23 Countries take part in second online Wide Days

Wide Days second online addition saw 200 delegates from 23 countries around the world registering to take part in meetings, round-table discussions and a conference programme including panels, interviews and presentations.

The event, which took place on 12-13 August, included a range of activities hosted in partnership with Dutch Music Export to connect Scottish industry professionals with their counterparts in The Netherlands.

And the organisation also provided live footage of four acts which were streamed as part of the evening showcase programme, in addition to six emerging Scottish acts filmed at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall - the first performances to have take place in the venue in 18 months.

Almost 2000 people tuned in to watch the streams, while the majority of the convention participants booked one-to-one meetings and used the event for online networking.

“With many delegates joining us from their holidays, we placed a strong focus on participation and enabling people to make connections, to ensure that it was a worthwhile experience,” says Wide Days founder Olaf Furniss. “The feedback has been extremely positive and by the end of the conference delegates were already reporting outcomes as a result of taking part.”

Marcel Albers, director of Dutch Music Export, has also hailed the event for laying the foundation for developing ties between Scotland and the Netherlands.

“All participating Dutch stakeholders are incredibly happy with last week’s very successful edition of Wide Days and the event’s team did a great job,” he says. “The extremely collegial character and highly professional online meetings, panels and showcases are a wonderful start to a successful collaboration between Scotland and the Netherlands in the upcoming years!”

The networking programme was supported by Creative Scotland and the British Council, while the Scottish showcases formed part of an international talent development programme run in partnership with PRS Foundation. Delegates had the opportunity to book one-to-one meetings with long-standing partners PPL and EmuBands. And with the platform remaining open until 10 September, are able to continue connecting with their representatives and other delegates.

The diverse conference programme will also be available to view for the next month. It includes interviews with the co-founders of Glasgow’s Soma Quality Recordings, famed for discovering Daft Punk, Chi-chi Nwanoku, founder of Europe’s first black and ethnically diverse orchestra, Chineke!, and Fiona Dalgetty, head of Gaelic arts organisation, Fèis Rois.

Panels had a strong focus on practical knowledge PR, digital marketing, digital releases, top tips for doing business internationally, how to get music synced and a discussion about how the live sector do more to support disabled artists and crew (hosted in partnership with the charity Attitude Is Everything).

The conference also explored which platforms and technologies adopted during covid will continue into the future, while a session titled Dr Music (hosted with the charity British Association for Performing Arts Medicine) featured three doctors who combine their medical duties with parallel roles in the music industry.

Passes to access the platform until 10 September, including the conference sessions, delegate directory and showcases, are available for £25.