PRESS RELEASE 2015
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#rbf15 #rbfc15
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Anniversary: The Reeperbahn Festival Celebrates Ten Years
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It’s time to start counting down the days: just 49 to go until the tenth edition of the Reeperbahn Festival. NUMBER TEN. It’s a great anniversary, one that fills us with pride and joy. From the initial spark at SXSW in Austin, Texas back in 2000 to the premiere of the Reeperbahn Festival in 2006 to today’s format – we can look back on dramatic growth that will continue forward into the future. It gives us great pleasure to see that for music fans around the world the Reeperbahn Festival has become a welcome complement to the open air festivals. But that’s not all: the Reeperbahn Festival Conference, an integral part of the festival programme since 2009, has also established itself as an alternative to the more traditional music trade fairs for international representatives from the music and digital industries. The best part of all is that fans and trade visitors experience and enjoy the festival together. Everyone’s welcome on the Reeperbahn. That’s what we intended and that’s how it will stay.
Our 18-minute documentary, made for the festival’s anniversary edition, takes a look at the growth and development over the past ten years and includes original audio recordings, featuring festival organisers, artists, club operators, label managers, and, of course, Ray Cokes, whose Ray’s Reeperbahn Revue is a Reeperbahn Festival highlight each and every year. Click here for the video link. We’re happy to send the download link to all media partners who want to include the documentary in their coverage – just send us an email and let us know.
There’s also our anniversary magazine ZEHN (Ten), which is to be experienced the way the festival is experienced: everyone chooses their own route. We teamed up with editorial office and agency Die Brueder and compiled a kaleidoscope of thoughts, opinions, and real-life stories. Artists associated with the festival tell of their all-night excursions. Friends and colleagues contemplate the interplay of aesthetics, business, and technology. Zehn can be purchased beginning mid-September via our online shop or at the festival.
Of course, the festive occasion also finds reflection in our arts programme: a comprehensive exhibition assembled by communications designers Kathrin Kunze and Naemi Eckert will allow visitors to experience the past years of the Reeperbahn Festival through images, texts, posters, and T-shirts. With these elements, they will recreate the festival area in miniature form. Therefore, festivalgoers can experience the past, dwell on memories and create new memories.
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Conference: German Federal Minister Heiko Maas to Give a Keynote – European Copyright Reform in the Spotlight
Heiko Maas, German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection, will be at the Reeperbahn Festival. In his keynote, Maas will offer his observations on the progress being made in the reform of European copyright law and discuss his views on future conditions for creative production in Europe.
In an ensuing discussion entitled “The European Copyright Reform – Cultural Political Strategies in Digital Times”, panellists Dieter Gorny (Chairman, German Federal Music Industry Association (BVMI) / Commissioner for Creative and Digital Economies in the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, DE), Carole Tongue (Chairwoman, Association of European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, UK), and Prof. Dr Enjott Schneider (Chairman of the Board, GEMA, DE) will talk about how European cultural policy can best respond to the demands of the digital age. The session is also part of the NEXT15 programme.

Music: More Acts Confirmed
The Canadian indie rockers of Half Moon Run have been touring the world and mesmerising crowds since releasing their debut album “Dark Eyes” in 2012. Their next album is due out this fall – and what better place to present the new songs than the Reeperbahn Festival? Up next: the less hypnotic, more folky-sunny Los Angeles band Family of the Year, whose album “Loma Vista” landed in the top 10 on the German charts thanks to the hit “Hero” from the “Boyhood” soundtrack. On his way to the Mount Olympus of battle rap, MC Bomber, dubbed the “Ayatollah” of Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg by Juice magazine, will be making a stopover on the Reeperbahn to show off his just-out EP “Storch oder Affen”.
DJ legend Gilles Peterson has already got this duo on his playlist: Düsseldorf sound artists Grandbrothers create piano-based sound installations that are nothing short of spectacular. While former Gallows frontman Frank Carter may have journeyed into the realms of classic rock with his band Pure Love, his new band Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes marks a thoroughly successful return to the hardcore of the early Gallows years. Everyone knows that electropunk from Audiolith Records is always a win – and all the more so when Egotronic is behind it. And, finally, XOV from Sweden will be bringing his electro-pop to the Reeperbahn. A former Iranian refugee, he processes his experiences in his songs with true depth and substance – just listen to “Animal” and his current single “Lucifer”.
We’re also excited about THE/DAS, Mikky Ekko, Arcane Roots, Jarryd James, Honne, The KutiMangoes, Ganz (live), LGoony, Du Blonde, RDGLDGRN, and many others.
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