FastForward Amsterdam

20 January 2019 - Press release

FASTFORWARD AMSTERDAM ANNOUNCES 21 ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS, TAKING THE TOTAL TO 42 OVER 2 DAYS | 4 WEEKS TO GO

Building on the success of previous years, FastForward is back in Amsterdam on 14-15th Feb with a stellar line up of 42 speakers.  

Keynotes
Rafe Offer, Co-Founder & CEO Sofar Sounds will kick off the event, sharing lessons from his experience building Sofar from a living room show to a global brand.

Nicole Wyskoarko, Executive Vice President of Urban Operations Interscope, Geffen A&M is flying in from LA for a keynote interview.

Ben Mackriell, EVP of leading sports data analytics company OptaPro will share his perspective on the power of data to transform the culture of an industry.  

Panels
In addition to the keynotes, there are 6 panels across the two days, covering topics including the boom in vinyl sales; lessons from the ‘rental economy’, what can music learn from companies with no assets; staying healthy on the road; are niches the future of music festivals; after Despacito, what next for Latin music; and a no-holds-barred conversation about the rights and wrongs of the playlist culture; does it actually develop artist careers, or does it rather teach consumers to engage less with artist names, song names and self led discovery?

The new speakers, travelling from all corners of the globe, and often from outside the music industry include:

Benn Moore, Marketing Manager, Badoo

Cally Hocknell, CEO, Chatty Penguin

Catherine Luckhoff, CIO, Swipe iX (South Africa)

Claire Pace, VP, People & Culture Discogs (Netherlands)

Darren Hemmings, CEO, Motive Unknown

David Weiszfeld, Founder & CEO Soundcharts (France)

Dusko Justic, VP, Intl' Marketing & Partnerships Sony Music

Genevieve O'Neil, Former Director of Inclusion Live Nation

Ilse van Boven, Product Manager Armada Music (Netherlands)

Jamie Tagg, Managing Director East Creative

Justine Servais, International PR & Promotion Manager Armada Music (Netherlands)

Kate Osler, Director AEI Group

Kimberly Anne, Artist/Writer 'LANTA'

Megan Page, Record Store Day UK Coordinator Entertainment Retailers Association

Mattie Evans, Founder Nocturnal Touring

Silvia Montello, SVP, Operations AWAL

Stuart Dredge, Journalist, The Guardian, Music Ally, and many more

Supported by AWAL, Soundcharts, AIM and Media Insight Consulting, the 2 day conference event takes place in Amsterdam on 14-15th February, kicking off with welcome drinks opposite the venue on Wednesday 13th.  Sessions run 10-6 Thursday and Friday, with lunch provided both days and with social activities in the evenings.  Tickets are currently €295(+VAT) rising to €345(+VAT) on 1st February.  

The intimate nature of the event makes for excellent networking and the feedback from past attendees has been incredibly strong.  Speaking about the event in Forbes, Cherie Hu commented “There was no shortage of insight, nor of conflict. I learned innumerable strategies for making the music revenue pie both bigger and ‘better’.”

Whilst Joanna Young, Director of Brand and International Marketing at Ticketmaster remarked, “I love being able to hear so many different elements of the music industry. There were points raised here that actually aren’t raised in other conferences, and are more about what the future will bring.”

To register, or for more information, visit: https://amsterdam.fastforward.xyz

Previously announced speakers include:

Aditi Arora, Senior Product Manager, Gracenote, USA

Andy Hajitheodoulo, Product Design Lead, Kobalt

Chris Carey, Founder and CEO, Media Insight Consulting

Ellie Rumbold, International Product Manager, Partisan Records

Emily Scoggins, Marketing Consulting (formerly Head of Marketing, The O2)

Giancarlo Sciama, Catalogue Marketing Consultant (formerly VP EMI and Universal)

Jake Isaac, Artist and Songwriter

James Fleury, Founder and CEO, Nouvague

Jazz Sherman, Artist Manager, Anne-Marie

Jenna Fentiman, Music and Composition Producer, Manners McDade

Karen Emanuel, Owner, Key Productions

Mac & Phil, International Songwriters (Chainsmokers, Emeli Sande, Naughty Boy)

Poppy Reid, Managing Editor, The Industry Observer, (Australia)

Vangel Vlaski, Senior Label Manager, Proper Music Distribution