The city of Reykjavik, Iceland, holds an annual five-day music festival for one week every fall. It becomes, quite literally, the live music capital of the whole of the Scandinavia. Caitlyn Dougher, Northeastern University student, helped a lot to organise the event. She, a music industry major, is enthusiastic about this festival. “The city lights up and people go crazy,” said Dougher.
In her last semester, Dougher interned as a co-op as an assistant of public relations and marketing for Iceland Airwaves, which is the name of this festival. She outlined an extensive social media campaign that spanned over five months. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram saw her writing catchy band descriptions, planning ticket giveaway contests and of course, uploading pictures of this beautiful city. This undoubtedly received hundreds of ‘likes’.
The event, every year, attracts talent scouts and journalists from all over the world, as it is one of the foremost places for new bands to showcase, maybe even perform for the first time ever. Hot-shot record labels and magazines like Billboard and Rolling Stone also make sure they are present there to discover something fresh and crisp.
“Getting facts across to an international audience in a fun and pithy way is a good skill to develop,” Dougher said. “To think that I helped make this festival possible is a really cool feeling.”
According to Dougher, the crowd present at the Iceland Airwaves was “rowdy but responsible”. She attended as many as 40 of the festival’s 200 acts, including Sigur Rós, a band from Reykjavik, and one of her favourites. Dougher feels that this experience was much needed, not only academically, but also personally. It helped her focus more on her goal of working as international relations and marketing consultant for the music industry.
“Moving to a foreign country without knowing anyone there was nerve-racking,” she said, “but it turned out being the best experience of my life and I can’t wait to do it again.”
Pranjali Wakde
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