Circulart, THE music platform for Latin America and beyond, is taking place parallel to the Copa America de Futból. Here are some half-time results after two busy days under the sun of the city of the eternal spring, Medellín, Colombia.
Strong International Participation
This year, Circulart has drawn a record of more than 850 registered participants from 18 countries. With delegations from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil and Costa Rica as well as Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela just to name a few. For this edition Circulart is cooperating with Piranha Arts, organisers of WOMEX - The World Music Expo, to entice intercontinental music professionals from across the oceans.
Octavio Arbelaez, director of Circulart
"The sixth edition of Circulart is meeting our expectations, with its impact on music(s) from Latin America, and also for the business generated and exchanges between our continent's scene and the rest of the world.
The main topic of this year's edition 'working in networks' was transmitted very concretely through meetings and a real work of articulation of the diverse actors attending Circulart 2015, making it the platform for all music from Latin America.”
Conference
The first two days were dedicated to the conference programme, with two fantastic Keynote Speakers:
• Seymour Stein from Sire records, New York and
• Camilo Lara from the Instituto Mexicano del Sonido y Caset
The two main axes of the conference this year are: working in networks and the use of digital tools to have better control of content and reinforce revenues.
Circulart has become a space for reflection, attended by a great mix of young audience members and profesionals from all over Latin America, who help build an interesting dialogue around topics such as festivals, music journalism, the role of universities and the developement of the music sector as well as new tools for artists and managers.
Showcases
Over 200 artists from Colombia and 10 Latin American countries play 31 showcases on three stages in and around the Pablo Tobón Theater in Medellín.
Networking Business Meetings
Today the second part of Circulart is starting. Via the dedicated online system developed by Redlat, around 2000 meetings between 85 promoters, labels, aggregators and 126 selected artists are planned.
On the second day of the event, we experienced a new feature in the Metro Cable of Medellín: the 'Cable pitch' - much more fun than in an elevator - put three artists and three promoters in a cabin of the Metro Cable, allowing them to network and exchange while soaring over the city.
Social networks
A record use of the hashtag #Circulart2015. 200+ % more activity on all social networks. Colombia and Latin America prove again their dynamism in this areas.
article posted by:Paul Bräuer, Piranha Arts