We are delighted to announce Spain as the guest country at this year’s Waves festival (October 2-4, 2025). A great wealth of traditional music, many international stars and numerous renowned festivals make the country on the Iberian Peninsula an important music country. However, a certain amount of knowledge about the sometimes very different musical scenes and music markets is an important prerequisite for market entry and artistic and professional exchange with Spain. We are therefore inviting industry representatives from different regions of Spain to present them at the conference and thus lay the foundations for increased future cooperation.
“Spain, the land of festivals with an incredible variety of music scenes, has long been a wish for a Guest of Honour. And what year could be more fitting than this year, the year after we welcomed Colombia as our guest” – Thomas Heher (Head of Waves Vienna)
“Its all about music waves, we at The Spanish Wave are extremely honoured and delighted to present Spain as Guest of Honour at Waves Vienna 2025; we have been attending the Conference and showcase festival for 4 years, bringing Spanish acts to play and be discovered by Austrian fans, industry and media but not only Austrian but central European and beyond. We believe we in continental Europe have amazing talent that needs to be shown and discovered and booked to play across the continent, making the EU and rest a strong ongoing touring market for not only big acts but emerging and medium size ones; to reach that goal we need to get more connected in a regular basis.
Austria and Spain has always been connected culturally and now its time to strengthen a bridge for young artists from both countries and make more networking and business in touring, recorded music and music industry in general.
We are really looking forward to be Guest country, every year we are in one important conference and showcase festival around the world and I am very happy that finally is in Austria with our good friends at Waves Vienna, we promise great talent, great possible business and a good fiesta” – Cesar Andion (Head of Spanish delegation to Waves Vienna).
Conference focus
Music distribution & Socio-cultural topics
Continuing the focus on Colombia that began at the last Waves, the first results of the Colombia Work Exchange (CWX) project will be presented. In addition to country focal points, the conference will focus on music industry content such as digital and physical music distribution, sponsorship and the development of strategies for music exports.
This year’s spotlight at the conference will be dedicated to the backbone of the music cosmos, the digital, as well as physical, music distribution, the indispensable bridge between artists and fans.
Socially relevant topics will also be addressed – how is the PoC community doing in Austria’s music industry, what can we learn from international structures such as the Black Music Export Office? What help is already available to combat abuse of power in the music industry, what is missing and should be developed?
Workshops and masterclasses as well as various networking formats round off the programme, which will once again be organised with numerous Austrian cooperation partners such as VTMÖ, VCC and ÖMR.