[Meet Volker May from IMMF] Networking på SPOT Festival

Udgivet
23.04.2015

IMMF-Logo-black-2

A lot of international music industry folks have already confirmed that they’re on their way to this year’s edition of Spot Festival in Århus. During the coming weeks, MXD would like to highlight a few of the international guests and their companies, which you will be able to meet at the festival.

Volker May is the Vice Chairman of the IMMF (International Music Managers Forum). The IMMF is a global non-governmental umbrella organization, whose members are independent national organizations of music managers. Currently there are 24 member organizations representing music managers from more than 34 countries. The member organizations are individual national or regional country organizations (often called MMF), comprised of individual managers, management companies and self-managed artists.

In addition to being the VC of IMMF, Volker also is a managing partner and booker at the venue FZW in Dortmund, Germany. He started his career on a music magazine and playing DJ gigs, and went on to launch his own label in 1982. Later the company developed into the fields of publishing, booking and management as well. He’s still doing management, as well as involving himself in several different industry organizations.

Immf started as an initiative by MMF UK around 2000 and offers a platform for networking and discussion on issues that its members are facing.

– Like any other trade organization we are focused on improving the trade conditions of the members we represent. The IMMF’s core mission is to ensure the safeguarding, respect and protection of the moral and professional interests of its members and the worldwide community of music managers, says Volker.

So what challenges are you facing then?

-The digital eco system is challenging us all on a daily basis. Global players from the music, media and IT industries divide most of the music revenues from digital markets according to rules they’ve established amongst themselves.

Volker is not unhappy about today’s digital music reality, but would like to address the issues the IMMF members are dealing with.

-Digital is creating new opportunities, but making a living from music is becoming harder for most artists. The IMMF wants to bring more transparency and fairness into the system, he says. He’s also very aware of the special situation in Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries.

-The IMMF definitely can benefit from the experience and expertise that the Danish music industry has from the digital world. The Scandinavian countries are on the forefront of the digital eco system and the international community can get a lot of benefits from their experience. In return, we understand ourselves as a networking platform and the Danish music industry has promoted great talents. We can offer the Danish music managers the benefit of using our structure, knowledge and expertise and we will have a bigger impact on decision makers if we join forces.

It’s the first time the IMMF are coming to Spot. The goal is to encourage the Danish industry and especially managers to make themselves familiar with the organization and possibly team up.

What’s the first thing you will do when you arrive in Århus?

Relax and go to the IMMF reception!

Find links to other profiles at the bottom of this article.

  • Mød mere end 300 internationale musikbranchefolk og -journalister i SPOT+ området
  • Meld dig til MXD Networking (Lørdag d. 2. maj. kl. 13:30-15.00) i SPOT+ området nu, og modtag en liste over alle internationale delegerede, ca. 14 dage inden festivalen starter. Tilmelding her: anders@mxd.dk
  • Køb adgang til SPOT+ området og få adgang til bl.a. MXD Networking her: spotplus.dk
  • Følg med her på mxd.dk, Facebook og Twitter, hvor vi løbende vil præsentere de internationale profiler, der gæster årets festival
Redigeret
23.04.2015