The international music industry is travelling to Austria – the 4th edition of Waves Vienna is just around the corner. We are looking forward to welcoming our international guests to Vienna!
RIKU SALOMAA (Music Finland, FIN)
– Where are you from & what do you do?
I’m from Helsinki and work with Music Finland – the Finnish music export and information office. I run our operations in the UK and German-speaking Europe, including project management, communications and marketing.
– Is it your first time at Waves Vienna?
Yes and – as a matter of fact – in Vienna as well. But as Austria, Germany and Switzerland will be the focus markets for Finnish music in 2015-16*, I’m sure I’ll be visiting the city many times from now on.
– Which concerts are you looking forward to?
Of course, I look forward to seeing how the local audience likes our Finnish acts (Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Mirel Wagner and Noah Kin), but I’m very much looking to see Jennie Abrahamson, Ballet School and Manu Delago as well.
– What´s your favorite Austrian band?
I saw 5/8erl in Ehr´n at Reeperbahn Festival and liked them very much, although I can’t pronounce their name and don’t quite get the lyrics due to my poor German language skills. Can you teach me how to pronounce it?
* Music Finland has selected the GSA (German speaking Europe) region as the focus for the next export iniative of Finnish music. The iniative and the following export operations will take place in 2015 – 2016. The main objectives of the initiative are to increase the export volume and visibility of Finnish music in the target region and it’s neighbouring markets. Read more: www.musicfinland.at
The Waves Vienna Conference will take place from October 2nd to October 3rd 2014 and is organized by Waves Vienna and Austrian Music Export. The program is meant to be the basis and inspiration for a long-term, pan-European cooperation and addresses current issues in the music industry, as well as the key subject of Eastern and Western European exchange.
The keynote address, “The Future of Music Management,” will be given by music industry legend Keith Harris, and further speakers will include producer and manager Peter Jenner (UK), music journalist and consultant Allan McGowan (UK), Kristin Thomson of the Future of Music Coalition (US), and agent, manager, and label exec Robert Singerman (US).
For the full program go to: http://www.wavesvienna.com/en/conference/schedule-14/
Conference speakers overview: https://www.musicexport.at/waves-conference-speakers/