MW:M 2025
Speakers

Confirmed Speakers MW:M24

Here we announce the confirmed speakers of Most Wanted: Music 2024. This list will be successively updated until the event, so check back from time to time.

Meet our talking heads

We are pleased to present you a number of this year’s speakers and discussion partners from a huge variety of business sectors.

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Our confirmed speakers

Janet Merkel

Technische Universität Berlin

Job Title: Senior Researcher

Name: Janet Merkel

Company: Technische Universität Berlin

Biography: Dr. Janet Merkel is a social scientist and urban sociologist. She works as a research assistant at the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning at TU Berlin in the Department of Urban and Regional Economics. Her research interests are in social and spatial organisation and the production conditions of cultural and creative industries; cultural-creative work and freelance employment; cultural policy in cities; as well as questions of urban governance and urban policy. She has worked at the Social Science Research Center Berlin, the Hertie School of Governance, as an assistant professor for cultural and creative industries at the City University of London,and held the professorship for the economics of urban and regional development at the University of Kassel.

Jessy James LaFleur

ANGEPRANGERT! Spoken Word

Job Title: Spoken Word Artist & Founder of ANGEPRANGERT!

Name: Jessy James LaFleur

Company: ANGEPRANGERT! Spoken Word

Biography: Jessy James LaFleur is a nomad with conviction; a spoken word artist, a rapper, an activist, a workshop host, and an entrepreneur – who has taken a million and one paths around the world over the last 20 years. Raised in east Belgium, she has brought her poetry to the stage in more than 30 countries, and in three different languages. She is the founder of the aspiriational initiative “ANGEPRANGERT! SPOKEN WORD”, that teaches young poets from rural areas and ethnic minorities how to use their voice on stage.

Laura Magnano

KLEF

Job Title: Co-Founder

Name: Laura Magnano

Company: KLEF

Biography: Laura is the co-founder of KLEF, a culture-led fan engagement platform for artists & creators. Known as a web3 pragmatist, Laura brings a level-headed view to utilising blockchain technology for the greater good, with a focus on democratisation and accessibility. Her approach is informed by her career across tech, marketing and her deep dive in web3 in 2016; from running marketing agencies, consulting brands on new internet cultures to co-founding the first kyc/aml blockchain protocol in 2018.

Noura Labbani

Dice

Job Title: Director Venue & Promoter Partnerships, Germany

Name: Noura Labbani

Company: Dice

Biography: Berlin-born, Algerian-raised Noura Labbani has been working in the music scene for over 15 years. She started at !K7 Records in Berlin, held an A&R Assistant job at EMI Music and worked at Dailymotion as the Country Manager for Germany, Beatport’s Director of Content Europe and at Patreon as Creator Partnerships Manager for France. In June 2022 she joined DICE as Director of Venue & Promoter Partnerships Germany.

Emiko Gejic

Berlinsidestories

Job Title: Founder/Artist/Speaker/Manager

Name: Emiko Gejic

Company: Berlinsidestories

Biography: Emiko is a Berlin-born artist, creative, founder, guide, speaker and event manager with a background in urban studies and urban research. With her company Berlinsidestories, she hosts self-organized tour events about urban development, club culture, subculture, creative industries, urban change and activism. She also works as a dancer and actress in the Berlin art scene. She is part of the Factory Berlin community as a Creative Relations Manager, where she connects creatives with tech companies.

Florian Weghorn

Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin

Job Title: Programme Manager Berlinale Talents

Name: Florian Weghorn

Company: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin

Biography: Florian Weghorn is the Programme Manager of Berlinale Talents, the talent development initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival; with seven global offshoots, ranging from Beirut to Tokyo. Florian joined the Berlinale team in 2002. From 2008 to 2014, he was the co-director and curator of the Generation section with around 60 short and feature films annually. Between 2012 and 2019, Florian was also a member of the Berlinale Competition selection committee.

A couple more of our past Speakers

While we have not been able to announce any new speakers yet, you are welcome to take a look at who has already taken part in recent years. As soon as we have the first confirmed speakers for 2024, we will list them on this page and inform everyone who has signed up for our newsletter.

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Our confirmed speakers

Ružica Petrova

Production Assistant I MENT Ljubljana

Job Title: Production Assistant

Name: Ružica Petrova

Company: MENT Ljubljana

Biography:

As of 2023, Ružica has been working as a production assistant at MENT, a music business and showcase festival in Ljubljana. She is a music journalist and a member of the music department of Radio Študent Ljubljana, one of the oldest non-commercial radio stations in Europe. As part of the radio she is the co-author and co-host of Hiljadu Decibela, a semi-monthly radio show that covers new music releases, artists and alternative scenes from the former Yugoslav countries. She is also an active host of DJ Seansa, a weekly show that through exclusive DJ sets and interviews promotes both upcoming and well established artists from Slovenia and different parts of the world.

In the past three years she was part of the organization team of TRESK, an annual music festival organised by Radio Študent, which brings together local, regional and European independent labels, distributors and artists. She is one half of the turbocharged DJ duo The BPM Police and recently started DJing solo as Sahara Transport Services.

Sam Aaron

Sonic Pi I Live Coder

Job Title: Live Coder

Name: Sam Aaron

Company: Sonic Pi

Biography: Dr Sam Aaron is a live coding performer and public speaker who engages audiences with the creativity of code. Sam has a PhD in Computing and held a research position at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. There, he developed Sonic Pi – a free code-based music creation and performance tool, designed for both schools and professional musicians. Sam has received two Google prizes for his Open Source work, and Rolling Stone described his Moogfest performance as “transcending the present”.

Richard Akingbehin

DJ & Curator

Job Title: DJ & Curator

Name: Richard Akingbehin

Biography:

Richard Akingbehin is a British-Nigerian DJ and curator living in Berlin. He is the co-founder of the Refuge Worldwide radio station and founder of techno, dub and experimental label Kynant Records.