TMVs German correspondant Hannes Krause provides us with the inside view of the All2gether Now conference set up quickly to replace Popkomm after its cancellation earlier this year

In late July when Dieter Gorny, the head of the German IFPI and German Phonoverband Office joined forces with organizers from Messe Berlin to cancel this Septembers PopKomm event, they were forced to bow down before the mighty powers of the Internet. Gorny said that they simply had to cancel it because of illegal downloads damaging the music business, no one can afford to come, let alone exhibit at PopKomm.

To blame illegal downloads was, from a rights point of view, only possible after the German government changed the German Copyright Act last year. Before that, the only illegal thing was to make music available for uploads (i.e. actively distributing something which didn’t belong to you) but now users face possible prosecution for downloading from obvious illegal sources. Within the past year, after 10 years of music being widely distributed in the net, the German music business has had to pay its toll to the mismanagement of the members of the German Phonoverband in finding solutions in a joint effort to minimize the damage done through online piracy.

Just a couple of days later, some forward thinking people in the business, who are more interested in possible solutions(rather than finding someone to blame), created All2gether Now; a conference aimed at people who work creatively in this special situation. Founders Tim Renner, Motor Music, and Martin Brem amongst a strong collective of others, organised a small scale event. These organisers mangaged to secure some significant sponsors (German Telekom, AirBerlin, Myspace etc.)

So a series of panels that focused on topics which those of us working inside the business would like to discuss formed the basis for the All2Gether Now (A-2-N) conference, which took place in Berlin from 16th – 18th September, across two locations. The first 2 days with a small exhibition area and a handful of conference rooms at Alte Münze in Berlin-Mitte and on the 18th at Radialsystem V in Friedrichshain.

The opening party on the 15th was organised by the Berlin Music Commision (BMC) at the Kulturbrauerei in two locations connected to each other, Kessel- and Maschinenhaus. Everyone who ever attended PopKomm should be familiar with the two concert areas, as they were the main venues used for the cancelled festival.The conference and showcase evening were primarly attended by German music industry personnel, but also some international delegates travelling to the event.

Dr. Marcus S. Kleiner’s keynote speech “Ignoranz 2.0”, which blamed ignorance as the main factor of the current state of the music business, was itself greeted with a lot of ignorance. The speech proved that the people who came to party weren’t really interested in getting lectured before their main reasons for being here. Artists such as T.Raumschmiere, Warren Suicid and Bell Orchestra all provided some stunning performances to the punters, but it also showed that the local talent is kept within the loophole of history borrowing a fair share from the past (i.e. Neu!, New Wave + EBM), mixing it with modern technology, soundscapes and a demanding presence on stage, but at the same time lacking the creativity that made their respective influences such musical and cultural driving forces in their heydays.

Other users also read:

Event Report – Bounce (London, UK)
Event Report: Creative Commons @ OpenMusicMedia (London)
Event Report: “Music As Culture” @ OpenMusicMedia (London, UK)