians and people working in the music business, funded by the European Social Fund and Musicboard Berlin. Eric writes for tech and music trade publications, advises companies and organisations, and tweets obsessively as @alias_eitel.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Guri Shkodra (Gillespie, KO)
Guri is a musician and a cultural activist from Prishtina, Kosovo. Since 2015, he’s been active with his band Gillespie, recognised as a significant influence on the local music scene. As a guitar player, he’s taken part in numerous other musical projects and groups in Kosovo and beyond, mainly in the punk and indie rock genres. He’s co-organised many cultural events and festivals, including the renowned Jam for the Cow in Kosovo. Though Guri is a lawyer and an MBA by profession, he works as a copywriter for a regional communications agency and is heavily involved in developing renewable energy projects in Kosovo.
Ina Tatarko (End of the Road Festival Management, Parallel Lines, UK)
Ina is working as a promoter and artist manager in London. She promotes shows for Parallel Lines, Girls and Boys and Famous Friends. Shows she works on range from first shows for artists at 80 capacity venues to 5,000 capacity shows, from indie to electronica, jazz to ambient/experimental. Apart from the promoter work, Ina manages the artists Ezra Furman and Du Blonde for End of the Road Festival’s management division. Additionally, she helps new and emerging artists take their first steps in an often intimidating industry through her label/management and promoter platform company Famous Friends.
Isabella-Anja Khom (Noisey Austria, AT)
Isabella-Anja was born in Vienna and grew up in Carinthia. As Carinthia doesn´t have much to offer regarding cultural exposure, books, music, fashion design and cigarettes became a sort of (deleterious) haven. She later graduated from a Catholic girls’ school and moved back to Vienna, where she studied German philology. To cope with the boredom of her university courses, she constantly listened to music. In 2014, she interned at Noisey Austria, then became Editor-In-Chief two years later.
Jörg Heidemann (VUT, DE)
Jörg is the CEO of VUT e.V., the association of around 1,300 independent German music companies. He’s the former co-owner and CEO of the MDM – Mutualism, Distribution & More distribution company, the former Head of Direct Export for Universal Music Germany, and the former Export Manager for one of the biggest German independent distributors EFA Medien GmbH towards the end of the 1990s. Before obtaining a graduate degree in Psychology at the University of Trier, he was already working in a couple of record stores to finance his studies. He’s also a board member of the Association for Popular Music in Germany and a member of the German IFPI Charts and Marketing Committee.
Klara Zupančič (Val 202, Punk Rock Holiday, SI)
Klara works with the Punk Rock Holiday festival in Tolmin and is a music editor at Radio Val 202. She’s also active as the programming head of the Kočevje Student Club and the BAZA 13 club in Kočevje, as well as occasionally organising concerts in Ljubljana.
Magdalena Jensen (Chimes Agency, PL)
Magdalena is the founder of Chimes, an independent music agency, and worked as a journalist for Polish radio for several years before entering the music industry as the manager of Paula & Karol. She’s worked with and consulted BRODKA, Rebeka, Kamp! and others. Currently, she’s managing Ifi Ude. She’s also the co-founder and chair of the newly-formed Music Managers Forum (MMF) Poland. She has organized the CJG European Music Fair for four years (in charge of international relations and the conference) and produced numerous conferences and events, such as Niewidzialny Dizajn and Media Meets Literacy. She’s a Polish-American who’s lived in Warsaw for eight years.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Pia Hoffmann (musicsupervising.com, DE)
Pia has been the creative hub for film directors, producers, composers, publishers and labels alike for more than a decade, and has made herself known as one of Europe’s leading music supervisors for film and television. Her setups and concepts are tailor-made, always finding the perfect equilibrium between a unique artistic style and budgetary demands, always connecting the right kind of people. Her services include rights clearances as well as contract negotiations. Pia strongly believes in creative teamwork and various ways of making the music heard, and is therefore not only responsible for Patenkind Records, an original soundtrack label; she’s also a frequent keynote speaker at music industry events.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Nikola Jovanović (Kontra, RS)
Nikola is the owner of the Kontra rights management agency, which provides advice and guidance to artists and labels. With 15 years of experience in the music business, Nikola is one of the key people in the Balkan music business. He’s a guest lecturer at SAE Institute Belgrade, where he teaches Music Business. In the past, he’s been the CEO and co-founder of Lampshade Media, one of the fastest growing record labels in the Balkans, and the Talent and Music Manager at MTV Adria, overseeing the company’s music department in the Adriatic region. He’s a passionate concertgoer and was involved in the production of more than 300 concerts and festivals in Serbia. He graduated in Music Production and Sound Recording from the Belgrade Art Academy.
Richard J. Foster (The Quietus, WORM, NL)
Richard is a music journalist, label owner, and artist. Between 2005 and 2015, he was the Editor-In-Chief of Incendiary magazine. He writes regularly for The Quietus, Louder than War, Vice (Noisey) and True Faith, among others. In addition to his journalist work, he is the Communications Manager at WORM Rotterdam, the co-founder of the Dutch “existentialist nonsense” label Smikkelbaard, and curates the Museum of Photocopies. His research on the Dutch post-punk movement has been published by Intellect Books and Cambridge Scholars. His further work on Dutch post-punk will be published by the IASPM and others in 2018.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Sasu Paakkunainen (Slush Music, FI)
Sasu is a co-founder of Slush Music, the music industry vertical of the world’s leading start-up event Slush. He started as an entrepreneur at the age of 16, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Management and is deeply involved in several entertainment companies in Finland. He is passionate about colliding the creative sector with other industries to find new business models.
Supported by INES – Innovation Network of European Showcases.
Sandra Vabarna (Trad.Attack!, EE)
Sandra is the manager and a member of Estonian band Trad.Attack!. She has been surrounded by folk music all her life, and at age seven she started to play different wind instruments. She has a B.A. in Interpretation and Teaching from the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and the Royal Academy of Stockholm. In 2015, she finished her M.A. studies in Estonian bagpipe in Tallinn. She has always been very interested in the music industry and has always managed her bands. Since 2014, her main focus has been Trad.Attack! and how to break music business borders and music styles with them. Within just four years, Trad.Attack! have become a success story in Estonia and played in 31 different countries. In 2017, Sandra was named Manager of the Year at the Estonian Music Industry Awards gala.
Seymour Stein (Sire Records, US)
Seymour is the co-founder and chairman of Sire Records, one of the music industry’s most influential record labels and home to some of the most iconic names in modern music. Seymour put punk and new wave on the map in the 1970s and 1980s, and has been the label’s driving creative force since its origins as an independent label and through its tenure as one of the most important imprints within Warner Bros. His unique ability to anticipate musical trends, and to discover and sign the greatest artists within those movements, has left an indelible mark on pop culture and helped to launch and nurture the careers of some of music’s most memorable artists. Some of the many acts Seymour has worked with in his career include Ramones, Talking Heads, Madonna, Depeche Mode, The Pretenders, Ice-T, The Cure, Ministry, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., Aphex Twin, Wilco, Primal Scream, Morcheeba, Lou Reed, etc. Seymour was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.