Press release Sonic Visions Music Conference & Showcase Festival 23/24 November 2012 at Rockhal / Luxembourg September 2012 Rockhal Luxembourg's Music Conference and Showcase Festival SONIC VISIONS is getting ready for its fifth edition that is being held from 23-24 November 2012. Located between Belgium, France and Germany, SONIC VISIONS creates a platform for professionals all over the music industry as well as for the international audience from the Greater Region. Previous editions included gigs by artists such as Tokio Police Club, Jamaica, Bonaparte, Naive New Beaters, Royal Republic and keynotes by music professionals such as Carl Leighton-Pope, Alan McGee (Creation Records), Ross Robinson (producer - KoRn, Klaxons, Slipknot, The Cure, inborn!...), Moses Schneider (producer - Beatsteaks, Tocotronic...) and Gareth Jones (producer - Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Interpol...). Please read hereafter some details about the concept of the festival and the conference program. The Sonic Visions Festival is an initiative of the Rockhal - Centre de Musiques Amplifiées - in Luxembourg and combines their main activities as a concert promoter and music & resources center located in the heart of Europe (neighbouring Germany, France and Belgium), thus bringing international touring acts to Luxembourg and acting at the same time as a structure that accompanies and assists young talents on their way to professional careers. In this logic, we do position the Sonic Visions Festival as a platform where the industry actually gets to meet the artist and vice-versa. The Conference's Leitmotiv is "It's all about the Artist" as we really want to focus on the main asset of our industry and give artists and their team (mgmt, booker...) the opportunity to get the information and resources they need to take their project to the next level. We think that as an artist you need to be in full control of your project and you need to know the mechanisms of the music industry. Today‟s land of plenty seems to become more and more a labyrinth: You can‟t make use of every possibility that seems to be attractive and promising, you need to have a precise idea of what you really want and how you can get there. It‟s true, no one can provide a master plan, but Sonic Visions is asking the crucial questions! Two-day conference and festival tickets are available for 80 EUR. Sonic Visions Music Conference and Showcase Festival is brought to you by Rockhal and Music & Resources Rockhal www.sonicvisions.lu / www.rockhal.lu / www.mr.rockhal.lu PANELS, WORKSHOPS & MEETINGS The two days conference program starts on Friday the 23th November and will provide participants a global, comprehensive and intrusive view of today‟s music industry and it‟s upcoming trends. Two days packed with workshops, panels, experience sharing and discussions, all dealt from the artist‟s point of view! If you want to improve both your artistic talent and business skills, the conferences provide you with a variety of topics you can select from. Learn about labels, music licensing, copyright, touring, DIY strategies, marketing, communication, new markets and much more. In addition to this, numerous networking sessions will give musicians and music professionals the opportunity to meet in a cosy atmosphere. DIGITAL PROMOTION STRATEGIES FOR MUSICIANS WITH VIRGINIE BERGER (DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE) - IN COLLABORATION WITH MULITPISTES What are the tools I need to know and use to build up a clever digital promotion strategy for my band? How can I communicate with fans and involve the community? How can I use traditional and new media and promotion techniques for my band? What are today‟s business models on the web and what are the possibilities to monetize my music? This workshop will give musicians and their team an overview of today‟s web based music world and the existing strategies and mechanisms they can use to promote themselves. In addition to this the attending bands of the Multipistes network will have the possibility to get personalized advice and tips & tricks for their project. With more than 12 years of experience in the media and music industry, Virginie Berger is the former marketing and content director of MySpace France, and now reader for IMM, Nanterre University, Irma and author (Music and digital strategies). She is the founder and the CEO of DBTH, a strategy, development and management firm, dedicated to artists and creative industries. She is also the publisher of Don’t believe the Hype, a website dedicated to musicians, artists, bands and people from the music industry. It gives them the tools, resources, expertise and guidance to help them take their music career to the next level. MEET LUXEMBOURG'S BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Discover Luxembourg's business environment and meet some of the key people who can guide you through topics such as intellectual property, information technologies and tax regulations. LUXEMBOURG MUSIC TALK: ARTISTS & MUSIC PROFESSIONALS FROM LUXEMBOURG IN 2012 Another year has passed since Sonic Visions 2011 and it's time to make a round up of the situation in which musicians and music professionals in and from Luxembourg are working and living. The local scene has known some major developments, artists like Mutiny on the Bounty, Sun Glitters and Inborn have decided to take their projects to the next step and are touring Europe on a regular basis, institutions like the M&R Rockhal and music:LX are offering opportunities, training and artist support and private promoters are considering local artists more and more as potential commercial acts. This all sounds great and is a major step forward but we would like to hear what musicians and their teams think! Considered as the follow-up panel of last year's "Being a musician in/from Luxembourg" the aim of the discussion is to sketch the realities, the life and the issues that musicians and music professionals have to face while trying to build up their project and having their home base in Luxembourg. Host: Olaf Furniss (Journalist & Born To Be Wide / Wide Days organiser) Sonic Visions Music Conference and Showcase Festival is brought to you by Rockhal and Music & Resources Rockhal www.sonicvisions.lu / www.rockhal.lu / www.mr.rockhal.lu Speakers: Patrice Hourbette (Head of Music:LX Luxembourg Export Office), Laurent Loschetter (Promoter - Den Atelier), Sacha Schmitz (musician – Mutiny on the Bounty), Victor Ferreira (producer - Sun Glitters) & more speakers to be announced soon. NETWORKING SESSION: MEET THE PROS WARDED BY M&R ROCKHAL AND SUPPORTED BY MUSIC:LX Meet professionals from the European music industry such as labels, booking agencies, managers and journalists. CRASH COURSE - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COPYRIGHT FOR MUSICIANS & INDIVIDUAL CONSULTING SESSIONS FOR MUSICIANS. This crash course gives musicians a basic overview of the concepts of intellectual property and copyright to audio-visual creation. How can I protect my music, what are my rights as a songwriter, what do I need to know to manage rights and how can I make money from those rights? The workshop will be followed by a series of free individual consulting sessions for musicians and bands with Michel Gyory himself. Host: Michel Gyory (Attorney, Lecturer at the Universities of Liège and Vienna). WHERE IS MY MONEY OR THE MANY WAYS TO EARN MONEY WITH MY MUSIC: LICENSING, GAMES, TOURING AND MORE. As record sells are crashing, musicians have to think about new ways of earning and saving money. There is still plenty of money to earn but you have to know where to find it! This panel will give you an overview of the different ways to generate revenues from your hard work. Host: Dietmar Schwenger (Redaktion MusikWoche) Speakers: Billy Torney (Roadrunner Belgium & MTC Records), Prof. Tim Renner (Motor Entertainment), Michael Bisping (A.S.S. Concerts & Promotion GmbH) & more speakers to be announced soon. TOURING: TIPS AND TRICKS FROM THOSE ON THE ROAD Booking a tour is a challenge and needs to be done according to a planning and a budget. This panel will give you an overview of the dos and don't's and the hard rules you need to know and take care of when organising a tour for a/your band. THE DIY PANEL OR WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOING IT ALONE (GIGGING, RELEASES, PROMOTION, GENERAL TOOLS...) As labels are less keen to sign new artists, many musicians and bands have to choose the DIY way to make their project grow before they become interesting for music professionals. What are the hard rules of the DIY artist? What do you have to know and expect if you chose to go this way? What are the essentials points you should focus on? Host: Olaf Furniss (Journalist & Born To Be Wide / Wide Days organiser) Speakers: Julien Fernandes (musician, 5ive Roses Press, Africantape), Fabrice Absil (Head of Absilone Technologies) & more speakers to be announced soon. Sonic Visions Music Conference and Showcase Festival is brought to you by Rockhal and Music & Resources Rockhal www.sonicvisions.lu / www.rockhal.lu / www.mr.rockhal.lu MEET THE RIGHT PERSON OR HOW TO PUT IN PLACE THE BEST TEAM FOR YOUR PROJECT (MGMT, BOOKER, AGENT, PR...) Especially if you are a DIY artist, you have to choose carefully the collaborators and partners you want to integrate in your team once the workload has become too important to be handled by yourself. Who should take care of your booking, your promotion and your business in a general way? Manager, agent, press person, or maybe just the "best friend" of the band or your former bass player? Which person do you need or don't need at which moment of your career? Dedicated to musicians and people interested in working with bands, the aim of the panel is to show what jobs are actually gravitating around bands and what they consist of.