x

The latest industry news to your inbox.


I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities

    

I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Music Industry Forum: German assocs present united front

Six industry associations, including live sector bodies BDKV and LiveKomm, have joined forces to create Germany’s first pan-music industry grouping.

Dubbed the Music Industry Forum (Forum Musikwirtschaft), the new alliance comprises the BDKV (Federal Association of the Concert and Event Industry), venue association LiveKomm (LiveMusikKommission), DMV (German Music Publishers’ Association), VUT (Association of Independent Music Companies), SOMM (Society of Music Merchants) and recording industry body BVMI (Federal Association of the Music Industry).

While the Music Industry Forum is not a formal umbrella body (in the vein of UK Music or Spain’s Esmúsica), the six partners say the challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis have made them realise the need for a collective voice of the German music industry.

“We live in a time of solidarity and alliances, and also in a time when we have all recognised that acting together brings more than working individually,” explains BDKV head Jens Michow (pictured), speaking to MusikWoche. “The music industry has never spoken with one voice before now, and it is a great achievement to be able to do on issues that affect us all.”

“The music industry has never spoken with one voice before”

VUT managing director Jörg Heidemann says working together will allow the music industry to present a united front to government. Usually, he says, “we are too business-focused for the BKM [ministry of culture and media] and too culture-oriented for the ministry of economic affairs, so we are sent back and fourth between them without ever really getting a foot in the door.”

Among the first priorities for the Music Industry Forum will be to organise a joint conference and prepare research on the German music industry.

Despite launching amid the Covid-19 pandemic, SOMM’s Daniel Knöll says he hopes the partnership will “continue to exist even after the corona era”.

“We have all identified numerous topics where we have the same objectives, even under more normal conditions,” he explains, “and we will be able to increase the political pressure if we permanently pool the strengths of these six business associations.”

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.