Tallinn Music Week (TMW) is an international new music showcase, city culture festival and networking event for music and creative industry professionals, held every spring in
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
since 2009. Operated by Tallinn-based company Shiftworks OÜ, it showcases emerging artists from all over Europe and beyond, provides a networking platform for music and creative industry professionals, and introduces the city of Tallinn. The festival is attended by around 20,000 people and 1,000 music industry executives yearly. TMW has been acknowledged as an important industry event and attractive tourism destination by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
,
''
''New York Times'''',
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
,
'' and ''
Experty.by.
''
Festival programme
Music festival
TMW's music programme presents multi-genre line-up from 100 – 250 artists. The festival has been acknowledged for embracing and introducing new emerging talent from Estonia, Nordics, Russia and beyond with various genres from experimental electronica to neo-classical represented.
TMW is also the partner festival of an international Keychange initiative which encourages festivals and music organisations to achieve a 50:50 gender balance by 2022.
TMW's line-up is selected from artist applications by a team of Estonian and international curators and presented to an audience of around 20,000 and 1,000 industry professionals.
TMW's strategic partner is the music industry development centre and export office Music Estonia (ME). The membership of both TMW and ME in the European talent exchange network ETEP has enabled at least two Estonian artists to perform at the acclaimed
Eurosonic Noorderslag festival every year. The Songwriting Camp, launched in collaboration between TMW, ME and Estonian national
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
selection
Eesti Laul
Eesti Laul () is an annual music competition organised by Estonian public broadcaster (ERR). It determines for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged every year since Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, 2009. Eesti Laul was ...
has fostered the collaboration of Estonian and international artists and producers. As part of the Finnish-Estonian export project Finest Sounds (2016 - 2019), several Estonian artists like
Mari Kalkun, Peedu Kass and Talbot have been showcased in Japan, and Japanese music industry delegates have taken part in TMW seminars and workshops.
Among the Estonian acts who have performed at the festival and have won TMW's annual artist award (Skype Award 2009–2014, Wire Prize 2015, Telliskivi Creative City Award 2016, Telia & Telliskivi Award 2017–2018), are Popidiot (2009),
Iiris (2010),
Ewert and The Two Dragons (2011), Talbot (2012), Elephants From Neptune (2013), Odd Hugo (2014),
Maarja Nuut (2015),
I Wear* Experiment (2016), Mart Avi, Erki Pärnoja, NOËP (2017) and Mart Avi,
Mari Kalkun, Holy Motors (2018).
Among the notable international acts who have performed at the festival are
Vashti Bunyan (UK),
C Duncan (UK),
The Membranes (UK),
Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only offic ...
(UK),
Eric Copeland (US),
Kara-Lis Coverdale (CA),
Motorama Motorama may refer to:
* General Motors Motorama, an auto show from 1949 to 1961
* ''Motorama'' (film), a 1991 film
* Motorama (band), a Russian post-punk band
{{disambig ...
(RU),
Shortparis (RU),
Kate NV (RU),
Kate Boy (SE),
Rubik (FI),
Kimmo Pohjonen (FI),
Jaakko Eino Kalevi (FI),
Liima (DK/FI),
Kristjan Järvi (US),
Yukon Blonde (CA),
Sturle Dagsland (NO),
Hauschka
Volker Bertelmann (born 11 October 1966) is a German composer, pianist and former rapper who mainly performs and records under the name Hauschka. He is best known for his compositions for prepared piano. He won an Academy Award and a British Ac ...
(DE),
Alexander Hacke (DE).
Conference
Besides music industry ABC, the TMW conference has looked into the impact of arts as an engine for the economy and the functioning of an innovative society while offering inspiration to around 1,000 music professionals, creatives, entrepreneurs and policy makers from different areas. Important keywords throughout the event have been civil activism and sustainable development. TMW's conference was the first international conference in Estonia to reach a gender balance among speakers in 2018.
Throughout the festival's existence several international industry experts, artistic figures and pop mavericks have participated in the conference panel discussions, among them
Seymour Stein
Seymour Steinbigle (April 18, 1942 – April 2, 2023), known professionally as Seymour Stein, was an American entrepreneur and music executive. He co-founded Sire Records and was vice president of Warner Bros. Records. With Sire, Stein signed ba ...
, the founder and president of
Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...
(
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
,
Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...
), influential managers
Simon Napier-Bell
Simon Robert Napier-Bell (born 22 April 1939) is an English record producer, music manager, author and journalist. At different times, he has managed artists as diverse as the Yardbirds, John's Children, Marc Bolan, Japan, London, Sinéad O'Co ...
(The
Yardbirds,
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...
,
Wham!
Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...
), Petri Lunden (
Cardigans,
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
), Edward Bicknell (
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...
,
Scott Walker,
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...
),
Peter Jenner
Peter Julian Jenner (born 3 March 1943) is a British music manager and a record producer. Jenner, Andrew King and the original four members of Pink Floyd were partners in Blackhill Enterprises.
Early career
Peter Jenner is the son of Will ...
(
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
), artists-turned authors
Viv Albertine (
The Slits
The Slits were a punk/post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma Rom ...
),
John Robb (
The Membranes,
Louder Than War),
Bob Stanley (St Etienne), renown acts like
Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only offic ...
(
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...
,
Rich Kids), polymath musician
Barry Adamson,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n feminist punk rock protest group
Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot is a Feminism in Russia, Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in the fall of 2011 by the th ...
, influential musicologists like
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his career at ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture.
Reynold ...
and Adam Harper and many others.
Since 2016 the TMW conference has expanded from music industry topics towards a wider social agenda and presented various visionaries from different subject fields, among them the US-based entrepreneur and philanthropist
Hamdi Ulukaya
Hamdi Ulukaya (born 26 October 1972) is a Turkish billionaire businessman, activist and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. He is the founder, owner, chairman, and chief executive officer of the strained yogurt bra ...
, artist and activist
iO Tillett Wright, gene researcher Lili Milani, MEP
Felix Reda,
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
’s business angel Fadi Bishara, city developer Gunvor Kronman, pioneering post-punk designer
Malcolm Garrett.
City Festival
TMW’s city festival offers daytime programme from art, design and cuisine to kids’ workshops and invites to take part in public discussions and explorations of urban space.
Awards and credits
* 2011: the "Best Newish Event in 2011" award at The Great Escape music conference.
* 2012: the "Best Hotel and Convention Bar" with the festival's hotel and convention center Nordic Hotel Forum.
* 2014: the "Best Host City Champion" for promoting the city of Tallinn.
* 2014: Tampere Music Award for Exceptional Achievements in Music to
Helen Sildna, the founder and director of Tallinn Music Week.
*2016: The
Order of the White Star
The Order of the White Star (; ) was instituted in 1936. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonian citizens and foreigners to give recognition for services rendered to the Estonian state.
Design
Classes
The Order of the White Star ...
of IV Class to Tallinn Music Week founder Helen Sildna for her contribution to Estonian music life and civil society.
In autumn 2014, British daily
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
and Sunday paper
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
picked the top 5 music festivals in the world for winter breaks, among them Tallinn Music Week.
Media coverage
In 2014, British quality daily
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
picked the Top 10 music festivals for winter breaks and Tallinn Music Week was among them. “Tallinn is known for its
art-nouveau architecture,
free public transport – and its ability to attract stag and hen parties. It's also becoming increasingly relevant for the music it serves up, especially at this developing annual event." the paper said.
In 2014,
Experty.by's Źmicier Biezkaravajny via
Belorusy i rynok said, “The Tallinn one is attractive primarily because it is one of the highest-rated but at the same time affordable events in terms of opportunities for a little-known artist to demonstrate its work to a foreign listener.”
In 2016, Tom Hawking on
Flavorwire pointed out that "/.../ the Estonian national government clearly has no problem providing state funding for such an endeavor, as well as getting involved in other, more hands-on ways. And by that, I mean that the freaking
President of Estonia
The president of the Republic of Estonia () is the head of state of the Estonia, Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid.
Estonia is one of the few parliam ...
played a DJ set at this year's festival. As much as "cool" is an integral part of
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's brand, it's hard to imagine him getting on the wheels of steel to drop an impromptu
Chicago house
Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the original house music of DJs and producers from the area, such as Ron Hardy and Phuture
History and origins D ...
set."
In 2017–2018
The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
has published articles on Estonian experimental music and acknowledged TMW for “promoting leftfield adventurous artists and feeding off questions of gender identity and social righteousness”.
In 2019
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
introduced the TMW festival centre Telliskivi Creative City as the new burgeoning arts hub.
References
External links
* {{Official website
Music festivals in Estonia
Culture in Tallinn
Spring (season) in Estonia