Selected music professionals will listen to songs by selected MENT 2026 artists and offer their immediate, direct, and honest feedback. Would they book the artist? What may be the entry points to their countries? Is there room for improvement? A chance to hear an honest analysis of individual songs by music professionals.

After more than a decade of breaking new ground, the Slovenian music export office, Music Slovenia, has finally secured public funding to fully realize its potential. This roundtable will focus on Slovenian breakthrough artists of the past decade and look ahead to the near future. What is the strategy and vision for Music Slovenia’s development? Why is it important for Slovenian artists and other industry professionals working internationally? And what opportunities are emerging for potential international partners?

Club infrastructure is undoubtedly one of the key pillars of the European music ecosystem, given its role in developing and promoting new, emerging artists and ensuring continuity in live music. Club representatives from across Europe will share their experiences in curating club programmes, implementing promotional strategies, building audiences, and addressing the challenges venues face today when presenting new international acts.

New Faces is a regional initiative launched by partners MENT Ljubljana, PIN Music Conference, Kontakt, SHIP, and So Alive Music Conference. Each year, it presents the ten most promising new faces (under 30) active on the music scenes of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Bulgaria. Let’s meet the generation of 2026, the current and future driving forces of the regional music industry.

Programmers from some of the most influential summer festivals will discuss how to showcase emerging artists at their events. How do they discover new talent, select the right stages, and boost visibility? What are the risks of presenting new acts, the significance of these festival performances for musicians’ careers, and the responsibility of festivals in shaping the future of the music scene?

MENT is hosting a discussion on the position of the Balkan music industry within the European music ecosystem. The discussion will address the mobility of music artists from the Balkans across the European festival and club circuit, inequalities affecting Balkan markets on streaming platforms, and the role of European policies and the Creative Europe programme in the development of music projects from the region. Special emphasis will be placed on identifying constructive solutions to key structural limitations and challenges.

How can you develop the best release strategy for your single or album? Drawing on insights from a PR professional, a label representative, and a booking agent, this panel explores how promotion, (digital) distribution, and live performances intersect, influencing the success of a release. The discussion will also cover common mistakes, overblown expectations, and how to respond when a key piece of the puzzle is missing or doesn’t work as planned.

A conversation with the partners of the LiveMX 2025 project ‘Sounds From Below – Touring the Balkans’, this panel explores the realities, opportunities, and challenges of touring in the Balkan region. From border formalities and local regulations to the cultural specificities of each scene, understanding how to navigate the region is essential for a successful tour. The panel presents insights gathered during collaborative field trips to Belgrade, Prishtina, and Sofia, as well as the creation of a multilingual fanzine-guide for artists, bookers, and music professionals.

The discussion is dedicated to showcase festivals that focus on world music and contemporary global sounds. Participants will share their experiences with such international platforms, highlight the key opportunities and challenges faced by artists, and present effective strategies for using these festivals to help artists grow. How do these events impact professional networking, international recognition, and breakthroughs for artists? What are the current trends and prospects for the future of showcase festivals?

Touring and working across borders involves navigating a complex web of legal regulations. This presentation will provide an overview of the most pressing issues, including double taxation, VAT, customs, social insurance, and visas. The aim is to help artists and organisers prepare more effectively for future international projects and tours. You will also find out about free resources, such as the Mobility Information Points (MIPs). Questions are encouraged!

Let’s immerse ourselves in the sounds of this year’s MENT artists who operate across the broadest spectrum of contemporary global music. Agents, promoters, and journalists from this field will listen to the selected songs and provide their direct, honest, and constructive feedback.

The discussion is focused on the role of the music sector and music projects within the framework of the upcoming AgoraEU programme, a new European funding scheme designed to support the cultural, media, and creative sectors. Participants will first reflect on the music sector’s experience within the Creative Europe programme. The discussion will then turn to the future, focusing on identifying the sector’s key needs, funding gaps, challenges, and opportunities, as well as examining how and to what extent the music sector will be included in the new European programme framework.

Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek once claimed that with streaming, music has no borders and anyone can build an international career from their bedroom. While Spotify emphasises egalitarian access through playlisting and algorithmic tools, recent research by Miloš Hroch (and Petr Szczepanik) reveals persistent inequalities between cultural centres and peripheries shaped by “spatial gatekeeping” in platform capitalism. In this talk, Miloš Hroch will show how artists, digital distributors, and regional offices of major labels in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) attempt to leverage these inequalities while simultaneously reproducing them.

Can artists meaningfully combine streaming as a tool for visibility and discovery with direct-to-fan platforms (like Bandcamp and Patreon) that enable direct relationships with audiences and stronger monetization opportunities? We will look into the “fan funnel” (from first stream to superfan) and the concrete strategies, platforms and data that artists can use to grow beyond playlists and build their communities.

Hannah is a music manager, community organiser, and co-founder of the DIY collective Ladies Music Pub. Having worked on releases with artists such as Young Fathers, Kae Tempest, Robyn, Låpsley, and TYSON, she brings extensive experience in music marketing and creative collaboration. In this session, Hannah will unpack concrete campaign examples and walk through her creative process. If you’re interested in innovative campaigns, striking visuals, and building a more equitable music scene, this session is sure to offer valuable insights.

This panel will introduce the Czech live music market from multiple perspectives and compare the concert scenes in Prague and Brno with those in the rest of the country. What is the diversity and development of independent venue spaces like? What are the opportunities and key entry points for emerging international music artists? What is the role of music festivals, promoters and music media in it? And what are Czech concert crowds like?