From 5 to 6 November, Riga will host the first Riga Music Week: a new urban music festival and conference bringing together the best Latvian and international talent, industry professionals and music lovers. The festival section is for all music lovers who want to enjoy two days of diverse and high-quality music in the heart of Riga, with separate tickets available for both days together and for each day separately.
The opening of the conference will be attended by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, Agnese Lāce, the Mayor of Riga, Viesturs Kleinbergs, and the Vice-Chairman of the Riga City Council, Vilnis Ķirsis.
The opening panel, Music, Security and Soft Power: between Diplomacy, Propaganda and the Creative Economy, will focus on the role of music in public security, cultural diplomacy and the creative economy. The participants will discuss how music can serve as an instrument of soft power and cultural ambassador internationally, and also as a possible propaganda tool. Likewise, they will assess the role of national music quotas, culture diplomacy in building national image and the balance between creative freedom, public safety and cultural sustainability. The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, Agnese Lāce, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, Baiba Braže, will also attend the discussion.
“We are truly proud that the decision taken by the Riga City Council Culture Commission in the last session of the Riga City Council to start the tradition of an international festival-conference Riga Music Week, is already bearing fruit and helping our Riga to develop as a potentially important European music industry stopping point. It is crucial to our artists, who need the support of the Latvian capital to reach out to audiences in other countries with their music, which is particularly difficult in this age of sound and noise overload. The opening celebrations of each new tradition are always the most emotional and fulfilling. So, this year, we are looking forward to our first Riga Music Week celebrations to once again prove that our creative people can and Riga is empowered with them,” says Dāvis Stalts, Head of the Riga City Council Culture Commission.
Shipsea and Kautkaili have joined the festival’s concert programme, expanding the previously announced roster of musicians, which includes both well-known Latvian artists Tautumeitas, Emilija, BŪU, Muud, YŪT and promising young talents. Alongside Latvian representatives, Riga Music Week will likewise feature artists from neighbouring and other countries: the Estonian NOËP, Alika, mariin k (by the way, since 2019, she has been playing in the band of the legendary trip-hop artist Tricky), Erki Pärnoja, the Lithuanians Dargana, Kabloonak, Ingaja, as well as the Ukrainian Ziferblat, the French duo Charlotte Fever, the German Marla Moya, the British Eyre Llew and others. Alongside the indoor festival, which requires an entry ticket, a free folk music stage programme will take place both days in the courtyard of the Tallinas Street Quarter, featuring genre stalwarts Saucējas, Rahu and many others.
This year’s Riga Music Week x KIT’25 conference will offer a wide range of topics, covering the interaction between the music industry, film and technology. The programme will focus on topical issues, ranging from the AI impact to audience building and music synchronisation in audiovisual projects. The topics include: “Playlist power: getting your music heard on streaming platforms”, “From streams to superfans: audience building strategies”, “AI’s impact on music in 2025: licensing, creativity and industry survival”, “Funding and its accessibility for the music sector in the Baltic States”, “Cracking the sync code: how to get music into film, TV series and games”, “Spotlight on Mexico” (with Mexican industry representatives), “From dream to stage: how to get to international music festivals”, “Baltic, Nordic, or Eastern European? Defining a region through music”, “Beyond babysitting: what artist managers really do (and what not to ask from a manager)”, and “Eurovision: how to turn participation into a success story”.
This year, Riga Music Week has joined forces with the forum “Culture. Industry. Technology 2025” (KIT’25) organised by Kompānija NA, which will complement the programme with a special guest lecture – a performance by Ola Melzig, Technical Director of the Eurovision Song Contest. Melzig has managed the technical production for 16 Eurovision competitions. The Forum will also include a panel discussion “Culture Pitch – Support, Dependence or Union?”, organised by KIT’25, where event producers will discuss the relationship between money and culture: how public funding is distributed, how the private sector works, and how this collaboration results in quality cultural products that audiences appreciate.
The programme of Riga Music Week x KIT’25 features a special guest, Debs Wild, a music industry professional from the UK, known as one of the founding members of the legendary Coldplay and currently working in the band’s HQ team. Debs will participate in the discussion “From streams to superfans: practical audience building”, sharing her experience on how bands build relationships with their fans and their role in artists’ careers. She will also be one of the speakers in the panel discussion “Beyond apps & gadgets – Smart Specialisation (RIS3) in music”, which will consider how the music industry can become an engine for innovation, sustainability and smart growth in the Baltic region. Debs will also share Coldplay’s experience of sustainable touring and green-touring practices, which are widely recognised around the world. She will also moderate a panel on mental health in the music industry, as well as take part in a special Riga Music Week book club section, where she will present her book Life in Technicolor: A Celebration of Coldplay. This section likewise includes a presentation of Uldis Rudaks’ book Rokupācija in English, introducing the historical significance of Latvian rock music, as well as a presentation of Hannes Tschürtz’s book Useless Music Knowledge.
Participants and musicians will soon have the opportunity to register for the workshop “Setting goals and strategy for your career” and “From studio to streaming: a DIY music release guide”. There will also be speed meetings with industry representatives, such as: Meet the festivals, the labels & publishers, the media and the supervisors and film producers.
A complete conference programme is available here: https://rigamusicweek.lv/conference/
Riga Music Week is organised in collaboration with Music Latvia and Kompānija NA, supported by the Riga Municipality, Biļešu Serviss, Latvian Performers’ and Producers’ Association LaIPA and Copyright and Communication Consulting Agency/ Latvian Authors Association AKKA/LAA. Media support: Radio SWH, TVNET, Diena, Bobe and JCDecaux.