From BUSINESS and NEXTTECH to SCENE and SOCIAL IMPACT. Under this year’s motto Rewire! motto, the Convention gathers the voices currently deciding where the music industry is heading. 3–5 November 2026, nhow Berlin.
The full MW:M26 Convention programme is here. After months of calls, thousands of emails, open calls that stretched across continents and many conversations later: around 100 speakers will gather for three days at nhow Berlin, and discuss topical and future develeopments across four verticals in more than 70 sessions.
“Rewiring to me is about being intentional. The music industry has new tools, new voices, new communities, and the question is who designs the connections between them. This year’s programme is built around action, where people can leave with something they can use as soon as they leave the conference.”
— Lindi Delight, Programme Director MW:M26
💼 BUSINESS
How does music still make a living, and who gets to decide what it’s worth?
From booking economics and brand partnerships to music law in the AI era, Business is where the industry’s load-bearing structures are being quietly rebuilt.
Session highlights:
- Protecting What Is Yours: AI, Rights, and Ownership in 2026 — moderated by Dr. Kerstin Bäcker (LAUSEN)
- After the Feed: Rewiring PR and Marketing for Electronic Music — with Nazen Carneiro (DJ Mag Brasil / NZPR), Sunita Dhaliwal, moderated by Finlay Johnson
- Inside the Promoter’s Year — with Dario Dammé (Multisex), Aziz Sarr, moderated by Finlay Johnson
- The Essential Role of a Booking Agent in an Artist’s Career — with Roya Firoozbakhsh, Alma Ernst et al., moderated by Felton Cortijo
- Rewiring Small Music Ecosystems — Levani Abashidze
- Beyond the Brand Deal — Rola, Ghoufii
- Know Your Worth: Money, Fees and Artist Negotiations — AMA with Samira Wacker (Artist Academy)
- Art Institutions, Music Venues and New Curatorial Landscapes — with Sergio Eusebi, Laurens von Oswald et al., moderated by Sara Sassanelli
🤖 NEXTTECH
Tools are being built faster than the questions about them.
NextTech is where artists, researchers and engineers show what the next decade of music infrastructure might actually sound like. The common thread is not the technology itself, but who gets to steer it.
Session highlights:
- Spatial Audio, XR and Next-Gen Experience — with Frank Hahn, Karina Chaczbabian, Flo Wilson, moderated by Andreas Allen
- Collaborate, Don’t Automate: Rewiring AI Music — Kevin Bretz
- Void: Rewiring Audience Smartphones — Lorenzo Ballerini
- The Voice in the Machine – Artistic Interactions with AI — Workshop with Jovanka v. Wilsdorf (Artist Academy)
- Quantum Computer Music: Talk and Performance — Itabora Puy, Peter Thomas
🪩 SCENE
What does nightlife need to protect, and who is quietly deciding what gets to exist?
Scene gathers the curators, promoters and community-builders holding together the environments where music is actually heard first.
Session highlights:
- More Than a Party: Queer Spaces and the Future of Music Culture — with DJ Aya, Leonardo Liccini, Pierre-Alexandre Mateos
- Who Curates the Night? — with Asia-Janes Thomas, Miriam Naomi Bender, ZLATOMIRA, moderated by Qeas Pirzad
- Global Sounds, Local Blindspots — with Liz Agyeman, Rafush, Nanja Oedi, Felipe Maia, moderated by Shari Who
- Berlin Is Not One Scene: Building Bridges Across Music Communities — with FAYIM, Aziz Sarr, moderated by Melissa Kolukisagil
- Promoter Good Practice Guide — AMA with Finlay Johnson
- Beyond the Open Scene: Mobility, Belonging and Cosmopolitan Music-Making in Berlin — with Sandra Bogdanovic
🤝 SOCIAL IMPACT
Who is the music industry for, and how fairly does it treat the people who keep it running?
Social Impact is where the industry’s human infrastructure gets its moment: mental health, accessibility, FLINTA representation, and the Women of Color rewriting the terms of entry.
Session highlights:
- The Human Behind the Artist — with Sofia Ilyas, Roya Firoozbakhsh, Katty Lange, moderated by Qeas Pirzad
- Sounding the System — with Moody Kablawi, Zaydoun Hajjar, Eve Horne, Abeer Ali, moderated by Salma Elshami
- FLINTA* Rewired — Networking with Grace Goodwin (GENiE)
- The First in the Room — Frauen of Color über Zugang, Vernetzung und neue Wege in der Musikbranche — with Esra Bajraktari, Nasrin Vahdani, Marie Eloundou et al., moderated by Melissa Erhardt
- Rewiring the Studio for Flow — with James Hurley, Joy Bausch
The MW:M26 Ecosystem
The Convention is part of a larger whole. From 3 to 5 November, the full MW:M26 Ecosystem runs in parallel: Convention, Research, Hybrid Music Lab, Artist Academy and YOUTH Summit at nhow Berlin, Satellites across the city, LISTEN TO BERLIN: AWARDS at Kesselhaus and, and the Club Festival and YOUTH Showcase at RAW Gelände.
Be part of it
Regular tickets are now available. The closer November gets, the fewer seats remain.