„Autumn in Paris“. Sounds promising. Which it is – however not from a romantic point of view. Again this year, I was back on the Seine for the MaMA Festival & Convention, which describes itself as the „gateway“ to the French pop and rock music market. This event gets bigger and bigger each year; consequently, it is also more and more challenging for visitors to decide which of the many events to catch, some of which are staged simultaneously. In spite of the enormous offering at MaMA, this year the seventh Swiss Business Mixer also proved to be a complete success: around 170 predominantly French music professionals accepted the invitation from joint organisers Swiss Music Export and FONDATION SUISA, something we consider to be a great success in the increasingly competitive music business. On the afternoon of Thursday 17 October 2019, these music business professionals enjoyed getting into discussions with the Swiss delegation over wine and finger food, and listening to extra showcases from the folk group Black Sea Dahu and garage rock band Sooma. Alongside these two acts, Oh Mu, the electropop singer from Valais, managed to grab one of the coveted showcase slots at the MaMA festival.
As a side note to Swiss Business Mixer, I also ran into Andreas Ryser, head of Bern-based label Mouthwatering Records and President of IndieSuisse. The challenges confronting music promoters in an increasingly digitised environment are a central theme for discussion within FONDATION SUISA. The discussion with Ryser, who for years has been dealing with the opportunities and pitfalls of digital marketing when launching and spreading the word about independent bands, was immensely rewarding. How should we position ourselves in future? How can we successfully promote Swiss music in an international market, if this market is orientated towards algorithms in the digital arena? How can be circumvent geoblocks and therefore use the digital arena as a means of speeding up our agenda?
This topic will keep us busy in the months to come, both internally and in many discussions with external specialists. I have, therefore, decided at this point to pay special attention to digitisation. Facing up to it successfully is a vital requirement if we are to be able to also fulfil our job as promoters in future. We don’t intend to give up…
For all the information about the Swiss presence at the MaMA Festival & Convention, please see:
mama.swissmusic.ch