Over the last years, numerous Danish acts, ranging from Under Byen to Alphabeat, have been successful in Belgium. At the same time, new Belgium acts like Yuko and Mintzkov have signed release deals in DK in 2009. This panel will try to shed light on the presumed Danish-Belgian connection. SPOT has brought four key players from the Belgian music business to Aarhus to address the topic.
Presented in association with MXD - Music Export Denmark / ROSA - The Danish Rock Council
Friday May 22nd | 15:00 - 16:00 | Brobjergskolen

Paul-Henri Wauters
Paul Henri is the chief booker of Brussels venue Botanique - one of Belgium's most significant venues. Furthermore, Botanique hosts one of the most important Belgian festivals for new acts, "Les Nuits Botanique". Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines og Arcade Fire have all played at Botanique.

Dirk Steenhaut
Dirk is an established and experienced music journalist. In Belgium he is known as a staunch supporter and promoter of brand new bands. Also a role that he has played in relation to Danish music. Writing for one of the main papers of Belgium, Dirk has helped open the Belgians' eyes to Danish acts like Under Byen and Murder.    

Filip De Groote
Filip is the label distribution sales manager at Bang!, which shares its distributive structure with PIAS. The company's breakthrough came in 1994, when they released dEUS' debut album. Bang! is one of Belgium's biggest distribution companies, with its own label (62TV), and booking agency (NADA). Bang! has successfully released Murder in Belgium

Sylvestre Defontaine
Sylvestre is a leading media figure in Wallonian radio. As a host and programmer of the young, but explosively expanding radio channel in French Pure FM, Sylvestre's program "Drugstore" is cherished in Belgium for his ability to combine his piercing cultural observations with cool new bands.    

Christian Hald Buhl (moderator)
Christian is the strategy manager of ROSA's and MXD's export platform SPOT On Denmark. He has his professional base in Brussels, where he organizes new SPOT On Denmark showcases and does PR for the SPOT Festival. Christian has organised SPOT On Denmark showcases in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.