Sonar 2011 in short
This year was the 18th Sonar Music Festival in Barcelona, celebrating electronic music. For the first time ever, the festival took place in two Spanish cities - Barcelona and A Coruña. As Sonar Night was packed with artists and DJs such as Janelle Monáe, Chris Cunningham and Mary Anne Hobbs, Sonar Day presented acts such as Little Dragon, Electric Wire Hustle and Gilles Peterson, together with conferences and showcases.
With regards to the brand participation, there was no doubt who Sonar’s main partner is. The Spanish beer brand Estrella Damm was represented practically everywhere (or everywhere that was practical) during the festival.
Red Bull and its Red Bull Music Academy was also represented at the SonarDôme, in the form of DJs and concerts.
Just as in previous years, Sonar Day hosted the Digital Music 2.0 Conferences. And for the third year running, SonarPro presented the DM 2.0 Seminars, under the title ‘Digital Music 2.0/11. Professionalization of digitization’, a series of panels in collaboration with the Business Development Service of the Catalan Institute of the Cultural Industries (ICIC).
In the Digital Music 2.0 Conferences, a specific panel about Brands and music was held, Brands&Music, with the participation of Pioneer DJ, Adidas and Pernod Ricard, covering questions such as ‘How do brands rely on artists to reach the general audience? What the new commercial opportunities for artists are, considering that they now have direct contact with advertisers? What does a brand need to invest in music? What considerations does music receive other than money?’ and more. You can check out some videos from Digital Music 2.0 here.
However, Sonar Day is not only a good place to connect professionally but it is also a very pleasant place to be (some people even say Sonar Day is even better than Sonar Night). Located in the center of Barcelona with an open blue sky, drinks, food and good electronic music, it is hard to complain when you’re sitting on the artificial grass in front of the stage.
If you would like to get some of the electronic pulse of Sonar, the festival has its own radio station that you can listen to no matter what time of year, here.
By: Neus Mélich, member of Heartbeats Movement and among other things coordinator at Business Development Service (SDE) of Ministry of Culture of Catalonia developing a strategic, wide and very active creative industries policy in Catalonia, supporting actors from the audiovisual, theater, music, publishing and visual arts industries.
