Popkomm-IMEA 2008 – Popkomm is Looking for the Next Big Thing in the Entertainment Business

The countdown has begun for the Popkomm “Innovation in Music and Entertainment Award” – UK industry analysts Music Ally partner in this business award – Information and applications at www.popkommawards.com
Popkomm

The search is on for the best new business ideas, the smartest companies and the hottest new start-ups in the worlds of music, media, technology and entertainment. Popkomm-IMEA (Innovation in Music and Entertainment Award) is an opportunity for new start-ups to present their ideas to an audience of managers and executives from international music and technology companies at Popkomm. Popkomm-IMEA is regarded as the main networking and matchmaking event at Popkomm. From today innovative companies can begin submitting their entries online at www.popkommawards.com. The deadline for applications is 1 August.

Popkomm-IMEA is a highly prized business award that recognizes innovation in the music and entertainment industries and is being supported for the first time by a new partner, Music Ally – the world’s leading digital music agency. In a new development this year the jury will consist of just three members who will each champion the ultimate finalists. The event will also feature a keynote speech and a panel discussion with plenty of practical from those who have already made it – successful entrepreneurs, financiers and business advisers. The winners will be chosen by an audience of industry experts and professionals at the Popkomm-IMEA final on 8 October.

“Popkomm-IMEA is not only exciting for young creative companies but for all of us, because it affords the participants the opportunity to contact the right market directly and focuses an enormous amount of media attention on the successful finalists. At a time when digital distribution is forcing major changes across the media industries, it is essential to help to nurture innovation”, explains Dr. Ralf Kleinhenz, General Manager of Popkomm GmbH, adding: “We are looking for genuine innovators and entrepreneurs!”

With its invitation to compete on the international music market place Popkomm is addressing those projects and companies in particular which are giving a fresh impetus to the music business through the use of new media and digital technology. Popkomm-IMEA is aimed at companies with new business ideas in areas such as digital music, its marketing and licensing, and music on the move.

The co-organiser and patron of this forward-looking Popkomm-IMEA concept this year is Music Ally – the leading British agency for market research, strategy and consultancy in the digital music business. Its customers include AOL and Apple, the BBC and Live Nation, Tesco and T-Online, as well as all the major record companies. “Innovation is the key to success in the music business of the 21st century”, according to Paul Brindley, Managing Director of Music Ally. “But in most cases it is well in advance of the commercial realities in the music business. To this extent the Popkomm-IMEA is an outstanding platform for encouraging creative young entrepreneurs and their promising ideas.”

The winner of this year’s Popkomm-IMEA will receive a free stand at Popkomm 2009 and will also be rewarded financially. The presentation of this highly sought-after award will take place after a short break following the finalists’ screening session. The media partners of the Popkomm-IMEA, Billboard and Der Musikmarkt, will provide in-depth, continuous coverage of the most promising ideas. Among the most attractive features for the finalists are the opportunities to face an audience of renowned experts, to obtain feedback, establish contacts and, of course, to attract the interest of the international media.

In recent years the Popkomm-IMEA finals have become one of the highlights of the trade show: In 2004 the British online music distributor PlaylouderMSP was the first winner of this prize. It was followed one year later by the American company KSolo.com (www.ksolo.com), with the world’s first internet-based karaoke application, enabling users to sing their favourite songs, record them and send them via e-mail or e-card. Other winners have been Sonicbids and Gracenote. In 2006 the prize went to the American company Royalty-Share, which has developed a system enabling artists and firms to obtain a very precise, up-to-date overview of licences and royalties. Last year’s prize went to a German company from the town of Tübingen, Trivid GmbH, whose clip generator enables consumers to create music videos very rapidly, complete with professional video/TV effects. There is a great deal of excited anticipation about the kind of business idea that will be rewarded by the Popkomm-IMEA this year.

Popkomm

As an international platform for the music and entertainment industry Popkomm attracts thousands of trade visitors from all over the world. What makes Popkomm so unique is its integrated concept: Popkomm is the only industry meeting place in the world that combines a trade show with a convention and a festival. Consequently Popkomm is a major attraction not only for its core business of music but also because it brings the representatives of other sectors such as concerts, the movies, mobile entertainment and advertising to the exhibition halls in Berlin. The fifth Popkomm is taking place in Berlin in 2008, from 8 to 10 October. It is organised by Popkomm GmbH, Berlin.

Music Ally

Music Ally is the world’s leading digital music research and strategy agency. The company advises clients including Universal Music, Orange, Tesco and BBC on all aspects of digital related activities from consumer behaviour to competitor analysis to retail strategy. Our information service is read by thousands of senior executives worldwide including three corporate wide major label deals. Music Ally also provides data services, training services, runs a number of regular workshops and seminars and recently launched the world’s first regular digital music blog in Spanish at aliadodigital.com.

www.MusicAlly.com

This press release can also be found on the internet:

www.popkomm.com
Contacts

Messe Berlin GmbH
Michael T. Hofer
Group Press and Public Relations Director
or
Press and Public Relations for Popkomm:
Susanne Wenzel
tel. + 49 (0) 30 / 3038 2295
e-mail: s.wenzel {at} messe-berlin(.)de
or
Yasmine Abbou
tel. +49 (0) 30 / 3038 2269
fax: +49 (0) 30 / 3038 2296
e-mail: abbou {at} messe-berlin(.)de
www.popkomm.com
www.popkommawards.com