Music in the digital age

The cancellation of Popkomm, the international pop music trade fair, in late June cast a shadow on an industry already burdened by the global finance crisis, not to mention the continued effects of the digitalization age.

Dieter Gorny, who founded Popkomm in Cologne in 1990, had blamed the cancelation on illegal music downloads, saying that the "digital crisis had hit the music industry head on" and "many companies could no longer afford to participate at Popkomm."

The fair was cancelled just six weeks ago and it already has stiff competition, said journalist, producer and pop expert Ralf Niemczyk. "It will be difficult for the Association of the German Music Industry to work against that."

For Niemczyk, the end of the Berlin Popkomm was an inevitability, despite speculations over the past few weeks that it might return to the Rhineland in 2010.

It had been at home there, in Cologne, from 1990 to 2003. When it left, a music festival - c/o pop, short for Cologne on pop - sprung up in its place.

Festival won't become trade fair

The event, which has been growing consistently since its start in 2004, is a cross between a music festival and an academic conference. But since Popkomm's cancelation, rumors have abounded that c/o pop may become more than just its successor on the Rhine River - that it could morph into a trade fair itself and replace the Berlin event, nixing a possible 2010 comeback.

c/o pop confirmed media reports in a press statement on July 9 that its management had been in talks with KoelnMesse, the city's trade fair organizer, regarding a possible partnership.

However, c/o pop's head of strategy, Ralph Christoph, said the aim wasn't to build up a new trade fair, but to "make the most of synergies that can bring about a trade fair."

One of those synergies is valuable contacts to other branches, something Christoph said is currently in discussion. "But it would be totally misleading to thing that c/o pop is going to become a trade fair like Popkomm used to be," he added. "That's definitely been shelved and isn't what KoelnMesse is after."

Synergy not always possible

Away from the stages, the conference side of c/o pop, which runs from August 12-16, focuses on the dangers and possibilities that come with digitalization. The aim is to establish new forms of musicology that correspond to the changing market in the digital age.

That's where networking with other branches or other media comes into play. One natural connection is to the computer game industry - which, coincidentally, is hosting its own Gamescom trade fair this month in Cologne.

Niemczyk, however, said that media-based industries like computer games, film, music or design are very close and often people are involved in all of them - like the "DJ who is a designer and develops computer games, too."

"But I've noticed that the individual fields are still really separate, because it's the distribution routes that are important and these are still really different," he added. "That means that discourse with the upcoming Gamescom in Cologne is totally absent, because they're just interested in selling. It's a so-called 'top down event': Big companies sell their games to dumb kids."

Making a name for Cologne

Effective and diverse synergies in the pop culture industries may still be a distant dream, but c/o pop appears to be in a good position for that future. It's been in the black since 2008, and, despite the financial crisis, it still gets financial backing from the city of Cologne, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the European Union and corporate partners.

"It should be a sign to all the participants - to the city and the state - to keep investing in things like c/o pop, because it secures jobs and even creates them," said Christoph.

"We know very well that culture can be a very important location factor when it comes to getting people into the city and not letting Cologne be completely left in the dust in the national, and even international, context," he added.

Author: Olaf Karnik / Kate Bowen

Editor: Nancy Isenson