Photo: NEUSTART
Neustart is a broad-based initiative which promotes dialogue and collaboration between the Danish and German music sectors in the wake of easing COVID restrictions. The initiative will involve concert collaborations, residencies, co-writing, matchmaking, knowledge-sharing and more – with Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Aarhus as the focus areas.
Germany – the world’s fourth largest music market – has long been one of the most important cooperation partners for the Danish music industry. Neustart is seen as a restart of the Danish-German music collaboration – a reboost with a new approach to dialogue and cultural connection, whereby different musical genres, experiences and networks are united in an important cross-border initiative.
All with the aim of finding new ways to collaborate together and highlight differences which can spark inspiration.
The initiative is carried out by Denmark’s four musical genre organisations: Art Music Denmark, JazzDanmark, ROSA, Tempi and MXD – Music Export Denmark, in collaboration with the Danish Embassy in Berlin and with support from the Danish Ministry for Culture and Danish Arts Foundation.
About NEUSTART
NEUSTART has ended after its two years project period. The text below describes the project from 2022 to 2023.
NEUSTART is a joined initiative by the Danish genre organisations, Music Export Denmark and the Danish embassy in Berlin. The purpose of the initiative is to help a new start for the music scenes and strengthen the cooperation on music between Denmark and Germany.
NEUSTART is a Danish 2022-initiative for the music scenes and businesses on both sides of the German-Danish border. The initiative supports music in many genres and will help amplify new voices, sounds and ideas.
In the wake of the official German-Danish cultural friendship year 2020 – where many activities were planned and cancelled, NEUSTART aims to help pave the way through the pandemic for bands, ensembles, producers, and solo-artists, towards a new start.
NEUSTART focuses on Copenhagen, Berlin, Aarhus and Hamburg as the main sites of activity, but is not limited entirely to the four cities.
The organisations behind the initiative – together with the Danish embassy in Berlin – can help artists and organisers improve their reach in both countries through support, guidance and coordination. Let us help you with concerts, finding the right residency, networking event, and help us gather and share knowledge through these activities.
Together with many artists, music organisers and institutions the NEUSTART initiative will develop new ways for the music to be heard. New sustainable ways of exchanging, new green and more socially fair methods of organising, and new voices and artistic expressions.
Evaluation
NEUSTART 2022-2023 was the beginning of a new era
The evaluation of the Danish NEUSTART initiative’s first year shows that doing music exchange can be done in new ways.
Danish music organisations now work across genres and focus on building lasting international partnerships. New music and narrow genre hybrids are now being put to the center stage. And now individual cooperations between artists and smaller actors are being stimulated at the root of the creative process. The Danish Neustart initiative has prioritised a bottom-up way of supporting music through partnerships that can evolve independently into something sustainable. Through this overall method, the potential in music for social change and to connect people across borders and other divides is further explored.
If you are interested in what NEUSTART more concretely did in 2022 and 2023, you can now read the full reports (in Danish) below.
Knowledge and Resources
To help further your career in music, we have compiled a selection of the many German players that Danish organisations have had contact with in 2022 and 2023. Danish musicians and others have often asked where to get started in Germany to plan a collaboration, a tour or something else.
In this section you’ll also find a number of specific venues, media, organisations and networks – mostly in Berlin.
If you want more details about the larger German market, you can read Music Export Denmark’s market report (from 2020) here. We have previously published an article with general tips and useful knowledge about Germany here.
The list of resources below is dynamic and subject to change:
What venues and clubs are there in Berlin for pop, rock and electronic music?
For electronic and club music, Resident Advisor gives the best overview and includes a host of other cities too. The Clubmap has a good list of venues by genre and interesting articles and other ressources.
We present a list of smaller and medium sized venues including underground and DIY-run places, bars with live music, club nights, etc, where you are more likely as an upcoming a smaller artist to get booked:
- 8mm bar
- Anomalie Art Club
- Arkaoda
- An der Autobahn
- Ausland
- Badehaus
- Birgit
- Cassiopeia
- Clash
- Club Gretschen
- Dream Baby Dream bar
- Duncker Club
- FluxBau
- Humboldthain Club
- Kantine am Berghain
- KitKat Club
- Kulturbrauerei
- Lark
- Lido
- Loophole
- Oyoun
- Panke Kultur
- Peppi Guggenheim
- Prachtwerk
- Prince Charles
- Privatclub
- Rauch Haus
- Sameheads
- Schokoladen
- SchwuZ
- Subversiv
- Süs. War Gestern
- Tennis Bar
- Urban Spree
- Villa Kuriosum
- West Germany
- Wild at Heart
What venues and clubs are there in Berlin for jazz?
- Donau 115
- ZigZag
- Yorckschlösschen
- Jazzkeller, Industriesalon Schöneweide
- The Hat
- Quasimodo
- Kunstfabrik Schlot
- B-flat
- A-Trane
What festivals are especially important for showcasing and networking?
- A L’ARME! festival (Berlin – Jazz and Experimental)
- Altonale (Hamburg – mixed genres)
- Cologne Jazzweek
- c/o Pop (Cologne – huge festival for upcoming and international artists. Equivalent to SPOT)
- CTM Festival (Berlin – Club Trans-Mediale: Art and club music)
- Frequenz festival (Kiel – Sound Art)
- Impuls festival (Halle and Leipzig – Art music and sound art)
- Month of Contemporary Music (Berlin – Art music and sound art)
- Pop-Kultur (Berlin – huge festival for upcoming and international artists organised by the Musicboard. Equivalent to SPOT)
- Reeperbahn festival (Hamburg – huge festival for upcoming and international artists. Equivalent to SPOT)
- Rudolstadt Festival (roots- and folk music)
- Time to Listen (Berlin – Art music and sound art)
What radio stations are good places to get exposure?
- Cashmere Radio (Berlin – mixed genre community radio)
- Deutschlandfunk Kultur (The big white buffallo…)
- FluxFM (Berlin – pop, commercial radio)
- Radio Eins (Berlin public radio)
- Refuge Worldwide (Berlin – mixed genre and club music community radio)
What networks and organisations can give me an overview of Berlin or Germany?
- Berlin Musiccommission (Music Business Network)
- Clubcommission Berlin (Network of clubs)
- Deutsche Jazzunion (Jazz)
- Hamburg Music (Business network)
- Initiative Neue Musik (Berlin – Art Music and Sound Art)
- Jazzbüro Hamburg (Jazz)
- Music Board Berlin (public advisory board for pop, experimental and more)
- Neue Musik Köln/On-Cologne (Art Music and Sound Art)
- Verband für Aktuelle Musik Hamburg (Art Music and Sound Art)