PRESS RELEASE
January 31, 2006
With 13 Finnish artists performing at the MIDEM Opening Night on Sunday, January 22, the music worlds spotlight was on Finland. For the Finnish artists and companies at Midem, the 5-day event was a major success right from the start. After a record-breaking number of top professionals from all over the world attended the Opening Night hosted by Finland, numerous contracts and co-operation deals were negotiated heralding future success stories.
Midem Director Dominique Leguern comments: “We are very proud to have chosen Finland to host the opening night party for Midems 40th anniversary edition. The delegates attending the event were of higher executive level than before, the showcased artists very impressive and of a high musical quality. The support of the sponsor, Nokia, and of the Minister of Culture and Minister of Foreign Trade and Development played a decisive role in making the event so successful. None of this would have been possible without the fantastic involvement of Music Export Finland. We will shortly be seeing the positive results of this event, with a continued growth in exports of Finnish music.”
This year, Midem was attended by an unprecedented number of Finnish music-industry companies, who attracted a broad spectrum of dynamic international partners. A total of 164 Finnish professionals represented 57 companies, and numerous artists and products. All the major record companies, plus a significant number of the independent labels, publishers, managements and solution companies that attended Midem, are also core funders of the Come hear. Finland. campaign.
The Buzz around Finland clearly mirrored in the results
Paul Cheetham of Clockwork Music Management reports a flood of inquiries from international labels interested in the album by The Crash due out this year. In addition, we signed a worldwide sub-publishing deal with EMI Germany. The deal was finalized after the label saw The Crash perform at the Finnish Opening Night.
Antti Eerikäinen, whose Ricky-Tick label represents The Five Corners Quintet, is also pleased with the results. Weve made a major publishing deal with Hotwire for Japan, another one for France and are now in discussion with 20 potential partners all around the world, so more news will follow soon.
Other Japanese releases were negotiated by BMG Publishing Finlands Niko Nordström and Rubato Musics Timo Poijärvi: the forthcoming Moomin album will be released in Japan via a major label. Rubato also signed a licensing deal for Mummypowder with the Japanese Supersonic.
Gugi Kokljusckin, MD of Universal Music Finland, says: “Don Johnson Big Band will be releasing a new album in April, so it was essential for them to perform at Midem. There were 14 of my colleagues from different Universal offices here I now expect the album to be released in more countries than the previous one.”
Ülysses Hüppauff of Halbe Miete Mangement also points to the importance of having Apocalyptica perform in front of the most important professionals from all over the world. Even for a group with an established status and worldwide sales of 3 million, The Finnish Opening Night was the best possible way to showcase the group to all those people that were working with now as well as in the future.
Riku Pääkkönen, Managing Director of Spinefarm, said Midem was the perfect way to launch their heavy-metal sensation, Twilightning, on the European market. Finnish hard rock is world-renowned you could actually call it the Finnish folk music of today. The group has already gained a following in the Far East and Japan, and as a result of negotiations at Midem, Pääkkönen hopes Twilightning will conquer new markets, too.
During the 5-day trade fair over 700 meetings took place at the Finnish stand. Some Finnish companies could not even respond to all the offers; several esteemed European independent and major labels bid on Fullsteam Record´s Disco Ensemble, and Värttinä and Kimmo Pohjonen of Hoedown Management were stormed with proposals.
Music Export Finland Director Paulina Ahokas sees it like this: From the initial Midem follow-up with Finnish companies, it is obvious that the results from the Finnish Opening Night were better than we could have expected. Major contracts have already been signed, and we already know there will be major news from Finland soon. To summarise, knowledge of Finnish music among international professionals has now risen to new heights. The co-operative campaign at Midem was a great beginning it is now essential to secure continuity for the precious work that these Finnish companies have done.
Next Step: North America and Japan
After Midem, theres no rest for the Finns, with plenty of export action already on the horizon. The Finnish music industry is now poised to show off its indisputable talent and skills by heading for the most important professional events in North America: Canadian Music Week and South By Southwest in March; and MusExpo in Los Angeles in May. All of these events will have Finnish artist showcases. Right after that, in May, the Finnish companies and their artists will introduce themselves to the Japanese market at the Finnish Music Days in Tokyo event. (More info on all of these on the newly launched www.musex.fi website.)
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www.musex.fi > www.musex.fi/midem2006/gallery/index.htm
A photogallery with 180 high-res images from Come hear. Finland. at Midem: Images free for press use with photographers credit.
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In addition to the 57 Finnish companies at Midem, the project was supported by the following partners and funders: Main partner Nokia; other partners Dicentia, Contra, Laitila; funding partners Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Education, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, The Finnish Cultural Foundation; music industry funding bodies The Finnish Performing Music Promotion Centre (ESEK) and The Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music (Luses).
Further information:
Mii Saraskoski, Promotion Manager, Music Export Finland
Email: mii (at) musex.fi
Tel: +358 (0)44 550 1877
Paulina Ahokas, Director, Music Export Finland
Email: Paulina (at) musex.fi
Tel: +358 (0)40 5511 551
Finnish Moosic player at: www.musex.fi/midem2006 EASY TO USE!
FINNISH OPENING NIGHT AT MIDEM A STELLAR SUCCESS FOR FINNISH ARTISTS AND COMPANIES
on 2006-01-31