Joe GallopThe 14th edition of Edinburgh music industry showcase and conference Wide Days attracted 350 delegates, up 25% on 2022.
Organisers of the event, which took place at Assembly Rooms from 13-15 April, said it hosted delegations from Mexico and Canada, and showcased a record number of acts over the three days.
Supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Fund, this year’s Wide Days conference included a strand on the convergence of science and music, a roundtable exploring where music and government policy converge and a focus on opportunities offered by sync deals.
Event founder Olaf Furniss said, “This year’s Wide Days was an opportunity to further build on our international activities and highlight new opportunities for sustaining artists and music businesses. Over 200 meetings were booked using the delegate platform and the decision to grow the showcase programme proved a popular move, with many performances close to capacity.”
Senior executives from UK music organisations PPL, Music Managers Forum (MMF), Association of Independent Music (AIM) and Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment (LIVE) took part in a panel sharing their visions of the future for the industry. The Local Heroes strand saw Regular Music’s Moira McKenzie interviewed by veteran manager Bruce Findlay, while Fierce Panda founder Simon Williams was interviewed by Furniss.
This year, the event’s 15 Minutes of Knowledge strand was live-streamed for the first time. It included presentations on generating energy from clubbers’ body heat, a funding guide to music mobility in Europe and a session on tackling performance anxiety that was hosted by the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine.
LIVE CEO Jon Collins said, “Wide Days provides innumerable opportunities for informal and formal networking, knowledge exchange and discovering new music.”
The 15th edition of Wide Days is set to take place from 1-3 May 2024.