ACCES 2021 partners with Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival

ACCES 2021 takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 25, 26 and 27 November with a strong conference programme featuring industry talks, pitch and networking sessions, workshops, exhibitions and music performances. 

The MIAF’s partnership with Reeperbahn Festival, and with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office, is broadly based on facilitating sustainable business engagements and exchange between European and African music businesses and professionals, as well as the provision of performance opportunities to musicians in both territories. Reeperbahn Festival will seek to continue these ideals in order to strengthen collaborations between the two markets.

Artist exposure

As part of both players’ keen interest to facilitate the discovery of African talent globally, the partnership will result in Reeperbahn Festival presenting African talent at ACCES 2021. The artists presented by Reeperbahn Festival at ACCES this year are Australia-based Zambian rapper Sampa the Great and France-based South African hip hop artists Yugen Blakrok. The two female musicians are currently at the forefront of redefining the hip hop genre from a diasporic perspective and will get a chance to showcase their art in front of international industry professionals such as festival bookers, event organisers and label executives. The ACCES 2021 showcases will take place at the historic Constitution Hill in the heart of Johannesburg.

“The partnership with Reeperbahn Festival is designed to provide as many opportunities as possible for the performing artists during the conference,” MIAF director Eddie Hatitye said. “All our showcasing artists will get a chance to showcase in front of important industry players from around the world and network with them to take their careers to the next level. We have seen many success stories for artists at previous ACCES conferences and Reeperbahn Festival’s involvement in ACCES 2021 adds incredible value to our efforts to support the African musicians on the continent and in the diaspora.”

B2B and information exchange

Reeperbahn Festival will also bring a delegation of European music industry professionals to Johannesburg with a view to foster B2B exchanges and partnerships with their African counterparts. In 2019, Reeperbahn Festival brought three acts and a 30-strong European delegation to ACCES in Accra, Ghana. The delegation dedicated itself to learn more about the local music market and create contacts with music professionals from across the African continent.

At ACCES 2021, Reeperbahn Festival will present two panel discussions titled Talent Development, Incubation and Investment Models for African Creators and Empowering African Artists to Get Their Music Heard, which will take place at Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in downtown Johannesburg on 25 and 26 November, respectively. Confirmed speakers for the panel discussions include Nø Førmat! label founder Laurent Bizot (France), TuneCore Germany head Colin Schrinner, Black Major founder and CEO Sevi Spanoudi (South Africa), Unorthodox Media founder Philip Edusei (Ghana) and The Orchard director of distribution Mpumi Philips (South Africa), among other prominent music industry professionals.

The MIAF and Reeperbahn Festival partnered in May-June 2021 on the four-day Reeperbahn Festival International Pan-Africa B2B digital event, which featured panel discussions, keynote addresses, insightful digital company visit, matchmaking sessions and a hybrid showcase experience with European and African artists including Tems (Nigeria), Awa Khiwe (Germany), Kelvyn Colt (Germany) and Yugen Blakrok (South Africa). 

“Reeperbahn Festival is excited to be back in Africa for ACCES in Johannesburg,” Reeperbahn Festival International project lead Evelyn Sieber said. “After our first successful trip to Accra in 2019 and an exclusive digital Pan-African edition earlier this year, we feel our partnership with the MIAF, and in particular the wonderful team behind it, has grown from strength to strength during these difficult times. Now more than ever, connections between Africa and Europe should be forged, and ACCES, like no other access point, gives us the opportunity to help achieve this and learn about the African market. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the support of the German Federal Foreign Office in making this possible and look forward to welcoming many representatives of the African music business at Reeperbahn Festival 2022 in Hamburg.”

Knowledge sharing

In addition to presenting artists and panel discussions at ACCES 2021, Reeperbahn Festival will for the first time support the workshop programme at the pan-African music conference. This year, Reeperbahn Festival will present Music Production Essentials, a two-day workshop targeting established and aspiring producers. The workshop will be facilitated by producer and musician 37mph and singer, songwriter and producer Muzi, who will share their production skills on beatmaking, music arrangement, DAWs, plugins, mastering and useful production tools. On 27 November, Reeperbahn Festival will also present a workshop titled How to Build a Music Brand That Is True to Your Sound, which will be led by hip hop artist Gigi Lamayne and artist manager Cuthbert Ndlovu. The workshop is designed to take indie musicians through the steps of creating a brand that resonates with audiences. Interested individuals can register for the workshops here. 

Registration for ACCES 2021 is mandatory and on a first-come, first-served basis. African delegates register for free.

About ACCES

ACCES is a pan-African trade event for music industry players to exchange ideas, discover new talent and create business linkages. ACCES is held in a different African city every year, attracting active music industry players from across the globe. ACCES is organised by the Music In Africa Foundation, a non-profit and pan-African organisation, in partnership with Siemens Stiftung, Goethe-Institut, Reeperbahn Festival, Ditto Music, SACEM, Pro Helvetia and Tuerk Music.

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