Primavera Pro 2018: Adventures in Modern Music
- A roundtable with the participation of Amnesty International will analyse the criminal proceedings facing several Spanish musicians
- Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein to reveal the secrets of the soundtrack from Stranger Things in a conversation with the acclaimed footwork producer Jlin
- Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch will present his favourite musical moments in film
- The film-maker Adam Curtis and the musician Josh Tillman will be the participants in a unique meeting
- Los Planetas will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Una semana en el motor de un autobús with a meeting open to the general public
With less than a month to go before the doors to Primavera Pro 2018 open, it is time to reveal the programme of the ninth edition of this professional meeting, which will take place from 30th May to 3rd June at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) and at the Parc del Fòrum, in parallel to the celebration of Primavera Sound . The Congress will, once again, propose a series of adventures in modern music that will explore the music sector, and also its impact on the social fabric : words such as “censorship”, “feminism” and “blockchain” will be heard several times in the different areas of the CCCB as they are concepts that interest (and preoccupy) not only the world of music, but also society as a whole. That is why Primavera Pro will go beyond sectors and industries, understanding music as an axis through which to take the pulse of the world that surrounds us.
Music and technology: playlists, blockchain and the status quo of streaming
A meeting of the music industry that does not take on board the latest developments in technology would be deficient. That is why Primavera Pro will dedicate time to reflect on this subject, with interest and enthusiasm, but also from a critical perspective. Justin Barker, from Slice Music, will give a keynote speech outlining how to get a track onto the most influential playlists. For her part, the journalist Liz Pelly will moderate a panel that will discuss how the algorithms on which streaming are based perpetuate a lack of gender equality in music’s status quo. Finally, the Sonic Visions Music Conference will present a panel that will examine how blockchain technology is used by musicians, creators and professionals from the industry from different viewpoints. The subject of blockchain will also have an important presence in the programme of Primavera Startups - the day that Primavera Pro and Seed&Click devote to technological and musical entrepreneurship.
Primavera Pro On-Screen: synchronization and the resignification of pop music
The third edition of the programme Primavera Pro On-Screen, dedicated to studying the synergies between music and audiovisual industries, will be backed by EMI Production Music and the music supervision agency Thirty Two Music. This alliance will come together on 30th May, a Sync Day that will thoroughly examine practical cases in order to reveal all the secrets of the synchronisation and selection of music for advertising and audiovisual work, one of the most profitable segments of the business for artists and professionals. Primavera Pro On-Screen will also welcome outstanding artists. Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, widely acclaimed for composing the soundtrack of the series Stranger Things, will engage in a conversation with Jlin, the visionary footwork producer who is also a sought-after name for sync in fashion shows. The three of them will discuss how artists manage to find innovative ways to sync music and images.
For his part, indie icon and Belle and Sebastian’s mastermind Stuart Murdoch will take over from Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury in the activity 10Favs, selecting his ten favourite musical moments in the history of cinema.
On Friday 1st June there will be the unique meeting between the film-maker and journalist Adam Curtis, author of such incisive and lucid audiovisual essays as Century of the Self and HyperNormalisation, and the musician Josh Tillman. The man behind Father John Misty will interview the director about his voracious use of all types of pop music, resignified in his films with a clearly political intent.
Spain: between a gag and a cosmic anniversary of a landmark album
Lately, nobody on the Spanish music scene has featured in as many headlines as Valtonyc, Pablo Hásel and the La Insurgencia collective. Even those who have never even heard a single song by them know their names, as they are the artists who have been condemned for crimes of incitement to terrorism and slander against the Crown. A worrying situation for the freedom of expression which will be examined by Amnesty International and professionals who have followed the case at a roundtable that will explain how things have gone this far.
As well as dealing with this burning issue, Primavera Pro will look back to 1998, the moment when a band from Granada released a game changer for Spanish indie rock with its narcotic toxicity and epic rage. We are talking, of course, about Los Planetas and about Una semana en el motor de un autobús. Twenty years later, Jota and Florent will open the bonnet of this iconic vehicle again, to examine its mechanisms together with the artist Pedro G. Romero in a discussion moderated by Santi Carrillo , director of the music magazine Rockdelux.
These two activities will take place on the afternoon of Friday 1st June in the CCCB and will be open to the general public.
How not to get lost in translation on non Anglo-Saxon stages
Primavera Pro 2018 will travel outside the typically Western and Anglo-Saxon channels, to analyse the possibilities offered by other sectors. So, the excellent state of health of the music industry in Central Europe will be introduced. This is an area which constitutes a quarter of the global music market. There will also be a practical guide for those artists and professionals who want to tour in Asia, an extremely attractive continent but which has a number of logistic singularities. Lastly, the Congress will invite the organisers of Visa For Music , the main musical event in Morocco, to explain how they have managed to overcome difficulties and make Rabat the main meeting point for musicians and managers from Africa and the Middle East.
The programme of the Congress will also reserve some time to evaluate the policies developed in different cities around Spain with regards to the music industry, and to look into the funding opportunities afforded by the Programmes of the European Commission - Creative Europe and Horizon 2020 - for musical projects.
Primavera Award: Women in the Music Industry
The Primavera Award 2018 will be presented to the association Mujeres de la Industria de la Música (MIM) , for their work giving visibility to women who work in the music sector. The president of the Association, Carmen Zapata , will collect the prize during the Primavera Pro Inauguration Dinner on May 30th. The next day Zapata will moderate in person a panel at which several members of MIM will participate: singer songwriter Christina Rosenvinge, Celia Carrillo (Ticketmaster), Lorena Jiménez (La Trinchera), Ivone Lesan (Miles Away/Sala Razzmatazz), and at which they will debate the lack of equality in the music sector and the reasons behind the creation of MIM.
This programme will also include the previously announced activities: the keynote speech by the producer John Congleton, the booker Clementine Bunel and Aly Gillani, representative of the European division of Bandcamp; the panel led by young professionals from the Spanish music sector; thematic sessions coordinated by European concert venues, independent record labels and the initiative CultHunting; mentoring sessions with young professionals from the industry, and the range of presentations that will bring a very wide selection of projects, initiative and research to Primavera Pro. All of this will, of course, be accompanied by the line up of the showcases by artists coming from the five continents, which will fill the Pati de les Dones in the CCCB and on the Night Pro stage in the Parc del Fòrum with exciting sounds. In total, there will be 40 activities, over 100 speakers, 39 showcases and a long list of accredited professionals. All of them will make. Primavera Pro a pluralistic meeting, at which specialties and even sectors will intersect, while keeping music as their permanent centre of gravity.