Organizers of Musikmesse 2020 – an international trade fair for the music industry – have announced that they are postponing the event over Coronavirus concerns.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person. The virus that causes COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that was first identified during an investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan, China.
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern”. On January 31, 2020, the US declared it a public health emergency.
Organizers say that an event of the scale of Musikmesse would require health screening for large numbers of visitors from high-risk areas, and that Messe Frankfurt is not able to implement such measures.
Here’s the official statement:
Musikmesse 2020 postponed
Given the increasing spread of Covid-19 in Europe, Messe Frankfurt has decided to postpone Musikmesse 2020.
The health of exhibitors, visitors, contractors and employees has top priority for Messe Frankfurt. The new dates will be announced in the near future. Visitor admission tickets continue to be valid.
From the current perspective, the ‘Musikmesse Plaza’ pop-up market (3 and 4 April) and the ‘Musikmesse Festival’ (31 March to 4 April 2020) can take place as planned. These events are aimed primarily at a regional audience from the greater Frankfurt area.
The ongoing spread of Covid-19 in Europe called for a reassessment of the situation in close cooperation with the public-health authorities in Frankfurt who require that steps be taken to prevent event participants from high-risk regions coming to Frankfurt and visiting the fair when ill. Given that these participants could also be infected by Covid-19, it is necessary to conduct a health check to prevent the infection spreading even further. This is an important part of the infectiological risk assessment. Messe Frankfurt is not able to implement such measures. Additional factors behind the decision include the growing number of travel restrictions, which will make it difficult for many potential visitors and exhibitors to get to Frankfurt.
“The current situation represents a major challenge for fair and exhibition companies from all over the world. We regret that the 40th anniversary edition of Musikmesse cannot open its doors from 1 to 4 April. However, we are looking forward to some great concerts for fans from the region at Musikmesse Festival, which will be held at a variety of venues throughout Frankfurt. Additionally, we continue to extend our invitation to music lovers to visit the ‘Musikmesse Plaza’, where they can not only see and buy instruments, recordings and lifestyle products but also take part in numerous events”, says Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt GmbH.
Details can be found at the Musikmesse site.
Photo: Messe Frankfurt GmbH / Pietro Sutera
Ah well. At some point it had to affect us a well. However – I cannot think of a better quarantine than my basement studio.
It affects us already. I usually produce a lot of sound design and audio for trade shows – all got cancelled this year. It’s gonna be a tough year for many of us.
Dacci, what else are you hearing about, in terms of people’s issues getting gigs?
I am not that well connected to people that play live or tour, but I can imagine it will affect them too.
touring keys fella here – can confirm things are getting cancelled all over, especially tours that were set for Asia. The biggest one so far is Avril Lavignes which affected a few friends workplans. SXSW is cancelled just yeseterday, and i imagine coachella might follow suit.
what. a. mess!
ha.. haha
I’ll see myself out
I’m going to risk my entire Twitter reputation and bet that literally everything shuts down in 1 month.
*I have no Twitter 😛
We completely lost our minds.
Not at all. If you have been through a public health crisis before you would not be surprised at this. The numbers seem fairly small right now and the disease does not seem so serious, but they will be about 20x larger by the end of this month. Shutting things down is the best way to slow the spread. Otherwise it would be another 20x (or more) larger by end of April.
Maybe you think ‘so what, 20+20 is 40x, that’s really not that many people’. No, it’s 20 x 20, which is 400x larger. In a public health crisis like this what can happen is that everything seems normal until the hospitals are full, and then suddenly everything turns to shit because sick people have nowhere to go and start dying, people panic etc. You don’t want to experience that.
Just roll the dice!
And Superbooth keeps saying it’s ok coming to Berlin?
most attendees (guests) would be from germany. same for loop. my guess is organizers will warn foreigners to come, but a stripped-down version of event will happen. in germany even a huge soccer game on friday w/ 50,0000 fans only 20 miles away from the biggest corona hotspot is allowed to take place.
wow, the soccer game is so risky! music fests are pretty insignificant affairs by comparison…
How many people are touching knobs at a soccer game compared to a gear fest?
I’ve only played Loop once, but it was a VERY international audience.
Smaller events don’t have the same insurance coverage as big ones, so it is a bigger financial risk to cancel. Behind the scenes they will be asking city or local governments to ban large gatherings so that they an activate their insurance policies.
My G.A.S. will be under control then
Musikmesse is kinda dead for people who are interested in synthesizers …etc…anyway?
But very alive for people who are interested in literally any other aspect of music technology.
Luckily we have the internet and Nick Blatt. I can imagine him wearing white gloves to play around with knobs all day. Not sure I would say the same about Cuckoo
Correct, the other aspects of the music industry are represented. But those Frankfurt-MusikMesse you heard about 20 years ago is for sure not the same anymore…
Herr Schneider didn’t get the memo.
its mainly because of attendance concerns due to mass hysteria. dont worry folks. we’re gonna be ok. just wait for the next news cycle.