Frankfurt is where music happens - great visitor response to Musikmee and Prolight + Sound

Frankfurt is where music happens - great visitor response to Musikmesse and Prolight Sound posted: 13/04/2016

Prolight Sound: more exhibitors, more exhibition space and a high level of internationality

Frankfurt has been the capital of the music and event sector for the last six days: Musikmesse closed its doors today, Prolight Sound ended on Friday. During this time, almost 110,000 visitors (2015: 108,409 ) from around 130 countries made their way to Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre to place orders at the two international fairs, find out about the latest innovations and try new products. This year's Musikmesse and Prolight Sound were characterised by new concepts.

Both events left no doubt that Frankfurt is where music happens. We are on the right track with the reorientation of our strong trade-fair duo. Against the background of changing sales and distribution structures in the wake of digitalisation, we will continue in this direction together with the sector and fine tune the fairs in cooperation with the associations and exhibitors , said Detlef Braun, Member of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt. Additionally, more than 20,000 music fans attended the 50-plus concerts of the Musikmesse Festival, which was held for the first time at over 30 locations currently with Musikmesse. We are delighted that the first Musikmesse Festival was able to inspire so many people. The concept of taking music to the city is a success , reported Musikmesse Festival Director Wolfgang Weyand.

A total of 2,043 exhibitors from 60 countries made presentations at the restructured fairs and the trade associations drew a positive conclusion with regard to the changes made to both events. From the point of view of the VPLT, Prolight Sound 2016 was a complete success. The new concept of Messe Frankfurt is spot on target and fully in line with developments in the sector: event technology continues to boom , said Helge Leinemann, Deputy Chairman of the Professional Lighting & Sound Association of Germany (Verband f r Licht-, Ton- und Veranstaltungstechnik - VPLT). After years of growth, the turnover of the event-technology sector is approaching the 4 billion mark. According to the VPLT, the focus of the event industry remains on holding creative, professional, safe and innovative events. Daniel Kn ll, General Manager of the Society Of Music Merchants (SOMM), explained: More innovations, emotions, edutainment and networking concepts at Prolight Sound and Musikmesse in Frankfurt - this was the result in many respects thanks to the new services and facilities. We demonstrated that Musikmesse and Prolight Sound rank among the most important business-to-business platforms for German, European and international companies. Given the full exhibition halls on all days, we were also able to show that music-making continues to be a relevant subject in society.

Leading exhibitors were also very pleased with the results. We have been pleasantly surprised by the course of business and the mood at the fair. The number of retailers was good on the first two days and the flood of consumers up to the level expected with the fair now open on all days , said Michael St ver, Director Country Management, Yamaha Music Europe GmbH. Michael Kunz, Senior Product Manager, Kawai Europa GmbH, said, For us, the new concept has been an outstanding success. Our aim was to reach both retailers and consumers. And we achieved this very well at Musikmesse where the level of internationality is much higher than at any other comparable event. Key players of the event-technology sector were also delighted with the course of business: We found the changes to be very purposeful. Prolight Sound is the most important of all the fairs we take part in - it presents the complete spectrum and everyone who works in the sector attends , said Marlon von der Kraan, Marketing, Philips Lighting B. V.

Music in all its variety: instruments and events in the halls, festive atmosphere on the outdoor exhibition area

From rock and pop, via classic and jazz, to electro and recording, visitors were able to immerse themselves in the complete spectrum of instruments and music equipment in the themed worlds of music at this year's Musikmesse. Manufacturers attracted attention with extraordinary designs and new collections. This was our first time at Musikmesse in many years. We regard the new concept as a good way to strengthen the fair as a marketing platform. Here, we showed our new product segment in the field of acoustic guitars and are satisfied with the contacts made with retailers during the fair, as well as with the interest shown by consumers , said Hans Peter Wilfer, CEO of Warwick GmbH.

The on-going trend towards digitalisation could also be observed during the fair: the boundaries between the acoustic and electronic worlds are becoming blurred, e.g., high-grade e-pianos are imitating the sound of concert grands with increasing precision, the feeling of playing a digital drum set is now closer than ever to a real drum kit, electric string instruments offer the opportunity to practice using headphones. Music apps are now also more than just a gimmick and are even arousing the interest of music professionals.

With the many new events and information services, the fair was a magnet for both trade visitors and music aficionados. At the new Business Academy, retailers and distributors learnt how digitalisation processes can be used for their own business model. At the very popular Drum Camp, musicians and music lovers experienced performances by world-famous drummers, received tips for perfect sound enhancement in the Club Forum and increased their knowledge of keyboard instruments at the Piano Lounge. Outdoors, there was a festive atmosphere - the Musikmesse Street Food Session presented culinary reflections o

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