Record number of exhibitors expected at Frankfurt's Musikmesse

Frankfurt - The annual international Musikmesse trade fair was scheduled to open its doors here Wednesday with a record number of exhibitors as Germany's music industry sounded an optimistic note for business this year.

"2007 is looking positive for the industry," said Dagmar Sikorski, head of DVMV, the umbrella organisation for the German music industry.

German musical instrument makers saw sales rise by 3.6 per cent last year, with exports accounting for a record 64 per cent of total sales, data published by the DVMV showed.

Under this year's motto "Live for the music," the four-day trade fair, one of the biggest of its kind, was set to open its doors to trade visitors on Wednesday, with the general public to be allowed in to sample the wares of 1,604 exhibitors from 50 different countries on the final day on Saturday.

The sprawling fair is spread across 100,000 square metres in seven gigantic halls, with around 30,000 different instruments on display.

And if previous years are anything to go by, the sound coming from the halls will be deafening as visitors have the opportunity to try out all the instruments, from pianos, harpsichords, acoustic and electric guitars, to brass and woodwind instruments, strings, and even church organs, as well as drum kits, amplifiers, DJ equipment, digital mixing desks and a whole range of computer software and multimedia.

Only the hall dedicated to sheet music, where the more genteel makers of reproductions of historic wind and string instruments also set up their stands, will offer a haven of relative calm.

During the four days, hundreds of workshops and concerts, from classical to hard rock, were scheduled to entertain the tens of thousands of expected visitors on a number of different stages.

Running concurrently with the main fair will be the separate "musikbiz" fair, a business platform aimed at bringing together labels, publishers, studios and music-event organisers.

Japanese musical instrument giant Yamaha will be present again this year with its own separate pavillion.

There was also a "Music4kids" pavillion in which children aged between five and 14 are allowed to try out different instruments. And there will also be a "Schooljam" competition to find the best school band, the winners of which will appear alongside headline-topping stars of Germany's biggest open-air music festival, the "Rock am Ring," this summer and also embark on a concert tour in the United States.

Germany is traditionally the best-represented country with exhibitors ranging from specialist makers of historical woodwinds and violins to music publishers and piano makers Bechstein and Bluethner.

But the United States is also well represented and Asia's profile is increasing each year.

Agence France Presse