This & That

Part 3/6 – POPKOMM and the International Idea

This post is part of the story behind the new Music2Deal.

This picture takes me back to POPKOMM 2010.

POPKOMM was an international music business fair, first in Cologne, later in Berlin, and at that time in competition with MIDEM in Cannes.

For me, events like this always showed very clearly what the music business is really about: people, trust, timing and staying in touch.

Quite early, it was clear to me that Music2Deal should not stay only German. In fact, already in summer 2004, Richard Rogers, ex A&R Warner/Chappell Music UK, became the first Music2Deal representative. I am happy to say he is still on board today, more than 20 years later.

Today we have 18 representatives.

So the international idea is really not new at all.

Act local but benefit from the international network of Music2Deal.

Even the translation system for representatives was part of this early concept. And to be honest, this was also one reason why the programming moved more slowly than I had hoped.

But I still believed this was the right way, because the music business is local and international at the same time.

About the author:

Mario Christiani is the Founder-CEO of Music2Deal.
My profile on Music2Deal: https://music2deal.com/de/mariochristiani

Continue with Part 4: Behind the scenes and complexity

This & That

Part 2/6 – Music2Deal in 2010

This post is part of the story behind the new Music2Deal.

This was Music2Deal in 2010.

Of course, from today’s view, it looks old. But when I look at it, I can still clearly see what I wanted to build.

Music2Deal was never meant to be just another place where people create a profile and then disappear. The idea was to create something more useful for the music business.

One big challenge from early on was that it should fit very different people: artists, songwriters, singers, producers, managers, labels, publishers, licensing people and more. And also different levels — from newcomers to very experienced professionals.

Step by step it became clearer what the real value should be: not only getting in contact, but also staying in contact in a meaningful way.

In our business, it is not enough to know somebody. It also matters to know what they are doing right now, what they offer, and what they are looking for.

That was already a big part of the idea behind Music2Deal by then.

About the author:
Mario Christiani is the Founder-CEO of Music2Deal.
My profile on Music2Deal: https://music2deal.com/de/mariochristiani

Continue with Part 3: POPKOMM and the international idea

music business · music industry · Music2Deal.com

Part 1/6 – The Story Behind the New Music2Deal

In around three weeks, the new Music2Deal should go online. Before that happens, I want to share a bit of the story behind it.

Back in 2006, Music2Deal was still in beta mode. But the real story started much earlier.

The background of Music2Deal was Musikplaza.de, a German website I started in 1997. Musikplaza was the roof under which several independent music websites could be found: Talentweb for artists, Songshop.net for song plugging, Vocals Online for singers, and Talentstore for paid downloads.

Especially for talents, it was also not yet the right time to sell music via Talentstore, which was based on the service and technology of Music on Demand, a daughter company of Deutsche Telekom. At that time, modem connections were still very slow, so even good ideas could come too early.

Before the 2000 crash, I got competitors like Besonic, Peoplesound or Virtual Volume. They had funding. Today they are all gone.

After the crash, I restarted the business, founded Music2Deal e.k., and continued to build what later became Music2Deal.

So this old flyer is not only a memory for me. It is one step in a very long journey.

About the author:

Mario Christiani is the Founder-CEO of Music2Deal.

My profile on Music2Deal: https://music2deal.com/de/mariochristiani

Continue with Part 2: Music2Deal in 2010