Submitted by Record World Magazine
Right now, a new concept is breaking loose from ordinary showcase festivals. It’s not bigger that is better. A lot of complaints and feedback are that on the bigger showcase festivals that you just don’t do any business. The fact is that the export offices are demanding more and more opportunities that if they are going to a showcase they need to be sure that the industry people see the band, and more so the people that come to a showcase more and more want more than just a showcase they want an experience.
This is what Norrköping Music Day and Lilla By Festivalen are all about. They are small but both have the experienced organizers and are about meeting the right people. Norrköping Music Day was launched during the COVID pandemic. It was held outside the big Swedish showcase festival Future Echoes in September 2021. During pandemic rules, they had only 25 acts on two stages in two days with only 50 people capacity. The concept proved fruitful so this year they took another approach. Just one day one stage with three artists. Instead, they got in ten of the best speakers in the world. The event is free for anyone to attend so it proved very successful since they had an audience that came all way from France and Germany as well as other parts of Sweden to get to Norrköping to meet the international music industry as well as the local Norrköping music industry.
After that, they gathered up all the speakers and went down to Rinkaby in the south of Sweden. A small festival with 25 acts playing. Here in the daytime, you could meet the international music industry that was free of the entrance but to get to see the artist you needed a ticket.
Of course, an event like this is all about how matchmaking is done. Inside the speakers, you had a booker from the world’s largest festival Summerfest, Europe’s largest festival, UK’s Glastonbury. The biggest booker in the Baltic States. Industry professionals that have worked with all from Iron Maiden, Meatloaf, Michael Jackson, Backstreet Boys,Celine, Dion, Hall and Oates, Michael Jackson and Katie Perry to name a few. For the speakers, it’s all about the experience. They got special treatment and excursions. For the local music industry, it was that they could start a great network and get their careers going.
We are probably seeing more and more of these special programs in the future. With showcases becoming more and more common you have to stick out from the crowd. At special events like this, you have a chance to meet and really get to know the professionals and they will see you perform. On the other hand, they are much smaller.