Indiana Jones and Beethoven

I've never been to Hall 12 before. The first thing I do here is enter an Indiana Jones world. A jungle overgrows decaying ruins, the sounds of animals and water can be heard, fog wafts through the scenery: a company specializing in projections and effects shows off its skills on a grand scale. Even after you have crossed the wilderness, the entire hall is all about event and media technology, from dance flooring to laser control. It is part of the partner trade fair prolight + sound, which takes place at the same time as Musikmesse.

While a lot of visitors (at least 90 % men) are crowding through the aisles here, it's quieter in the halls of the Musikmesse. At least in Hall 3.1, where I have an appointment with representatives of music publishers. Last year, they had their stands in a noisy hall next to the Bundeswehr brass band, among others. The stringed instruments and accordions with which they share the space this year are far more conducive to conversations about the latest editions of sheet music and music books. However, the hall now has an empty corner.

There are actually fewer exhibitors from the publishing houses, smaller publishers are often only present at collective stands, and national representatives of the respective music industry are now very few and far between. Is this a consequence of digitalization? A publisher's program can easily be viewed and consulted online. Musical instruments, on the other hand, still want to be viewed and played in analog form, even if many of them have long since been equipped with digital features. For example, pianos that can be turned into digital pianos at the touch of a button, with the sound coming from headphones, or drums that are compatible with the home. Materials for instrument making will be presented, modeled on wood, but improved, as they say; and violins from the 3D printer. One innovation that has already won several awards is the Gvido music reader, which is opened like a notebook and consists of two portrait-format pages or screens on which notes can be written and saved. The stands offering - grown - sound wood or therapeutic instruments, such as a sound cradle for adults in which you can lie down and let the sound of strings flow through you, seem like a deliberate departure from the technical.

The increasing popularity of the Leipzig Book Fair probably also plays a role in the reduction of the exhibitor list as far as music publishers are concerned. This is a trade fair for the general public. In Frankfurt, the focus is on the opposite trend. In the official trade fair catalog, Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt, explains the new concept, according to which the actual trade fair no longer lasts until Saturday: "Business first! (...) For the first time, the event will open on four working days (...), thus underlining its focus on trade visitors." The general public and city dwellers are invited to the Musikmesse Festival, concerts on the exhibition grounds and in city clubs, and to the Plaza Saturday, a mixture of musical market and folk festival. School classes are invited to the Congress Center, where they can try out musical instruments of all kinds.

The trade fair for the experts, the spectacle for the public: that makes sense. However, the publishers, whose professional contacts, i.e. music dealers, are becoming fewer and fewer, are probably not served by this. It is therefore understandable that they are looking to Leipzig. There are even plans to hold their own music fair there in the fall. For the time being, however, they can be found in Frankfurt, and they are also making it quite clear what the classical music industry will be focusing on next year: Beethoven! The 250th birthday is rightly already taking place here, because what will be played and discussed in 2020 is now available in sheet music editions and books.