About Me
RockCity Hamburg was founded in 1987 as the central mouthpiece and self-help group for Hamburg-based musicians. It offers advice to musicians, music publishers, labels, organizers, bookers and clubs. The association is recognized today throughout Germany as the oldest and most experienced institution of its kind, contributing its knowledge of the market, proximity to the scene and continuity in its close cooperation with the Hamburg cultural authorities and its members. The founding and establishment of VUT and Clubkombinat Hamburg are a reflection of the association's thematic range and its extensive portfolio comprises advice, events and cultural exchange through to discounts such as lower rates for car and bus rentals. In its advisory capacity, RockCity focuses mainly on the overall concept of "music as a profession" and can guide the one-man (or woman) business in the shape of an artist from the initial idea through to the end product. It offers financial services, tax advice and legal assistance including checking artist's contracts, help with royalty collecting societies, booking, offline and online promotion, marketing, networking, sponsorship etc. RockCity gives advice about grants, provides industry contact names and numbers and knows everyone worth knowing. The association initiates, plans, organizes and stages its own series of events based on innovative concepts. Many projects then gain a life of their own, becoming independent of RockCity and achieving profitable event status, such as the "Rockspektakel" in front of Hamburg's City Hall or the "Nacht der Clubs" (night of the clubs), a concept since adopted by many other cities. New event concepts like "sampling", "rap factory", "chamber concerts" and so on are put together and implemented in collaboration with municipal offices, the media, musicians and clubs. Right from the start, Hamburg bands have been present with RockCity at the CMJ in New York, SXSW in Texas/Austin, Forma Nova and Splash Festival in Denmark, in Chicago, London and Paris and for the future, there are plans to make further forays abroad with the association in cooperation with the country's new export office, German Sounds. There's no stale bureaucracy in such a venture, no social apathy and no "members-only" club mentality, and it all comes virtually free.
