The Tallinn Music Week (TMW), the annual music conference and showcase festival, will bring 90 speakers from around the world to Tallinn, the Estonian capital.
The TMW, running from 25-29 March, is a music industry conference and one of the biggest indoor festivals in the Nordic and Baltic region. The mission of the festival, taking place for the seventh time this year, is to raise the reputation of Estonian music and to enhance the international development and reputation of the local and regional music industry, as well as to promote Tallinn and Estonia as exciting cultural tourism destinations.
This year, the TMW will have a special focus on the participation of women in the music industry. There will be 23 discussion panels where 90 speakers from around the world will focus on top female executives, game-changing models in fostering musical talent, the value of music, the increasingly demanding role of a manager and the new exciting markets of Europe.
The two-day music industry conference will be held on 27-28 March at the Nordic Hotel Forum Conference Centre. As a tradition, the conference will kick off with the highly anticipated opening address by Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
Some of Europe’s finest promoters, festival chiefs and executives as Anna Sjölund, the head promoter of Live Nation Sweden; Anne Erm, the founder of Estonia’s oldest and most respected festival Jazzkaar, going into their 26th year in the business; and Paulina Ahokas, the director of Tampere Hall, Scandinavia’s largest Congress and Concert Centre, will share their stories of success and struggle. One of Sweden’s most influential women in music business, Marie Dimberg, the manager of Roxette, will be interviewed by Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdottir, the head of programme for Nordic Music Export Office. They both will also play an integral role on a dedicated panel on the increasingly demanding role of an artist manager.
Michael Pärt, the head of Arvo Pärt Centre, a sanctuary of the work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, will share his experiences as a music producer. His credits include collaborations with artist like Björk, Peter Jackson and Francis Ford Coppola.
In an interview by MOJO magazine’s Kieron Tyler, the always controversial and outspoken manager and author of best-selling books on the music industry, Simon Napier-Bell, will take a journey through the many aspects of his colourful life in music. Napier-Bell used to manage Wham!, Japan and Marc Bolan, among others.
Other topics include the driving force for creative cities, the value of music, staying alive as an independent record label, the future of music radio, and the need for an open-minded and broad music education.
Whether it’s TMW’s innovative ways, a good line-up or Tallinn’s old charm itself, but the festival’s international reputation has grown year-by-year. The Wire Magazine has suggested that the “Tallinn Music Week has proven that a country as small as Estonia punches well above its weight in terms of musical talent. The degree of technical ability and polish shown, across many different genres, both live and on record, was very impressive. What’s more, Tallinn’s musical community is warm, well informed and enthusiastic.”
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Cover: Tallinn Music Week design by Aku.
