Press release
Berlin, July 24th, 2017

Inauguration of the world’s 1st Association for Music Technology 
MusicTech Germany, the Federal Association of Music Technology Germany, represents the common interests of hardware, software and service providers in the field of music technology.

On Friday, July 21st, 2017, the Federal Association of Music Technology Germany (MusicTech Germany) was officially inaugurated in Berlin – an alliance that gathers organisations and actors from the music technology and digitization sector under one roof and represents this industry professionally on all levels. The goal of MusicTech Germany is to unite the very fragmented industry in a joint organisation and to coordinate the existing forces and resources. In addition, MusicTech Germany is committed to the adjustment of public funding structures to enable more innovations in the field of music technology. 

The Association is a network of dedicated companies and experts from economics and academia, as well as freelance developers, designers, artists and service providers. In addition to the Fraunhofer Society with its 70 institutes in Germany, the founding members of MusicTech Germany are the research institutions Forschungsstelle Appmusik of the University of the Arts (UdK Berlin) and the National Music Academy Berlin, the companies Aitokaiku, ContentSphere, HearDis!, Heckmann Audio, livyu, MOD Devices, Noisy Musicworld, Soundbrenner and “The Venue Berlin” by Axel Springer. Other members of the founding consortium are startup consultant Konrad Lauten and the expert on Artificial Intelligence Stephan Baumann. Matthias Strobel, co-founder of Nagual Sounds and Communications Manager of Music Tech Fest and Claudia Schwarz, Consultant for strategic marketing, licensing and brand partnerships in the field of music, technology and digital education and co-founder and CEO of pixiesound have been elected as President and Vice President of MusicTech Germany. The Board is completed with Steffen Holly (Fraunhofer IDMT) and Johannes von Jena (Ritter Butzke GmbH).

The increasingly easy and affordable access to new technologies has disrupted the entire value chain of the traditional music industry over the past decades and it will continue to drastically change it in the future. Now, with the founding of MusicTech Germany, not only the music industry will have a competent contact point for questions concerning the digital transformation. The use of music technology has gone beyond the music industry already and has entered other vertical sectors such as the games and film industry as well as the education and health care sector. As a federal association, MusicTech Germany wants to decisively promote the development and dissemination of music technologies in Germany and beyond, to strengthen Germany as the place-to-be for music-tech companies and talents.

Prof. Karlheinz Brandenburg, Director of Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology(IDMT), renowned for his decisive participation in the development of the mp3 format, is especially pleased that the Fraunhofer Society is a founding member of the association: "Fraunhofer is known world-wide for its audio coding solutions and other audio technologies and should continue to be a trendsetter when it comes to innovations in the field of music technology. The membership in MusicTech Germany is the right step as a strong and interdisciplinary German network is required to not miss out on the progress the industry is making internationally.”

In addition, MusicTech Germany wants to actively improve the access to music-technologies for women and inspire more female talents in the field of music technology. A corresponding network within the association will be set up in the coming months. The first Round Table will take place in Hamburg at the end of September.
"MusicTech Germany is a business association for the music technology economy. Nevertheless, the association is open to everyone who has touch points with music technology. Whether they are part of a company or not. After all, it is often not the big enterprises that are drivers for innovation, but often the joint efforts of artists, developers and other creative minds who find new approaches to use technology differently and invent new applications and products that shape the future. This is precisely what must be encouraged and supported." Matthias Strobel (President MusicTech Germany)

MusicTech Germany invites everyone to find out more about the vision and short- and long-term goals of the association at this year’s Reeperbahnfestival.

More information at http://music-tech.de

Press contact, interview inquires: Matthias Strobel, m@music-tech.de, +49 160 754 2639
Twitter: @musictechDE // Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musictechgermany