Music industry entrepreneur Merck Mercuriades will be interviewed by Helienne Lindvall at ESNS 2022 explaining why songwriters deserve more credit. The European Music platform also presents an exclusive keynote interview by Everett True with Sub Pop’s Jonathan Poneman & Bruce Pavitt. Peter Weening talks about programming Groningen’s underground club Vera for 41 years; and what is the Metaverse and what does it mean for the music industry? 

Merck Mercuriadis is a longtime record executive and artist manager who counts Beyoncé, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John among his former clients. Mercuriadis is the founder and CEO of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund LTD in 2017, which currently owns over 150 catalogs and 65,000 songs. In a keynote interview – moderated by Helienne Lindvall (Swede as Candy Music). The Canadian born music veteran Mercuriades will go into subjects like song management and fair remuneration for composers. ‘Songs should be managed with the same respect as artists should be managed’.

 

Sub Pop was founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. The Seattle record label signed bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. In 1995, the owners of Sub Pop sold a 49% stake of the label to the Warner Music Group. The keynote interview with Pavitt & Poneman, by music journalist Everett True will dive deep into the story of the record label.

Peter Weening, long-time programmer of the legendary Vera club in Groningen will be doing a live interview at ESNS 2022. Peter recently retired after 41 years and booked 7000 acts – from Dead Moon, Dinosaur Jr. and Bo Diddley to Pearl Jam, Nirvana and The White Stripes.

In the last six months talk of the Metaverse has been everywhere, with predictions that it will revolutionise the relationship between fans and artists by adding new layers of interaction and engagement. In this in-depth session, globally acknowledged virtual reality experts will explain what it is, what it does, and what it could mean for the music industry. Joining this panel – moderated by Gary Smith –  are Heather Shaw (Vita Motus) and Cortney Harding (Friends with Holograms). 

 

Previously, ESNS announced the first speakers for the conference; a keynote address with Urgenda director and ‘leading global thinker’ Marjan Minnesma, an interview with ‘the one billion dollar man’ André de Raaff, and an interview with Matt Schwarz (DreamHaus) by Greg Parmley (ILMC/IFF/IQ Magazine). Anne Löhr (Mental Health in Music) will be running the Mental Health Help Desk. Find more information about the conference programme at esns.nl/conference

ESNS takes place from January 19 – 22, 2022 in Groningen, The Netherlands. Conference registrations are available in a limited batch at the medium rate via esns.nl/tickets