Reeperbahn Festival Reflects On New York Edition, Sets Up Shop In LA and Burbank

emmaswannphoto/DIY – Yes We Mystic
The band from Canada performed at Rockwood Music Hall in New York as part of the Reeperbahn Festival showcase night, June 19

Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival is going to launch an annual spin-off event in LA and Burbank as part of Musexpo 2019 in March 2020. Pollstar met Reeperbahn Festival CEO Alexander Schulz at A2IM’s Indie Week in New York, which hosted the New York edition of Reeperbahn Festival for a fourth year in June.

The recorded music focused event received a good dose of live music thanks to Reeperbahn Festival’s showcase night at Rockwood Music Hall, June 19. The lineup included Yes We Mystic from Canada, Ori from Israel, Leoniden and Gurr from Germany, Mira Lu Kovacs from Austria as well as Renata Zeiguer and Surfbot from the U.S.

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Since Indie Week is a b2b conference for the recorded music sector, there weren’t many live professionals on site. Jörg Tresp, founder of DevilDuck Records, who represents Yes We Mystic, told Pollstar that booking agents were mostly absent from the event and that it was quite hard to get them to come down to see a show. With the amount of concerts taking place in New York at any given time, however, he wasn’t surprised that none of the agents he had contacted in the weeks leading up to the showcase seemed to have found the time.

This chimed with what most of the German delegates, who were looking for live opportunities for their artists, told Pollstar. Which isn’t to say that the trip to New York wasn’t worthwhile. After all, most of the 50-plus companies from Germany and other European countries that were part of the Reeperbahn Festival delegation were looking for partners in the recorded music and publishing space as well.

– The Reeperbahn Festival delegation in New York (most of it)
Posing in front of New York’s Rockwood Music Hall

Schulz said “the one-on-one meetings with US companies’ representatives are still extremely attractive to almost all of the members of our delegation. And there are many among them, who are interested to present an act from their catalogue or roster within our showcase to the mixed public and business audience.

“We will enlarge the opportunities of presenting acts live to public and professional audience for our delegates, which simply means either more days and slots in the same venue or adding another venue at the same day. We have not made a decision yet.”

Q’s With Detlef Schwarte And Alexander Schulz Of Reeperbahn Festival

– Alexander Schulz
CEO of Reeperbahn Festival

Reeperbahn Festival has clear international ambitions and the financial backing of Germany’s foreign office. In addition to a New York spin-off, the event has been cooperating with Music Biz in Nashville, TN, and WISE in Beijing, China, since this year. It will also launch a spin-off in Africa this year, at Music In Africa Conference for Collaborations, Exchange and Showcases (ACCES) in Accra, Ghana, in November.

Reeperbahn Festival tested the waters in LA late last year, when it hosted keynotes and curated one-on-one-meetings for music publishing, recording and live music business, Nov. 1-2, at Navel in Downtown LA.

After gaining some local experience, Schulz and his team think are ready to set up an annual spin-off event in Burbank and LA as part of a cooperation with MUSEXPO, March 22-25, 2020.

Reeperbahn Festival’s different spin-offs all focus on various parts of the music business, and the new LA edition is going to be all about Live Entertainment and Synch, according to Schulz.