WOMEX 16: Spotlight on Conference

Paul is stumped

With my conference itinerary in front of me, full of scribbles (‘must meet them’, ‘change@womex’, ‘Tech’, ‘is East Africa really the next big thing?’, ‘Unusual Concert Formats!!!’) I confess that I ended up marking just about every session for #WOMEX16 (yes, that’s our official hashtag). Is it the same with you or do I need to focus more?

Three days of discussions, presentations and networking are ahead of us. Obviously we could highlight just about everything at our conference. In this short summary, we confine ourselves to some notes on the ‘change@womex’ topic – a charter for world music, music and migration and many more - as well as a few practical sessions on technology – e.g. your questions on digital distribution will be answered, the panelists even put up some material for you to prepare and get a picture beforehand, if you fancy that. What is more, Spotify will hijack our conference format (or at least expand it) to do an Unconference, an open format where you can develop challenges and solutions together, on the spot, with them. And a panel will ask about the future for world music albums.

But remember: the other sessions will also be very, very good! Education topics are strong. This time many market overviews (China, East Africa, etc. etc…) are at hand. Not to mention all the network meetings spanning all continents and branches of the global music circus, including one for all promoters, one for venues, one for festivals. Oh and did you see the one on win-win programming of world music for pop festivals?

And then there is also…wait a minute! See. It’s happened again! All sessions marked, all sessions important.

You can find the full conference schedule with links to all sessions and network meetings here. The full schedules are also in our new mobile app, where you can star them to create your personal calendar in a digital and mobile form.

See you at the Opening on Wednesday evening! (Make sure to arrive on time to secure your seat!)

Yours musically,
Paul Bräuer, WOMEX director of communications

article posted by:Jim Hickson, Piranha Arts

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