Beyond Algorithms - Self-Empowered Artist Communication outside of the big Platforms
Di. 08.04.2025   18:30 Uhr

Many musicians rely on social media when it comes to communication, promotion, and growing their audiences. On the few popular platforms they are dependent on the given business practices and at the mercy of intransparent algorithms and their changes. While this dependency on a very small number of private platforms as communication infrastructures has always been problematic, many musicians currently struggle more than ever with the question of how to organize their communication, now that the biggest social media companies have pledged their allegiance to the new US government.

Is social media a reliable tool for musicians’ means of communication? What alternatives are there? Can musicians leave the platforms or will the reduced attention make them irrelevant? What’s a good long term strategy? What are ideas for diversifying communication strategies in music? What are experiences with online communities, chat groups, newsletters, radios, press outreach, offline communication etc.?

We look forward to discussing ideas and experiences of communicating as an artist, and to having a clearer orientation afterwards around how to approach outreach and communication in this day and age.

This community evening is co-curated by Ivo Sloman.

 (she) - is co-founder of the Berlin music agency

Better Things

, who has been running the PR and marketing campaigns for Rosalía, Caroline Polachek, Mø, Aurora, a.m. Additionally Steffi is working on diverse projects, connecting international music players with Germany. She is giving workshops and speaking at conferences. Steffi was also co-founder of Parenthood in Music, the first initiative in Germany to improve the working conditions for parents in the music industry.

(they) - is a French/northern Irish artist, performer, sound designer, spatial sound shaper, DJ, curator, and founder of

SFX

 label & interdisciplinary conspiracy. Mc Pherson has developed an arc of accomplished albums and EPs. Alongside their releases, Mc Pherson has performed live and DJ'd at a steady stream of esteemed events and venues across the world from Berlin's CTM Festival to MUTEK Mexico, The Hague's Rewire to Novas Frequências in Rio de Janeiro. Mc Pherson's own node within the global information exchange is SFX, a multimedia platform they founded in 2020.

more speakers to be announced soon

he / they) - is a Berlin- and Hamburg-based musician with a background in different fields of media. Ivo also builds instruments, virtual ones – e.g. for NI’s sampler Kontakt – and real ones, one of which has already been played at Elbphilharmonie. Having been part of different bands and projects over the years, nowadays Ivo mainly performs and produces dreamy electronic music under the moniker

Korora

, currently finishing the debut EP.

(he) is a quintessention of travels expressed in music and visuals created by Sergey Onischenko – an artist from Ukraine who is touring round the world and spreading his indie-folk tunes with a touch of non-conformism and beat generation ideas. Soundscapes of Make Like A Tree will bring you to inner worlds of nature, woods, mountains and songs of whales on the bottom of the ocean. Usually performing as a live act, for us Make Like A Tree will play a selection from his sublime vinyl collection.

The venue is the Refuge Worldwide event space / office at Niemetzstr. 1 at Böhmischer Platz in Neukölln, NOT the radio station / Oona bar on Weserstr.

doors 18:30

start discussion 19:00

DJ Set 20:30

End 22:00

We have to end at 22:00 at Refuge. For those interested in more conversations, we can move to a nearby bar afterwards.