President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Burning Man’s story and pioneering industry initiatives at the TMW 2024 conference
Keychange Rewind and Fast Forward, Liveurope’s decennial, the story of Burning Man, shared home markets, mobility in the age of climate change and Earth as Co-writer are some of the themes at the upcoming Tallinn Music Week (TMW) conference.
- TMW 2024 conference takes place at Nordic Hotel Forum, Tallinn on April 5 – 6. The conference schedule and PRO programme are now available on TMW homepage.
- The conference programme is completed in cooperation with the national music industry development centre and export office Music Estonia.
- PRO passes for the music and creative sector professionals are on sale at the TMW webshop.
Former President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Burning Man Project’s Associate Director of City Planning Bryant Tan, Managing Director of e-Residency Liina Vahtras, Innovation and Business Development Executive of Music Finland Turo Pekari, Executive Producer at National Arts Centre Heather Gibson and Founder of Seoul Music Week Jung Hun Lee revealed among the new speakers for the conference.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Director of Music Estonia Ave Sophia Tölpt and Founder and Head of TMW Helen Sildna will open the TMW 2024 conference at 10 am on Friday, April 5.
“What brought us here, will not take us forward” said President Ilves in his Estonian Independence Day speech in 2014, pointing both to a historic shift in technology to reshape the society, and Ukraine being attacked. Ten years have passed and TMW sets out to look back on many milestones. Inspired by President Ilves’ historic speech and gender equality movement Keychange’s theme of Rewind and Fast Forward, the opening panel led by the Research Coordinator at EMEE Virgo Sillamaa, delves into the most vital changes of the past 10 years to pave the way for the next decade.
Moderated by Head of PRS Foundation Joe Frankland, the Keychange Manifesto 2.0: Rewind and Fast Forward panel shares core values and recommendations from 2020 to 2023, highlighting the areas that request change to help achieve diversity and intersectionality in the music industry.
Liveurope celebrates a decade promoting European talent and looks back at the platform’s mark on strengthening European solidarity and cooperation. From Bataclan attacks through Brexit and COVID-19 to the war in Ukraine, the panel led by Liveurope’s general coordinator Elise Phamgia reflects on some of the landmark events of the live music landscape.
TMW 2024 marks also 10 years of collaboration with the Canadian music industry and the 10th anniversary of the Estonian music industry development centre and export office Music Estonia and highlights a new era of joint activities between Finland and Estonia.
Music Tech Europe and Music Finland in collaboration with e-Residency will host a session that highlights the launch of Music Tech Europe – a pan-European accelerator committed to building bridges between the music and tech sectors – and presenting e-Residency as a tool to facilitate global creative sector collaboration. Innovation and Business Development Executive of Music Finland Turo Pekari, Head of Policy at Utopia Music Yvan Boudillet, Managing Director of e-Residency Liina Vahtras and President of Bolt Jevgeni Kabanov will participate in the session.
The biggest party on Planet Earth, Burning Man, is devoted to creating a self-sustaining community, a culture of possibility, and a network of dreamers and doers. The story behind this impossible dream will be told by Burning Man Project’s Associate Director of City Planning Bryant Tan.
But how about Earth as your Co-writer? A group of musicians have kickstarted a campaign to name the planet as a co-writer on their songs, with its share of the royalties going to environmental activism charity from a musician’s point of view.
From artists to Earth and back to artists opening up about how to find your path and audience in an era of on-demand culture, attention inflation and the fall of monoculture. The panel of artists as creators, entrepreneurs, marketing mavericks and DIY rebels will shine a spotlight on diverse talent.
TMW 2024 topics
Equal Futures: Keychange Rewind and Fast Forward
From Deserts to Cities: The Story of Burning Man
Climate Change: from Artist Mobility to Earth as Your Co-writer
Music Tech and Setting Up a Global Business
Joining Forces: 10 years of Liveurope, FinEst joint home markets
Breaking into New Grounds: From South Korea to North Macedonia
Global Club Culture in Local Micro-scenes
Re-Make/Re-Model: Education & Media in the Age of ChatGPT
Classical is Next and Folk is Alive
East2West: Hiphop, K-pop, J-pop
Independent yet interconnected: mastering DIY and artistic freedom
These topics will be presented at the TMW conference via panels and presentations, keynotes, vision-building conversations, practical workshops, networking events and speed meetings.
About 150 music industry professionals, scientists, entrepreneurs, policymakers and artists speak at the TMW conference. In addition to the aforementioned names, Executive Director of Music Finland Mikko Manninen, TV presenter Per Sinding-Larsen, Festival Director of Oslo World Alexandra Archetti Stølen, Managing Director of Classical: NEXT Fabienne Krause, and many more have joined the line-up. Among the previously revealed speakers are R.E.M. advisor Bertis Downs, Britpop architect Jane Savidge, musicologist Joe Muggs, Liveurope’s chief coordinator Elise Phamgia, Secretary-General of European Choral Association Sonja Greiner, and many more.
TMW 2024 conference schedule