WOMEX BLOG MAY 2009

WOMEX Showcase proposals 2009… Over 760, a new record...

from Gerald Seligman, WOMEX General Director

The big question was... With the industry in crisis, would we begin to see an effect on the number of showcase proposals? Last year we had a record number, 635, which made the use of an online system, courtesy of Sonicbids, absolutely imperative. But since then the general music industry crisis has intensified (in the UK in December, for example, retail and distribution both imploded), and then came the overall world economic crisis. We were thinking the numbers might start to shrink a bit. Then again, it was also possible that the crisis would make opportunities to meet, trade, listen and network, like those offered at WOMEX, even more important. Perhaps the crisis would focus all our minds, our funds and our efforts. And so, the showcase proposal deadline passed, we helped online the final few artists who had had technical difficulties, and Voilá! The tally: 2009 brought over 760 showcase proposals, over 120 more than in 2008. Frankly, we’re a bit stunned. And the proposals are looking very good.

"There are many new artists we haven’t seen before," Alex Walter, our Music Programming Manager, says. "The Jury has been contacting me and they are working very hard already. Many emails are going between us and between Jury members, and they are busy busy working on it."

I asked him to summarize his initial impressions, and he gave me two: "Really quality and shitloads of work."

Mike Orlove, a Jury member from Chicago, has this to say: "I have to say for me the biggest joy is being floored by an artist you never heard of before... and there are many... It always amazes me that there continues to be so much quality music (of all types) being created every day. I can't wait to see some of these groups live... Now, how in the hell are we going to narrow this pool down to double digits?"

Kristiina Ilmonen had the same impression: "I am completely amazed at the overall quality of the proposals. It will be very hard to make decisions I´m sure. And the scope of musical styles is fantastically wide. I´ve already heard lots of supergood music I did not know of beforehand at all and I´m only halfway in the listening."

I’ve been going through it all myself. It’s one of the perks of the job. Each year I get to hear many hundreds of CDs, many from artists I, too, have never heard before. It’s quite an ideal perch from which to view what is out there. As with Mike and Kristiina, it never ceases to amaze me how much good music is being made year after year after year. And how many new artists deserve a wide, international audience. We wish all of you luck who applied. The Jury meets mid-May and by early June all proposing artists will be notified of the Jury selection. Public announcements will only come after we get solid confirmations. In past years this has been sometime in July..


Warm Regards from sunny Berlin, Gerald

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