The Frankfurt Musikmesse was once one of the largest international tradeshows, attracting over 1,800 exhibitors from all over the world at its peak, and held since immediately after the end of the Second World War. Musikmesse traditionally was held with the first two days reserved for business only, while the last two days were accessible for the local public. From the enormous success of the Frankfurt show, a more professionally oriented section of Musikmesse gradually evolved to become Prolight+Sound, attending to the thriving studio recording and live performance market segments.
In the United States, the older NAMM Show evolved in the same direction, while remaining always a single entity, exclusively for trading. While the Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim was smaller than the Musikmesse Frankfurt, it gradually expanded in the last five years as the Anaheim Convention center was also modernized and added more halls, predominantly occupied by professional audio exhibitors. Drums and guitars remained separated in different halls from mixing consoles and PA systems, but no visitor ever complained of the concept, or even imagined that it would be a good idea to open a trade show to the general public.
That was not the concept that was retained by the Frankfurt Messe management, which over the years insisted on pursuing a (partially) business-to-consumer (B2C) model for the music instruments section, while keeping an exclusive business-to-business (B2B) approach for Prolight+Sound, creating an absurd artificial apartheid that served no purpose and was highly detrimental of the trade activity. Gradually, the musical instruments trade moved to Asia and towards the NAMM Show in the US. In Frankfurt, Musikmesse was kept only in name for a local music festival held for the city.
Now, following an extremely challenging two years of global pandemic, Messe Frankfurt confirms it will no longer promote the consumer trade fair formats Musikmesse Plaza and Musikmesse Festival, which were planned to be held in April 2022, completely separate from Proligh+Sound. The decision was justified because of the difficulties in planning large-scale concerts by international artists, concerts in clubs, and music education events under the current pandemic scenarios.
As for the Musikmesse trade show (www.musikmesse.com), Messe Frankfurt adds that it will "no longer be continuing the B2B part of the Musikmesse but instead will restructure music-related B2C formats at a later point in time." The main culprit, the show organizers say, is related with "the dramatic transformation in the instrument market," dominated by "a small number of online retailers" (selling to all the European Union countries, all located in Germany, and which never supported Musikmesse anyhow), resulting in diminishing number of exhibitors.
Focusing on where the money is for now, Messe Frankfurt says that Prolight+Sound "is not affected by this and will take place as planned from 26 to 29 April 2022, kicking off the Frankfurt trade fair season on the Frankfurt exhibition grounds." For the hundreds of microphone, studio, recording and DJ equipment manufacturers that never could decide if they were exhibiting in Musikmesse or Prolight+Sound, this decision will take that dilemma away.
Anticipating some further desertions, Prolight+Sound 2022 will offer a separate exhibition area for studio, DJ and recording solutions - assuming there is no official policy against those exhibitors to also bring guitars and keyboards which are naturally part of their business. The Studio Village will be complemented by individually bookable rooms for product presentations in the Studio Lab. Another new feature is the Sound Experience Hub, where audio brands will present their indoor sound reinforcement solutions under real conditions. The new area is complemented by the Production+Performance Hub, where visitors can expect an interactive Experience Zone from the areas of audio production, DJing and digital live performance.
"The market concentration in the musical instruments business – where a small number of online retailers account for over 70% of the market in Germany and neighboring countries alone – is changing the market and ordering behavior significantly. This means that it is not commercially viable to organize a B2B trade fair. It has always been part of our long-term Musikmesse strategy to provide more and more content for the general public above and beyond the musical instrument business and, together with people from all over the world, to celebrate a festival of music in Frankfurt. We see formats like the Musikmesse Festival and the Musikmesse Plaza having a bright future as part of a new concept,“ states Stephan Kurzawski, Member of the Extended Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt.
For the future, the Messe Frankfurt Executive Board is determined to restore the company to growth as soon as possible, by restructuring many of its events, discontinuing those that are no longer commercially viable or merging them. Also confirmed is the decision to streamline media services, step up its digital marketing, and secure new guest events for Frankfurt focused on sustainability and "digitalization".
"To achieve this, we will be focusing entirely on profitable revenue drivers, which we will be able to operate and develop on our exhibition grounds without additional financial resources from our shareholders or other third parties," explains Wolfgang Marzin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Messe Frankfurt.
And while Messe Frankfurt will no longer promote its traditional Musikmesse on its exhibition grounds, it will continue to promote the successful Music China, which "contributes significant added value to the company." Beginning with Prolight+Sound, Messe Frankfurt has no fewer than 135 trade fairs, congresses and concerts lined up for 2022 in Frankfurt alone. As an international trade fair brand, Prolight+Sound will also continue to be promoted with dedicated events in China and Dubai. The related Prolight+Sound Russia event is cancelled for now, in light of "the Russian invasion of Ukraine" and "the unprecedented threat to peaceful coexistence in Europe."
Prolight Sound 2022The Global Entertainment Technology Show
26 - 29 April
www.prolight-sound.com
www.messefrankfurt.com
