President Kersti Kaljulaid to open this year’s Tallinn Music Week conference
President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid will open the two-day conference of Tallinn Music Week that will focus on the impact of creativity and innovation on 31st March and 1st April at the Russian Cultural Centre and Nordic Hotel Forum.
The opening of the conference will take place at the Russian Cultural Centre on Friday, 31st March at 10 am. The conference of the ninth edition of the international music and urban culture festival Tallinn Music Week (TMW), taking place from 27th March to 2nd April in Tallinn, Estonia, is a meeting place for creative entrepreneurs and innovators from all over the world.
Music industry professionals as well as creative and tech experts and policy makers will be among the conference speakers. The previously mainly music-focused TMW conference has looked in depth into the added value of creativity in a wider sense since 2016. The overall theme of the coming festival is sustainable development and all areas connected to it from environmental protection to urban development, from inclusive communities to promotion of equal rights.
The core of the TMW conference is entrepreneurial development focusing on the music industry and other areas of the creative sector, keywords being innovation, sustainability, future skills, technology, science, new and traditional media. Estonia’s role as holder of the EU Council presidency in 2017 also determines a closer look at the issues of the digital single market.
TMW 2017 conference will be opened on 31st March at 10 in the Russian Cultural Centre in Tallinn by the first female president of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid, who took over after president Toomas Hendrik Ilves – known among the TMW visitors as a living encyclopedia of pop culture.
The list of confirmed speakers
The TMW conference / delegate pass that also grants a priority access to the whole festival and offers discounts at special events can be bought in the festival online shop for 175€ until 1st February. From 2nd February the price of the pass will be 250€. Passes and accommodation can be booked here
The music programme of the festival will be announced on 2nd February.
Tallinn Music Week (TMW) is a weeklong celebration of talent, curiosity, creativity, freedom and equality. This year’s edition from 27th March to 2nd April will present the music festival line-up and two-day industry conference, a series of free City Stage concerts, a selection of eateries within TMW Tastes; TMW Arts programme, curated by the Estonian Contemporary Arts Development Centre, Design Market showcasing the most exciting Baltic and Scandinavian brands and designs, TMW Talks series with topics from music to science and societal issues, City Space activities in cooperation with the interior designers of Estonian Academy of Arts and a very special youth programme. TMW 2017 is presented by Nordea bank, the partners are Telia and Spotify, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Enterprise, Eesti Meedia and Nordic Hotel Forum.
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Photo by Aron Urb.
Tallinn Music Week (TMW) launched its new website with the design of the upcoming festival edition today. The website of the biggest Nordic city festival was created by design studio Velvet, the author of the new visual identity is designer Mariana Hint-Rääk.
The task of the new design was to visualise precisely and metaphorically the main topics of this year’s festival: sustainable development in all its facets from environmental sustainability to urban development, from cohesive communities to promotion of equal rights.
Mariana Hint-Rääk designed an identity based on the symbol of portals. Mariana says the visual developed from moving between the several layers and levels of TMW: “The image of portals is the main element as it symbolises the movement from the bright facade of the festival towards deeper layers. The festival audience oriented outer layer of TMW is the enjoyment of a packed entertainment programme from music to design and food. However there is always a deeper meaning and impact behind. All these colourful parts of the programme compile a many-fold entertainment as well as honest and critical analysis of the processes in society.”
The illustration that opens behind the portal was created by the graphic designer and street artist Viktor Gurov. To stand out from the text and photo based shiny surface of the festival’s website and other channels Gurov used a punk-inspired DIY ethics, a more abstract visual language and handy tools – spoon, grass, paper knife, dishwashing sponge, match and whiteboard marker – to create the illustration.
The new visual continues the traditional two-colour combination in order to make the festival recognisable around the city. The main colours are bright dark pink and grey that is balancing the intensity.
With the new visual also a new official font “GT Eesti” has been adapted by TMW. The international font designers group Grilli Type, led by Reto Moser, derived the new font from the Cold War era graphic phenomena “Zhurnalnaya Roublennaya“ and Soviet era Estonian children’s books while making it modern and dynamic as is fit for the festival. The font exists in Latin and Cyrillic letters.
The new website of TMW was created by design office Velvet. The main aim has been to design a practical assistant for festival guests as well as delegates and artists by enabling easy navigation between different festival layers, artist presentations and web shop. The web follows the logic of the new visual by consisting of different layers and portals that allow to look underneath the surface. TMW 2017 programme will be launched on the website on 2 February together with My Festival Schedule tool.
Tallinn Music Week (TMW) is a weeklong celebration of talent, curiosity, creativity, freedom and equality. This year’s edition from 27th March to 2nd April will present the music festival line-up and two-day industry conference, a series of free City Stage concerts, a selection of eateries within TMW Tastes; TMW Arts programme, curated by the Estonian Contemporary Arts Development Centre, Design Market showcasing the most exciting Baltic and Scandinavian brands and designs, TMW Talks series with topics from music to science and societal issues, and Urban Space activities in collaboration with the interior architecture department of Estonian Academy of Arts.
TMW 2017 is presented by Nordea bank, the partners are Telia and Spotify, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Enterprise Estonia, Eesti Meedia and Nordic Hotel Forum.
The multi-genre festival programme of about 200 local and international artists will be released on 2nd February. Additional information: http://tmw.ee/programme
TMW 2017 festival passes are available for €50 at TMW web store until 31 January (from 1 February €60). Buy your festival pass at http://tmw.ee/store
Festival pass grants access to all concerts, provided the venue is not sold out, and offers discounts at the TMW Tastes restaurant festival. (In case the venue is sold out entry will be granted on first-come-first-served basis.)
TMW 2017 delegate passes are available for €175 until 31 January (from 1 February €250) at TMW web store.
Sign up as a delegate and buy your pass at http://tmw.ee/store/
TMW delegate pass grants access to the conference seminars and priority access to the music festival as well as the data-base of registered contacts.
A limited number of TMW 2017 priority passes are on sale in the web store for €150.
Buy your priority pass at http://tmw.ee/store
The priority pass provides an exclusive and personalized overview of the various events during the festival and access to the TMW delegates’ networking bars. Priority pass holders will have access to a personal help line (email and phone number) to guide you through the festival with personalized recommendations and assist with bookings for special events.
TMW2017 single concert tickets will be on sale from 2 February in Piletilevi.
TMW 2017 visual identity for downloading
tmw.ee/about/media-pack
Estonian artists NOËP and Tommy Cash are performing at the biggest European festival for new talent, Eurosonic Noordeslag this week in Groningen, Holland. Music Estonia leads the delegation of Estonian music industry professionals.
This year’s festival line-up includes two Estonian acts. “Real professional rap superstar” who has put Estonia on the international map with his eccentric “post.soviet” style, Tommy Cash performs twice – in the Vera club on 11th January and in Groniningen’s Platformtheater on 12th January, whilst electro artist-producer NOËP takes his infectious blend of stripped back electronic to the Mutua Fides club on 12th January.
See the full line-up and information of Eurosonic festival programme.
In addition, the festival offers daytime conference programme featuring 175 panels, keynote speakers, interviews, workshops, and dinners, as well as pitches, parties and meetings covering the latest developments in the international music, media, production and interactive industries.
Among the conference panelists is also the founder of Tallinn Music Week, Helen Sildna who will participate in the discussion of „Music Moves Europe“ initiative on 12th January. Launched in 2016 and bringing together more than 50 music organizations around the European Commission to shape the EU’s music agenda, this cycle of high-level discussions has proven very promising. Now, Helen together with other influential players in the European music industry will voice their position on the subject, through a dialogue with representatives from the European Commission.
Eurosonic Noorderslag is the key exchange and networking platform for European music, with a proven track record for helping to break new acts on the international live music scene. Selling out each year, the event attracts more than 4,000 professional delegates, including representatives of over 400 international festivals. Each year, Eurosonic Noorderslag presents 350 showcases alongside a conference program covering the latest developments in the international music, media, production and interactive industries.
The ninth edition of the biggest Nordic-Baltic city festival Tallinn Music Week (TMW) will take place in Tallinn, Estonia from 27th March to 2nd April 2017. For the first time TMW will offer exclusive priority passes to guests who wish to attend the event as smoothly and well-informed manner as possible.
For music and culture fans, who value a diverse experience of TMW and wish to contribute to the festival TMW offers a limited number or priority passes. TMW priority pass for €150grants priority access to all the showcase concerts and other events with a dedicated information contact to guide you through the festival and pick out just the right venues and routes for you. You will also be invited to the official Tallinn Music Week opening concert on 30th March at Kultuurikatel. The priority pass provides an exclusive and personalised overview of the various events during the festival and access to the TMW delegates’ networking bars. Priority pass holders will have access to a personal help line (email and phone number) to guide you through the festival with personalised recommendations and assist with bookings for special events.
In addition to the music festival line-up and two-day industry conference, TMW offers a series of free City Stage concerts, a selection of eateries within TMW Tastes; TMW Arts programme, curated by the Estonian Contemporary Arts Development Centre, Design Market showcasing the most exciting Baltic and Scandinavian brands and designers, TMW Talks series with topics from music to science and societal issues, and City Space activities in cooperation with the interior designers of Estonian Academy of Arts.
The multi-genre festival programme of nearly 200 local and international artists will be released on 1st February.
Tallinn Music Week (TMW) is a weeklong celebration of talent, curiosity, creativity, freedom and equality. This year’s edition will focus on sustainable development in all its aspects from environmental sustainability to urban development, from cohesive communities to promotion of equal rights. TMW 2017 is presented by Nordea bank, the partners are Telia and Spotify, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Enterprise, Eesti Meedia and Nordic Hotel Forum.
A limited number of TMW 2017 priority passes are on sale at TMW web store for 150€
TMW2017 single concert tickets will be on sale from 1st February in Piletilevi.
*Clients of Nordea and Telia can buy up to 2 TMW priority passes and up to 2 TMW festival passes with a special discount code starting from 13th January.
TMW priority passes, festival passes and all bank cards of Nordea offer special discounts from 5 to 15% at TMW Tastes participating restaurants.
Nordea clients have access to the following discounts from the prices of priority pass, festival pass and single tickets:
Nordea debit card: -10%
Nordea Gold credit card: – 20%
Nordea Platinum credit card: -30%
Clients of Telia receive a 20% discount for pre-booked priority pass, festival pass and single ticket.
The Finnish and Estonian music industries have joined forces to increase the export capabilities of musical talent and music companies to Japanese market under a joint endeavour Finest Sounds.
The objective is to bring more high quality Finnish and Estonian music to the second biggest music market in the world, incorporating the other fields of culture and business operations in the mix – from visual arts and design to technological deeds.
Japan has been strong market area for Finnish music since Hanoi Rocks’ sold out concerts in the 1980s to the success of metal bands like Children of Bodom, Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius and recent deal of folk duo Kardemimmit with Japan’s largest department store. Estonian indie labels Seksound and Õunaviks have developed tight distributional and licensing ties in Japan during the last ten years, and Estonian choral singing has had its own accomplishments there.
However, the objective of Finest Sounds is to broaden and extend the music export by helping the companies and artists that are already established in Japan to grow their business as well as making the entry to the marketplace easier to the new companies and artists.
A joint collaboration between organizations and enterprises like Music Finland, Music Estonia, Tallinn Music Week and Music & Media Finland in cooperation with partner universities HUMAK, TAMK and Tallinn University BFM will shape these endeavours into a stronger strategic effort of joined forces for the two Nordic countries. Aside the music sector, successful export stories from the Moomins to design, cosmetics, food, technology and timber produce, indicate the Japanese market’s latent interest in Fenno-Nordic brands and culture. The Finest collaboration will attempt to create a music driven collaboration platform to all.
The project aims at developing new cooperation models and cross-sectoral value chains between music sector and sectors already successfully exporting to Japan (e.g. Finnish and Estonian design, lifestyle brands and technology companies) in order to enhance both parties visibility and to boost sales in Japan.
Additionally, the project tests out an innovative collaboration model between universities and export companies, developing a co-creation platform where university students help businesses in designing new marketing tools – concepts and demos for entering the Japanese market.
“I am really excited about the FinEst project and believe that it can offer a lot of value and possibilities to Estonian and Finnish music companies and artists,“ enthuses the project’s music business expert and coordinator Tapio Korjus from Finnish Rockadillo Records. “The concept of collaboration with both brands and students is unique and innovative. On the business side we have the best possible teams and platforms from both Estonia and Finland, and the universities and students bring in additional resources and new out-of-the-box ideas as well as deeper understanding of the Japanese market to the companies and artists involved. Music Estonia and Music Finland are now starting to recruit potential companies to the project and this month we are meeting top level Japanese music business people about their possible involvement in the Finest Sounds project”, he adds.
Over the course of 3 years (2016 – 2019), the project brings together 45 Finnish and Estonian music companies and artists, plus 20 companies from other sectors, providing them training, matchmaking, networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
The central part of the project is the export accelerator programme, which aims at increasing the market-entry readiness and culminates in the showcases and sales trip to Japan in 2018 (at Slush Tokyo conference).
Activities of the project are co-financed by the Central Baltic Programme 2014-2020.
About the partners:
TAMK is one of the largest universities of applied sciences in Finland, providing education for 10 000 students in 17 bachelor and 15 master’s degree programmes. In the field of culture, the focus is on developing the international competitive strength of the cultural products.There are two international bachelor programs that are linked directly to music export activities through a 30 ECTS Cultural Export module (DP in Media and Arts/Music Production; DP in International Business).
Suomen Musiikki & Media -Tapahtumat S.M.M. Oy (est. 1989) organizes annually Music & Media Finland, the main event of the music business and related industries in Finland. Music and Media Finland collects over 800 participants all over the world to network and to hear about the current issues related to the music and media industry.
Humak is a strong expert and leading educator in the fields of humanities and pedagogy and cultural management in Finland. The Unit of Research, Development and Innovation (RDI)
enhances the entrepreneurship in the field of creative industries and cultural management. The RDI Unit Humak brings together different creative industry actors and is one of the main
development organisation of creative industries.
Music Finland promotes Finnish music and facilitates music export activities to international markets. The organization possesses vast experience of working in the Japanese market, having coordinated export trips, seminars, artist showcases, songwriting camps and sales events in Japan for several years.
Music Estonia, founded in 2014 by 23 music companies of various sizes and functions, promotes Estonian music and facilitates music export activities to international markets. Music Estonia holds a high competence in the field of modern music industry practices, business and product/services development and is in close contact with the Estonian music industry sector. ME provides a set of development programs and services aimed at enhancing the music companies’ business capacity.
Tallinn Music Week / Musiccase Ltd (est 2009) – annual new music and urban culture festival Tallinn Music Week (TMW) aims to shore up and define a new identity for the region, supporting networking possibilities with the European music industry executives, especially in regard to Baltic, Russian, Nordic and Eastern European artists.
Tallinn University Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM) is the largest international media higher educational institution in the Baltics. The studies of communication and media are provided at the BA and MA levels (incl.journalism, TV production, advertising, cross-media, main subjects of film production etc.). Altogether 1130 students study at BFM, 320 of them studying in English. The studies of art and music are mainly focused on training the teachers of those subjects.
More information
www.finestsounds.eu
Tallinn Music Week (TMW) has unveiled the first speakers along the core agenda of its ninth conference edition. The two-day conference, focusing on innovation, creative impact and sustainable development, will take place within the weeklong TMW festival in Tallinn, Estonia next spring.
The two-day conference on Friday 31st March and Saturday 1st April in 2017, will bring together key players and change-makers from the music and creative industries, research and development sector, entrepreneurship and politics.
The core agenda of TMW 2017 conference is creative impact of a shared vision and joint action. Focusing on music and creative industries, the conference will cover topics from sustainable development, diversity and smarter governance to future skills.
Debates on topics like “post-truth world” versus “good quality is the new cool” and “the beginning of an end of the rock era“ will also lead to inevitable discussions about technology reshaping the structure of our jobs and speculations on Artificial Intelligence as the hottest producer on the future hit charts. There will be stories of human resilience and creative resourcefulness, as well as eye-opening presentations of scientific discoveries and new artistic expressions. As Estonia will take over the presidency of the European Union Council in the second half of 2017, topics like the future of Europe as well as the Digital Single Market will shape an essential part of the discussions. TMW will also host larger delegations this year from overseas markets like Canada and Japan – the latter as a part of a joint Finnish-Estonian music export initiative Finest Sounds.
Speakers already confirmed include acknowledged musicologists and artists, as well as change-makers from creative and tech industries. The influential music critic and pop culture theorist Simon Reynolds will present his latest book, a definitive reassessment of glam, Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and its Legacy. Lutz Leichsenring, the spokesperson of Clubcommission, a platform joining the underground music clubs in Berlin, will shed light into fight against gentrification of urban space. Alexander Hacke, a bass player and chief engineer of the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten and musician, filmmaker and co-founder of Love Parade Danielle de Picciotto will talk about discovering new ways of presenting avant-garde ideas and interaction among cultures and generations. The manager of the premier Tuareg music group Tinariwen, Mohamed Aly Ansar aka Manny Ansar will share his experience of keeping his “Festival au Desert” alive in exile after the extremists’ ban of music in Timbuktu. The Finnish singer-song-writer Astrid Swan will reveal the story of her creative recovery after surviving cancer.
TMW 2017 conference also presents Tom Fleming, a strategist of British creative industry and culture policy, Vanessa Reed, chief executive of the UKs PRS for Music Foundation, as well as Kevin Cole, the senior director of programming of the legendary KEXP radio station and Brian Reich, a communication expert and political strategist from USA. The confirmed speakers’ list will continue with the president and executive producer of the Finnish tech event Slush, Nicolas Dolenc, CEO and founder of Estonian-rooted global startup investment platform Funderbeam, Kaidi Ruusalepp, co-founder and CEO of the gaming startup accelerator and pre-seed fund GameFounders, Kadri Ugand, the creator of the global education innovation project HundrED, Saku Tuominen, music entrepreneur and one of the creators of the Sony Centre in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, Tomoyuki Ohsawa, and A&R expert Aya Ohi from Japan, currently the general manager of “everything international” within the Victor Entertainment Group of companies.
Throughout the festival’s eight-year existence, TMW conference has hosted numerous high-profile speakers from international music industry experts to global game-changers from business, civil society, education, science, technology and policy-making. Since 2016 the TMW conference has expanded from music industry topics towards a wider social agenda.
The speakers in 2016 included US-based entrepreneur and philanthropist Hamdi Ulukaya, gene researcher Lili Milani, MEP Julia Reda, business angel from Silicon Valley Fadi Bishara and many other visionaries from different areas. Music industry experts and pop mavericks that have participated in TMW conference throughout the years, include the founder of Sire Records Seymour Stein, influential managers Simon Napier-Bell, Petri Lunden, Edward Bicknell and Peter Jenner; artists-turned authors Viv Albertine of The Slits, John Robb of The Membranes, Bob Stanley of St Etienne, and many others.
The complete programme of the TMW 2017 festival and conference will be published gradually at the beginning of the year.
In addition to the music festival and conference, TMW offers a series of free City Stage concerts, a selection of eateries within TMW Tastes, TMW Talks series, Design Market showcasing Baltic and Scandinavian brands and designs, TMW Arts programme curated by the Estonian Contemporary Arts Development Centre, and City Space activities in cooperation with the interior designers of Estonian Academy of Arts.
Tallinn Music Week 2017 dates:
This Thursday and Friday, from 8th to 9th December Tartu Music Week (Tartu muusikanädal) will take place in Estonia’s university town Tartu for the fifth year. The two-day sister event of the internationally recognised music and urban culture festival Tallinn Music Week treats the city with public pop-up events in the sharpest start-up companies along with the official after-party of the business festival sTARTUp Day in the former exhibition venue of Estonian National Museum.
Estonia has gained a reputation as a haven for all things tech, and Tartu, the university town labelled ‘the city of good thoughts’ with its burgeoning start-up scene has lately become the Silicon Valley of e-Estonia. Tartu Music Week will help to discover the new smart and fast Tartu in two days filled with music and public talks.
On Thursday 8th December some of the sharpest tech offices in the city will host a series of public pop-up concerts and music-meets-tech talks along with the joint press event and pre-party of Tartu Music Week and sTARTUp Day business festival.
The day starts at 9.00 with Open Coffee Club meeting at the premises of world-famous web tool Voog (previously Edicy), accompanied by fresh coffee, Baltic sprat sandwiches and vapour-wave vibes by Florian Wahl. At 11.00 Music Estonia welcomes everyone to brunch in Café Krempel and to music-meets-tech public talks. Nick Triani, the founder of Finnish indie label Soliti, Stefan Juhlin, the co-founder and managing director of Pitch & Smith and Estonian folk innovator Maarja Nuut will share their expertise and experiences on the music manager’s stock in trade. Artist manager, lecturer and “the best dressed man in the music industry” Andy Inglis will share a snippet of life on the road, demonstrating how to organize a tour and bring a band back home healthy – both physically and mentally. Writer and lecturer Berk Vaher will phantasize about the role of artificial intelligence in the creative process and the future scenarios of post-humanist culture along with materials science researcher Martin Järvekülg, neuroscientist Hendrik Luuk and electronic musicians Martin Voltri and Florian Wahl.
From 15.00 the joint press event and pre-party of Tartu Music Week and sTARTUp Day business festival will take place in the business and community centre SPARK. The press lunch, hosted by stand-up comedian Louis Zezeran will feature the live performance of Finnish singer-songwriter Suad and welcome addresses by founder of Contriber and sTARTUp Hub, Rein Lemberpuu, head of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Tartu, Andres Kuusik and founder of Tallinn Music Week Helen Sildna.
At 17.00 all the tech & music heads are welcome to the office of software and product development company Mooncascade to the public interview and live set of the successful Estonian electropop act Andres Kõpper aka NOËP. At 19:00 the mobile app developers Mobi Lab will hold a Design Friday public talk, followed by the bratty rhymes of the Hanf Kung rap crew.
Friday 9th December introduces the first edition of international business festival sTARTUp Day. Held in the newly opened Estonian National Museum, sTARTUp Day is a conference where old fish and newbies, traditional entrepreneurs and start uppers, government and media will loudly and proudly discuss the different business models. The topic of the conference is intriguing – how to earn if there is nothing to burn?
The evening of 9th December brings the music and tech lovers to the former exhibition house of Estonian National Museum near the railway station in Kuperjanovi Street. Tartu Music Week’s club night and the official after-party of sTARTUp Day will feature an array of Estonian and regional talent. Next to the up ’n’ coming Finnish-Chadian singer-songwriter Suad and the ambassador of spiritual bass techno from Russia, Moa Pillar, several Estonian acts will take to stage – the noir-rap master reket, the bratty rap crew Hanf Kung, rawk ‘n’ rowl combo Dead Furies, the sensual & surreal ghost pop act Florian Wahl and the bass meets future club dj/producer Paul Oja.
Thursday, 8th December – free pop up talks and concerts
9:00 Voog OpenCoffee Club (Raekoja 1) + Florian Wahl LIVE
11:00-14:00 Music Estonia brunch (Rüütli 12)
11:00 Music manager, who are you? Moderator: Henrik Ehte
Speakers: Nick Triani, Stefan Juhlin, Maarja Nuut
12:00 Presentation: tour management. Andy Inglis
13:00 Posthumanist culture, Moderator: Berk Vaher
Speakers: Hendrik Luuk, Martin Järvekülg, Martin Voltri, Florian Wahl
15:00-16:00 sTARTUp Day and Tartu Music Week press event at SPARK (Narva mnt 3)
Live: Suad (FI)
17:00 Mooncascade Music Talk (Narva mnt 9) Priit Salumaa vs Andres Kõpper
NOËP Live
19:00 Mobi Lab Design Friday (Akadeemia 3)
Hanf Kung Live
Friday 9th December – Tartu Music Week club night and sTARTUp Day afterparty
(J. Kuperjanovi 9)
20:00 Doors / DJ Kersten Kõrge & DJ Robert Kähr
20:30-21:00 Dead Furies
21:15-21:45 Moa Pillar (RU)
22:00-22:30 Florian Wahl
22:45-23:30 Suad (FI)
23:45-00:30 Hanf Kung
00:45-01:30 Paul Oja
01:45-02:30 reket
Tartu Music Week club night tickets are available in Estonian Piletilevi. Pre-booked tickets cost 8 Euros, at venue 10 Euros / 8 Euros to the sTARTUp DAY guests. Telia clients get 20 per cent off standard pre-booked tickets price.
Tartu Music Week is organized by Musiccase OÜ and powered by Tartu City, sTARTUp Day, Telia and Spotify, Hektor Design Hostels, MOE, Fritz-Kola and Club-Mate, Kokomo Coffee Roasters, HeyDay Organic.
The official media partner of Tartu Music Week is Eesti Meedia.
On Tuesday, November 29 Enterprise Estonia, e-Residency and Tallinn Music Week festival hosted the official opening party, Enter e-Estonia of the international technology conference Slush in Helsinki, Finland. Taking place in the three-chambered heart of the Helsinki nightlife – Kuudes Linja, Kaiku and Stidilä complex –, the party featured thrilling live acts and DJs from both sides of the Gulf of Finland, the most innovative Estonian tech companies, and the best of Estonian cuisine. The party drew around 1,500 visitors.
President Kersti Kaljulaid, Steve Jurjetson and e-residency’s birthday cake. Photo by Aron Urb
The President of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid addressed party guests at the opening ceremony in the main hall of Kaiku club, calling business people around the world to take an advantage of her country’s e-residency programme that entitles everyone, everywhere to securely identify them online, open and run a location-independent business and take advantage of a marketplace of services specifically for e-residents.
“Even though there are only a little over a million of us, thanks to Estonia’s capabilities, we can make ten million payments, perform ten million requests and sign ten million contracts in just ten minutes. Even ten times larger states cannot beat us,” Kaljulaid said.
“But the good news is that it is possible to join our exclusive club of digitally empowered citizens. Each of us has been given up to 100 years to live on this planet – why not use that time more efficiently?” she asked, inviting everyone to become an e-resident of her country.
The party drew nearly 1,500 visitors. The international coterie, represented mainly by Slush conference delegates – investors, speakers, journalists, startup and music entrepreneurs –included several Estonian citizens of the world, among others venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, supermodel Carmen Kass and conductor Kristjan Järvi.
The US venture capitalist of Estonian decent and the first non-European citizen to become Estonian e-resident, Steve Jurvetson said he was a proud son of Estonian parents. “e-Residency makes it easy for anyone in the world to invest in the innovative startup ecosystem in Estonia.”
According to e-Residency Programme Manager Kaspar Korjus, the opening party was no less than awesome. “This party is already a legend at Slush. It feels good for a country to offer something beneficial to the citizens of other regions. This event was something bigger than just another party. It was a loud and clear statement, made at one of the mightiest tech events in the world to keep your eye on Estonia!“
Mart Avi performing at Kuudes Linja stage. Photo by Aron Urb
The night’s music programme featured exciting live acts from both sides of the Gulf of Finland – godfathers of Estonian indie, Röövel Ööbik, post-pop producer Mart Avi and electropop act NOËP from Estonia; the reverend of Finnish underground, Timo Kaukolampi, rapper Noah Kin and one-man indie-cabaret Melting Hearts from Finland. The rhythm of the night will also be provided by the central characters in Helsinki’s club scene – Lil’ Tony, Joose Berglund, Sirkku Haikonen, Feniks Willamo, complemented by Estonia’s finest DJs Raul Saaremets, Sander Mölder, Liisi Voolaid, Alari Orav and Jan Tomson.
The Enter e-Estonia party was organized by Enterprise Estonia, e-Residency and Tallinn Music Week, in partnership with Digital Sputnik, Funderbeam, Lingvist, Mooncascade, Music Estonia, Pipedrive, SprayPrinter, Tartu City, Tartu Science Park, Teleport and Latitude59. Graphic design and visuals were provided by Estonian Design Team, interior design by B210, production by production by Kingent Management and RGB Baltic. Estonian food presentation by Põhjaka Manor and PRFoods, drinks by Kokomo Coffee, Moe Fine Spirit Distillery and Vindirekt.
Slush is a technology conference for startups and tech talent to meet with top-tier international investors, executives and media. The event, described by many as “Burning Man meets TED” took place on November 30 – December 1, 2016 in Helsinki, Finland. Close to 2,000 startups, 800 venture capitalists, and 700 journalists from over 100 countries participated in the event. More info
The artist application round for the ninth edition of the new music and city culture festival Tallinn Music Week (TMW) ended on 1 November with 1470 applicants from 59 countries, about one-fifth of those from Estonia. Next up were Finland, Russia and Latvia. Some of the most exotic places to apply from included Mali, Tunisia, Cabo Verde, Taiwan, Indonesia and Greenland.
Around 200 applicants will be confirmed into the festival line-up by a broad team of Estonian music experts – representatives from different venues, festivals and labels, as well as radio presenters, managers, producers, promoters and PR experts. The three-day showcase programme will be announced at the beginning of February.
Estonia 264
Finland 224
Russia 143
Latvia 95
Belarus 86
Denmark 71
Poland 59
United Kingdom 48
Israel 46
Canada 41
According to the head of the festival’s music programme, Raimond Põldmaa the increase of interest from international acts proves that TMW is becoming an integral part of the global music industry.
„Besides Estonians, international acts also have something to gain by performing here. The application statistics clearly indicate that the countries we get most applications from, are the ones that we have made important connections with during the recent years, such as Canada and Russia. New doors open for us every year as the interest towards Tallinn Music Week and the music from our region is constantly growing. This is also very good news for our audience – it can expect an exciting international music event at the end of next March.“
Held each spring in Tallinn, Estonia, TMW is a weeklong celebration of talent, curiosity, creativity, freedom and equality. Already in its 9th year, TMW’s core is the multi-genre new music festival with the line-up spanning from outside artists to chart-pop acts and from folk innovators to classical musicians.
The festival’s role as a significant platform for both emerging and established musicians around the world has grown steadily. TMW 2016 confirmed 250 acts from 30 countries to perform at the festival, among them Russian beat master Pixelord, Mancunian post-punk troupers The Membranes, and Danish-Finnish indie-supergroup Liima. Besides showcases presented by local promoters TMW has featured festival stages by Finland’s biggest metal festival Tuska and city culture festival Flow, as well as a joint night by UK’s FatCat Records imprint 130701 and Estonian Üle Heli festival.
Among the acts who have successfully tested their international breakthrough potential at TMW and moved on to bigger stages are Danish dark rockers Get Your Gun, Belorussian cold-wave group Super Besse, Russian postpunk flag-bearer Motorama, and Estonian very own folk innovators Maarja Nuut and Trad.Attack!.
The ninth edition of TMW takes place in Tallinn from 27th March to 2nd April 2016.
For the second time TMW will fill the entire week. In addition to the music festival line-up and two-day industry conference, TMW offers a series of free City Stage concerts, a selection of eateries within TMW Tastes, TMW Arts programme curated by the Estonian Contemporary Arts Development Centre, Design Market showcasing the most exciting Baltic and Scandinavian brands and designs, TMW Talks series with topics from music to science and societal issues, and City Space activities in cooperation with the interior designers of Estonian Academy of Arts.
27th March – 2nd April: TMW Tastes, TMW Talks, TMW City Space
28th March – 2nd April: TMW Arts
30th March – 1st April: music festival (the evening showcase programme)
29th March – 1st April: City Stage (the daytime live programme)
31st March – 1st April: TMW conference
1st – 2nd April: Design Market
250 artists from 30 countries
34 676 festival visitors
1036 delegates
624 international delegates
132 international journalists
70 festival venues
113 755 unique visits to the website from 144 countries