Inside the Industry: conference programme announced

“jazzahead! is like a backstage pass to the real world of music“, said one participant in 2025. “The entire industry is there — live, loud and unfiltered.”

From 23 to 25 April, around 3,000 representatives from the scene will gather for the 20th time at the world’s largest trade fair in Bremen. jazzahead! is not only important for industry professionals as the place to discover new acts. Since its very first edition in 2006, the fair has also been the place to be in order to keep up to speed with industry developments, and to compare notes with people facing similar challenges.

At over 50 different events, the key issues affecting people in the industry will be addressed. How to deal with the risks and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? How to optimise concert tours across different countries?

Panels on the topic of the touring business are a staple of jazzahead!.
Katherine McVicker, who helped build the careers of Norah Jones and other artists as live performers, will lead the practical workshop “Anyone Can Book a Gig: Demystifying the Booking Process” on Friday at 1 pm.

On Thursday at 1 pm, the “Voice for Jazz Musicians in Europe” platform will host a presentation of its work. The aim here is to achieve more equitable representation of European ensembles at European jazz festivals.
At 6.30 pm, US PR experts Lydia Liebman and Matt Merewitz will explore “Jazz from Europe – an American perspective”.

Sustainable concert touring – still a major focus of jazzahead!. The green approach continues with the open-source platform CooProg, which connects clubs, festivals and concert organisers.
A new jazzahead! project is the analysis platform tourbus.ai, which uses AI to analyse Europe-wide route planning for touring acts, basing the activity on extrapolations and models of artist mobility. (The joint panel is on Thursday at 2 pm).

On Friday, 24 April, the focus will be on the possibilities of artificial intelligence. At 10.45 am, Maria Rylander of partner country Sweden is hosting “Protecting musicians’ rights while exploring AI creativity”, with experts from the Europe Jazz Network (EJN) and others taking part in the debate. STIM (the Swedish GEMA), which has developed the world’s first AI licensing model initiated by a government organisation, will also be represented.
At 4 pm, European radio producers will be discussing the human factor in programming: “All That Jazz in Radio – Human Curation vs. Algorithms”.

Acts performing at jazzahead! will also be contributing their perspective to current debates.
On Thursday 23 April, the day after their performance at the jazzahead! Grand Opening, the globally acclaimed US fusion duo KNOWER will once again take centre stage. At 12.15 pm, Genevieve Artadi and Louis Cole will talk about their creative processes and how to maintain the engagement of their 200,000 followers.

On Saturday, the focus will shift to “Jazz from Germany” – artists with an international following, such as the Moses Yoofee Trio, Sera Kalo and Silvan Strauss, will all be taking part in the discussion. 

2026 will be the third year that there has been an Africa Focus at jazzahead!. The “Jazz was born in Africa” panel will include South African trumpeter Sydney Mavundla and Senegalese singer-songwriter Sahad. From 2027 to 2029, there will be a new focus on the Pacific region from Japan to Australia – on Saturday at 4 pm, the jazzahead! team will present details in a sneak preview.

In addition, the fair will also involve panel sessions with prominent speakers on the topic of successful label management. The heads of Unit Records (Switzerland) will speak on Saturday with artists from their label under the heading “European Jazz in Motion”.
As early as Thursday, speakers including Dave Stapleton from Edition Records (UK) and Mareile Heineke from streaming service Qobuz will discuss more effective industry collaboration under the theme “Building a Sustainable Music Ecosystem”.

Full details of the conference programme will be published here on 31 March. We are happy to send further information now upon request.
Online registration for the trade fair is open until 21 April. On-site registration will incur an additional fee.

Note for members of the press:
Please register using the accreditation form.

Press breakfast:
At the start of each day of the fair, the jazzahead! team will provide an informal update on the latest news and a preview of the highlights of each day. Thu, Fri, Sat from 10.15 am in the press area in Hall 6.

All photos can be found in our digital press kit. It also includes the latest press information, additional photos, logos and a social media kit:
ja!26_Press_kit
Password: ja!26_Press_kit

You can download images from the following links:
Photo 1: Maria Rylander © Calle Warnelov
Photo 2: Lydia Liebman © Leslie Farinacci
Photo 3: ja!25 Sweden Stand © M3B GmbH / Jan Rathke
Photo 4: Dave Stapleton © Dave Stapleton

 Copyright press photos:
Press photos may only be used for editorial purposes in connection with M3B GmbH events. The copyrights are held by M3B GmbH/photographer. Utilisation and exploitation rights are held by M3B GmbH. Press photos that are used for editorial purposes must be labelled with the corresponding source. Printing and publication of the press photos is free of charge. We ask print media for a specimen copy and electronic media (Internet) for a brief notification. Commercial use of the press photos requires prior written authorisation.

More information:
MESSE BREMEN · M3B GmbH
Jan Paersch | T +49 173 3250836
press@jazzahead.de
Web: jazzahead.de
www.messe-bremen.de