IFF 2024 unveils International Showcase partners
A top line-up of emerging acts from the Netherlands and Spain will take to the stage to entertain delegates as part of the International Showcase at this year’s International Festival Forum, which is presented in association with TicketSwap.
An invitation-only event organised by the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), IFF is returning to Omeara in London Bridge with an expanded campus for its 10th edition from 24-26 September, in association with TicketSwap.
Supported by Dutch Music Export and The Spanish Wave, the 25 September showcase in London will feature two artists from each nation.
Dutch Music Export is an initiative by Fonds Dutch Performing Arts, Buma Cultuur and Stichting Popcoalitie, created with the core mission of highlighting and strengthening the international status of Dutch pop music around the world.
“The Netherlands has a vast musical landscape with an incredibly diverse range of domestic artists touring worldwide throughout all different types of musical genres,” says Marcel Albers, general director of Dutch Music Export. “Make no mistake – there’s a lot this small country has to offer to the world when it comes to live music and events!”
The Spanish Wave, meanwhile, is Live Nation Spain’s local talent export and internationalisation programme, working closely with booking agencies, record labels, public institutions and national and international promoters.
“We will be presenting two incredible young and fresh urban Latin acts from Spain”
“In 2024 we will bring a tsunami of the best, coolest, freshest, and most varied emerging music coming from Spain, taking showcase festivals and conferences worldwide by storm,” says The Spanish Wave’s César Andión. “We are back at London’s IFF, which is one of the most important music industry gatherings in the world, where we will be presenting two incredible young and fresh urban Latin acts from Spain.”
Since launching in 2015, IFF (International Festival Forum) has brought the industry’s principal buyers and sellers together each autumn, when conversations about the following year’s festival lineups are well underway. More than 600 delegates have signed up for this year’s gathering so far.
As previously confirmed, the team behind Primavera Sound will star in IFF’s keynote interview on Thursday 26 September from 11.30am to 12:30pm. The Barcelona-hailing festival’s co-director Alfonso Lanza, head of press and institutional relations Marta Pallarès and head of booking Fra Soler will sit down to discuss the history, identity and development of one of the leading lights of the European scene at the 10th edition of the leading annual gathering for festivals and booking agents. Full details are here.
The conference programme is doubling in number this year, with two new sessions already announced. On Wednesday 25 September, the programme will kick off with The Festival Season 2024, chaired by European Festival Report editor James Drury, with Jana Posth, head of festival operations at Berlin-based DreamHaus, chairing The Responsibility Session: Festival power later that morning.
Booking agency partners on this year’s IFF are CAA, WME, Solo Agency, Primary Talent, ATC Live, Wasserman Music, ITB, One Fiinix Live, and Pure, with many agencies showcasing new artists at the event. Previous editions of IFF have included early performances from Lewis Capaldi, Tom Grennan, Yonaka, Bob Vylan, Sam Ryder, Slaves, Raye, Black Midi, Loyle Carner, Dermott Kennedy, Shame and others.
Alongside the agency showcases and this year’s International Showcase, the final night of IFF sees a Rising Metal night presented by Doomstar Bookings, Catch 22, Napalm Events and The Link Productions. Partners on this year’s event include CTS Eventim, See Tickets, Tysers Live, FKP Scorpio, All Things Live, iTicket Global, TVG Hospitality and LMP Group.
This year’s edition is expected to sell out with more than 1,000 delegates.
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Live Nation Spain’s Cesar Andion plots AMF sequel
Live Nation Spain’s Cesar Andion tells IQ he hopes to establish the Andalucía Music Forum as an annual event following its successful launch earlier this month.
The newest gathering for the international music industry in southern Europe debuted at the Albeniz Cinema in Málaga from 5-7 September, attracting 350 delegates and speakers.
Showcases were limited to acts from guest country Mexico, alongside local Andalucían talent.
“We are all super-happy with how everything turned out – it was exactly what I had in my mind when I was designing it,” says Andion. “The attendance was perfect for deep and friendly networking, as we wanted AMF to be a forum and not a big conference fair.
“The vibe was friendly, professional, easy-going, laid back and fun, and Málaga was the perfect spot as a gateway for Latin America in Europe and vice-versa. It’s very different to most of music conferences and we want to keep it that way in terms of the concept, vibe and style.”
“We are also planning another one in Madrid that will be completely different to AMF”
Andion says the biggest organisational challenges concerned the timing.
“We organised it all in just a few months and during the summer, which is quite a hard time to work because everyone is either on holidays or working on festivals,” he says. “But we have a great team with pros in Europe like Ruud Berends (Netherlands) and Ignacia Snadoval (Germany), Fabrizio Onetto and Malfi Dorantes from Mexico, and of course Esteban Ruiz and Erica Romero in Andalucía. The Mad Cool team worked really hard to make it happen and I am very thankful to everyone.”
And not only does Andion now have a sequel in the works, he also has his sights set on launching a sister conference in Madrid.
“We are also planning another one in Madrid that will be completely different to AMF,” he reveals.
AMF is part of the Andalucía Big by Mad Cool project, which also included the new 30,000-cap Andalucía Big Festival, held near Sacaba Beach from 8–10 September, with acts such as Muse, Jamiroquai, Years & Years, Glass Animals, Michael Kiwanuka, Wolf Alice, Franz Ferdinand and Aurora.
“It’s a very ambitious project and has been a total success”
“The project is ‘big’, as it is titled, because it has three ‘legs’ as we say in Spanish: the pro forum, the festival and a tour of Andalucían provinces,” explains Andion. “It’s a very ambitious project and has been a total success. Málaga deserved a big festival as it’s one of the coolest and most visited cities in Spain, but also because it’s the cultural and event capital of Andalucía.
“The festival had incredible vibe, I was really impressed with the audience, which was Spanish in majority but with great attendance of Brits.”
Mad Cool Festival and The Spanish Wave are also teaming up to promote Spanish talent at next week’s International Festival Forum (IFF), ILMC’s invitation-only event for music festivals and booking agents. The event will mark the culmination of a nationwide project to find the best emerging acts from Spain.
Three Spanish artists – Hickeys, Irenegarry and Pablo Drexler – were chosen from more than 500 applications and will perform at the Mad Cool Festival & The Spanish Wave Presents showcase at London’s Camden Assembly from 9pm on Wednesday (28 September).
Spain is the guest country for IFF 2022, which takes place in London between 27-29 September.
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