We’ll be announcing our first NEXT15 speakers shortly. Their task: To showcase different aspects of HOW WE WILL LIVE with a strong focus on the consumers.

In addition to our exclusive NEXT programme, we will join forces with the Reeperbahn Festival Conference for some combined sessions with topics of interest to marketers and music professionals alike. With your NEXT15 ticket, you will be able to fully participate in the concert and conference programme of the Reeperbahn Festival. (But – beware – the Reeperbahn Festival Conference ticket does not include the NEXT programme.)

In our joint sessions, NEXT and Reeperbahn Festival Conference will welcome, among others, Daniel Müllensiefen from the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He explores how music works subconsciously in advertising and will focus his talk on music, brains and what makes our synapses dance.

How do we perceive and memorise music and melodies? What role does music play as a selling tool in brand advertising? What’s the secret recipe of sticky songs? Daniel Müllensiefen, who is part of the Music, Mind and Brain research group at Goldsmiths, addresses the cognitive, computational, and neuroscientific bases of musical understanding and behaviour. Since September 2010, he has also been working with the London-based advertising agency DDB UK to explore how music influences emotional advertising.

In a second session we are delighted to have Chris Barton speak. He is the co-founder of Shazam, and came up with the idea back in 1999. With three others, he led the creation of Shazam – from concept, through inventing a new pattern recognition technology, to building and launching the world’s first mobile music recognition service. Today, Shazam has been downloaded more than 500 million times and has more than 100 million monthly active users. Additionally, the innovation is part of the reason why Siri can answer questions like “What is that song?”. Barton still serves on the board of Shazam Entertainment, but has left the operational side of the company to work at Dropbox.

In the session of Reeperbahn Festival and NEXT Barton will explain how music consumption has been changing, and how the music search platform can be used in marketing and advertising.

The list of musicians and artists joining the Reeperbahn Festival is rapidly expanding too. We are very much looking forward to seeing top class performances on different stages in clubs and in the open air around the Reeperbahn.

And don’t forget: Your ticket for NEXT15 will include the Reeperbahn Festival concert and conference programme, too.