• NEXT EDITION
  • 23-27 OCT 2024
  • Manchester, UK

WOMEX - Worldwide Music Expo


Next Edition: WOMEX 24 Manchester, UK, 23 - 27 October 2024

WOMEX – Worldwide Music Expo – is the most international and culturally diverse music meeting in the world and the biggest conference of the global music scene, featuring a trade fair, talks, films and showcase concerts.

Over 2,600 professionals (including 260 performing artists) come together every October from 90 countries, making WOMEX the leading networking platform for the world music industry. Its musical spectrum is unparalleled in the international showcase performance market, ranging from the most traditional to the new global local underground, embracing folk, roots, jazz, local and diaspora cultures as much as urban and electronic sounds from all over the globe.

WOMEX hosts 7 stages, around 700 exhibiting companies, 100+ speakers, films, an opening concert and an award ceremony across five packed networking days and rather short nights.

WOMEX and its community aim to support and strengthen the role of culture around the globe and to spread its values through nurturing and promoting creativity and music. As a result, the local and global music community is able to – and needs to – contribute to cross-cultural understanding in a welcoming, tolerant, diverse and productive manner.

The event remains devoted to facilitating and promoting the global music industry and providing a platform to connect, inspire and share experiences, enabling new partnerships across transcontinental markets and an open economic and international cultural dialogue.

Since 1994 WOMEX has been travelling all across Europe, stopping off in

  • Berlin (1994, 1999, 2000) Brussels (1995) Marseille (1997)
  • Stockholm (1998) Rotterdam (2001) Essen (2002, 2004)
  • Newcastle (2005) Sevilla (2003, 2006, 2007, 2008)
  • Copenhagen (2009, 2010, 2011) Thessaloniki (2012) Cardiff (2013)
  • Santiago de Compostela (2014, 2016) Katowice (2017)
  • Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (2018) Tampere (2019)
  • Budapest (2015, 2020) Porto (2021) Lisbon (2022)
  • A Coruña (2023)

WOMEX 23 took place in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain from Wednesday, 25 to Sunday, 29 October 2023.

Previous Editions

Intrigued? Want to see what WOMEX is for yourself? Take part in our annual expo! You can book a trade fair stand for your company, promote yourself, send in a proposal for a chance at a programme slot at WOMEX, or simply come as a delegate and take in the many sights, sounds and opportunities on offer. Find information on registration and pricing here!

The Call for Proposals for WOMEX 24 is now closed! It will open again in early 2025 for WOMEX 25.





WOMEX 2023 in A Coruña



Professionals

2750


Companies

1385


Speakers

96


Artists

220

Impressions

Photos

Check out our Instagram page here
You can find further information on our photographers here


WOMEX Flickr Page

Videos

For footage of previous WOMEX performances, you can take a look at our YouTube Channel.


WOMEX YouTube Channel

virtualWOMEX

Stay connected throughout and beyond the event by signing up to our online community and directory virtualWOMEX.


virtualWOMEX


The most important international professional market of world music of every kind. This international fair brings together professionals from the worlds of folk, roots, ethnic and traditional music and also includes concerts, conferences and documentary films. It contributes to networking as an effective means of promoting music and culture of all kinds across frontiers.

- UNESCO Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity

IN 2023, WOMEX SAW...


More than 2,750 professionals (including 220 performing artists) from 105 countries representing 1,385 companies.
1,010 event promoters.
570 labels, publishers and distributors.
460 governmental, educational and other institutions.
770 individual booking agents, 700 managers and 320 producers.
260 national and international journalists.
A bustling Trade Fair with 703 exhibiting companies from 58 countries at 250 stands.
More than 60 Showcase acts with 220 musicians representing 45 countries on 7 stages.
96 speakers from 45 countries in 18 Conference Sessions, 9 Networking, 6 Mentoring Sessions, and 3 Associated Presentations.
Celebrating the 21st anniversary of the Film programme at WOMEX 23, the schedule in A Coruña featured a hand-picked selection of 18 music documentaries, including new releases, features, and shorts.
The Opening Concert ‘Resounding Picasso'.
Two WOMEX Awards honouring BCUC from South Africa with Artist Award; On the Move, based in Belgium with Professional Excellence Award.
WOMEX Academy 2023: taking place online and on-site with partners such as the Goethe-Institut Senegal, the Katapult Programme from Armenia, and the Chinese delegation of SEWEM.
WOMEX is a partner in several European projects: SEWEM (Sino-European Women Entrepreneurs in Music), Upbeat (the European showcase platform for World Music), and MOST (Bridge to Balkan Music).
The WOMEX Radio Studio in partnership with EBU - European Broadcasting Union, NRK (Norway) and RTVE Radio & Televisión Española


 

Media & Press

For photographs, logos, videos and other media from WOMEX, see our press section and media downloads.