Inspired by electronic classics like Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, Schiller alias Christopher von Deylen creates visionary sounds in a genre of its own kind. The “Schiller-Sound” blends past and present music in an amazing way: emotional electronic music, celebrated by fans and the press around the world as “global pop”.

Christopher von Deylen is currently working on his seventh studio-album. The release is scheduled for autumn 2012 followed by a tour which will lead him into arena-venues throughout Germany.

For NEXT Berlin, Schiller will pause his creative studio work. In his keynote on the first conference day, he will talk about the chances and challenges for artists in a post-digital world.

Five Questions for Schiller:

Where do you see the chances for musicians in a post-digital world?
The Internet offers an array of options for promotion, self-marketing and distribution. Although this might sound tempting, it also leads to a redefinition of the artist’s core-competence. This very competence consisted of composing and performing so far. Suddenly, the artist has to deal with a package of all-new challenges. This is particularly difficult for artists, who did not show any interest in these non-music-matters so far. But the Internet is there after all, so these questions demand answers. The old word ‘the only constant is change’ has never been proven to be that true before.

Where is the music industry heading at?
There was a time, when music did practically sell itself but these days are over. But still, there will always be an audience for music in this world. Artist and audience just have to find and like each other. Reaching out for the audience has never been that easy, yet complicated. Thinking long-term, withstanding short-term seductions and a sustainable career-planing are only some of the mandatory points in this mindset. Although they sound like common sense, they never really applied with a broad approach so far. A direct artist-audience relation finally has become indispensable.

Which problems are to be solved?
There are still countless problems to solve in order to transform the music business for the post-digital age. The classic record company’s role is about to change dramatically. The question of copyright-protection has to be answered in an appropriate and determined way. We have to put our focus onto the value of creativity without condemning the Internet’s life of its own.

What are you going to talk about at NEXT?
I will talk about the artist’s chances and challenges in a post-digital world, especially the artist-audience-relationship.

And what do you expect from the conference?
Getting in touch with people from around the world who share their commitment of being part of a future-oriented think-tank sounds really inspiring!