Klaus Gropper
Exhibition Manager @ Popkomm
- born ‘72 in a small village in the Alps, which means his early musical identification was based on alphorns and incidental imports of bootlegged Skatepunk Tapes,
- funded his studies as a house / garage DJ
- master in cultural studies and media history
- worked for the oldest German Punk Label “Weserlabel” (can you say “new business” in context with Punk without loosing all street credibility for a lifetime?)
- event organiser is quite a sham label for running Bremen’s most dirty warehouse parties for a while
- music editor for various TV formats
- was hired to support the Popkomm team in Berlin.
- Ever since working hard developing both, a vision for Popkomm being the worldwide no1 platform for the hot shit, and a matching feasible business strategy. 
Sat Bisla
Sat Bisla a native of Wolverhampton, England has certainly enjoyed a multi-faceted career in the music industry--over the years he’s worked as a DJ (including KCRW Los Angeles), radio programmer (KKDJ “The Edge” Fresno, CA) club booker, manager (Rob Dougan, Kate Havenevik, Pilate Speed), A&R scout for Interscope, Atlantic, Nettwerk, etc., and a club owner, booker, DJ and Radio Editor for the trade magazines ‘Album Network’ and ‘Virtually Alternative’…and that’s just for starters.
Bisla constructed the creative foundation for Clear Channel’s New Music Network (a artist/consumer social networking platform back) in 2001. Bisla founded A&R Worldwide, discovering and signing many promising new artists while also writing the weekly A&R column for Radio & Records. Bisla’s executives networking dinners also gave birth to MUSEXPO.
In September 2006, Bisla launched the fully independent Pangaea Entertainment Group, the new home to A&R Worldwide and MUSEXPO. Pangaea is also the parent to Bisla creation “Passport Approved,” a two-hour weekly import radio show broadcast on “Indie 103.1” in Los Angeles and syndicated coast-to-coast on stations such as KNRK Portland, WCNR Charlottesville, OR, YrockonXPN Philadelphia, KCCQ Ames/Des Moines, IA and WEQX Manchester, VT & Albany, NY.
The program has given int’l acts such as Duffy, Lily Allen, Wolfmother, Arctic Monkeys, Editors, Adele, Ting Tings, Teddybears, Klaxons and many others their first radio airplay in N. America.
Bisla continues to keep his hand in international affairs, programming and hosting “M.I.A.,” a twice-weekly radio show for Germany’s Motor FM (broadcasting in Berlin, Brandenburg and Stuttgart) and programming the weekly exchange with Xfm’s John Kennedy and Jim Gellatly, while also contributing a monthly column to leading Australian music industry publication The Music Network. 
Una Johnston
Una Johnston is SXSW’s UK & Ireland Manager and Environmental Consultant and is based in Co. Tipperary, Ireland. She is responsible for advertising and exhibition sales, as well as providing information and support to UK and Irish delegates and showcase artists. As Environmental Consultant she works closely with SXSW staff to devise, implement and monitor a range of eco-friendly initiatives. From 1997 to 2006 Una Johnston was SXSW’s European Manager. Her background is in event management and she has over 20 years experience in conferences, festivals and events programming & production. She was based in New York from 1977 to 1989 where she was General Manager and then International Director for New Music Seminar. SXSW is an annual international gathering of the music industry in Austin Texas, with a focus on music development. SXSW draws thousands of music industry professionals for 50 compelling panels, industry discussions, demo listening sessions, 325 trade show exhibits, and five nights of top quality music by over 1,500 buzz bands hailing from points as close to home as Austin and as far away as Australia and Uzbekistan. SXSW 2008 takes place in Austin Texas from March  Javier Lopez
Javier Lopez came to the UK 15 years ago and never returned to his native Madrid, except for some summer sun! He spent several years working from London as a freelance music journalist for Spanish magazines such as Rolling Stone, Vogue Spain, Top Music and Rockdelux, as well as for the Agencia EFE (official Spanish News Agency) and for the cultural sections of other publications. In 1998 he joined the music exporter Beehive International where he was in charge of sales to South America and Southern Europe. He then continued this role with another exporter, Caroline 2, until he joined Reed Midem in 2004.
Javier is the UK & Ireland Sales Manager for Midem, the original and most important global music trade show, which has been taking place in Cannes for the last 42 years. The UK is the country with the biggest representation at Midem with over 1500 participants from 800 companies.
This year Javier has taken a similar role at the new Reed Midem show, AMAZIA, taking place for the first time in Hong Kong, China, this November. This is a new concept that will unite music, TV, film and games content across all delivery platforms. It will bring together the buoyant Asian market and a truly international presence from businesses across the world. |
