MW:M Sessions 

The boundaries between contemporary art institutions and music cultures have become increasingly porous. Museums are hosting DJ sets and sound-related events, while clubs, festivals and music venues are commissioning exhibitions and interdisciplinary projects. This convergence raises key curatorial questions. What can museums offer that clubs cannot? What happens to club culture when it enters institutional contexts? Why are music venues increasingly embracing broader artistic programming? How do artists navigate these overlapping ecosystems? Bringing together artists, curators and cultural programmers, this session explores the opportunities and tensions that emerge when art institutions and music spaces collide. Participants will ultimately examine how different environments shape the audience experience and artistic production, and ask whether these developments represent meaningful experimentation or risk instrumentalising music, art and subculture for institutional purposes.

The way audiences experience music is about to change again, as spatial audio moves away from niche audiophile territory to mainstream platforms. Extended reality is creating concert experiences that do not require physical presence and immersive venues are redesigning what it means to be in a room with music. This panel will bring together the people who are building these new experiences. An XR artist will explain what it is like to create formats where audiences can look in any direction. A spatial audio engineer will explain how spatial audio impacts the listening experience. A platform product lead will share knowledge around adoption patterns and user behaviour. And finally an immersive venue operator will describe the economics and logistics of running a space designed for next-generation experiences. This conversation will remain grounded in what is presently tangible, while giving the audience a clear picture of what is to come.

What if public funding could help turn your music idea into a real startup? In this practical session, Robert Schmidt will deep dive into the often intimidating and complex world of artistic funding. Robert will share insights into how public money works and will also present clear guidelines for creatives who are looking to access funding opportunities. Public funding can function as a lifeline for many artists, so this workshop is crucial for anyone who wants to understand how to shape ideas, find the right programs and turn funding into a launchpad for their music business.

Today’s independent artists aren’t just visionaries, they are project managers, strategists, content creators and decision-makers. Designed as a focused 90-minute masterclass, this interactive session will explore practical self-management techniques to help musicians achieve clarity, structure and long-term success without burning out. Participants will discover how to build a flexible network of sparring partners to exchange ideas with, as an alternative to traditional management. The workshop will also cover how artists can build a foundational identity and gain skills in realistic planning, accessing opportunities and establishing sustainable workflows. There will also be an exchange into how AI tools can support day-to-day operations.

Agents do much more than confirm dates: they decide which artists to take on, shape how careers are positioned, maintain business relationships and have a unique overview of the whole ecosystem. Most of their work is invisible – including to their own artists. This 90-minute session will expose the operational reality of the role, from what goes on inside an agency to how they interact with promoters on the other side of the table. This session will deconstruct what actually happens inside an agency and explore different agency models. It will also explore the various approaches to work including how agents choose artists and build healthy working relationships. The session will teach how agents can position themselves and develop their own tastes, networks and goals. Participants will leave with a clear picture of where the agent sits in the electronic music ecosystem, where their own work sits alongside it, how to build an agency and what they should be asking next.

Artist Stefanie Egedy is a low-frequency sound artist and curator of experiential installation ‘Sonic Energetics’. During her studio visit, Stefanie will welcome delegates into her working environment with an introduction to her practice which centres around sound, spatial perception and low-frequency vibration.

Talking about money is part of building a sustainable artist career and in this vein, the Artist Academy is offering emerging artists practical tools that will help them understand fees, calculate their work, respond to unpaid or low-paid offers and negotiate with more clarity. The session will explore how artists can communicate their value professionally, set boundaries and make better decisions around budgets, exposure, invoices and opportunities.

What does it mean to rewire an industry if we have not yet asked what we want its new circuits to carry? In this participatory workshop, participants are invited to reflect on the future of music through memory, care and collective imagination. Through guided exercises, group exchange and shared reflection, participants will explore what already feels alive in their practices and communities, as well as what they want to carry forward, change or leave behind. The session creates space to imagine a more just and desirable musical future through leaning on lived experiences, shared values and the pre-existing connections.

Most artists sign their first label deal without reading it carefully: the terminology is dense, the implications are long-term and the asymmetry between a first-time artist and an experienced label is significant. This workshop aims to close this gap. As part of ‘Reading the Contract You Are About to Sign’ a music lawyer will walk attendees through a redacted real-world label contract and explain every clause that matters. They will deep dive into all relevant details from term length, territory and royalty calculation to recoupment and advances and everything that lies in between. This is a working session not a lecture so attendees should come equipped with questions and even a contract to work through with the lawyer in real time. Attendees can expect to leave with contract-reading vocabulary and a checklist they can apply the next time a deal arrives.

‘Decisive is the New Black’ is a working session for creative professionals who are exhausted by the volume of decisions they face regularly. It’s built around a framework that turns three-day deliberations into clear decisions, without guilt or second-guessing. The workshop is designed for high-achieving creatives and the executives behind them -essentially people who built their careers by being capable, saying yes and figuring it out. This session is shaped around people who eventually realise the strategy that got them there is quietly eating their energy and pulling them away from the work they want to be doing. This workshop will leave partakers with frameworks that can be applied to real decisions and language for conversations where saying ‘no’ feels impossible. The workshop is led by Lindi Delight, a dual-certified Transformation Coach and Conference Programme Director for Most Wanted: Music in Berlin, who has twenty years of experience across the global creative industries.