Musikmesse, Europe’s biggest trade fair for the music industry, has been cancelled in view of the restrictions put in place due to the rapid spread of SARS CoV-2 infections.
As they are events with more than 1,000 attendees, Musikmesse 2020, Musikmesse Plaza 2020 and Musikmesse Festival have all been cancelled.
Musikmesse issued the following statement:
“Consequent on a general degree issued by the Hessian Ministry for Social Affairs and Integration, it is no longer possible to hold the ‘Musikmesse Plaza’ (3 and 4 April) or any concerts of the ‘Musikmesse Festival’ (31 March to 4 April) with over 1,000 visitors against the background of the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections. As it cannot be expected that the situation will change soon enough to schedule an adequate catch-up event, the organisers announce that the international trade show Musikmesse will not take place in 2020. The new dates for Musikmesse 2021 will be announced soon.”
Visitor tickets for April 2020 will also be valid for the new date, and all ticket holders will receive new tickets with the current date of Musikmesse.
Accordingly, all events planned to be held at Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre from 31 March to 4 April have been cancelled. They include the highlight concerts by Freya Ridings, Max Herre, Moop Mama and Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar, as well as the ‘Randy Rhoads Remembered’, ‘Ultimate Jam’ and ‘Rabid Dogs of Rock’ all-star shows.
“Following the postponement of Musikmesse 2020, we did everything possible to hold a great festival of music in Frankfurt as scheduled and, in view of this, we are very sorry to have to cancel these events,” said Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt GmbH. “However, we firmly believe that, under the current circumstances, this is unavoidable.”
“We would like to thank all artists, organisers and partners from the region for the great cooperation and are looking forward to the next edition in 2021,” added Wolfgang Weyand, Director, Musikmesse + Festival.
Visitors who wish to cancel their purchased trade fair visitors tickets should send an email to tickets@messefrankfurt.com, at which point the ticket price will be refunded.
Visitors who would like to cancel their private visitor tickets (3 and 4 April 2020) should send an email to musikmesse@soulticket.de. All other expenditures that have already been incurred (such as for accommodation and travel) must be borne by the visitor.
Online ticketing for trade fair visitors of Musikmesse has been deactivated until further notice.
Before Musikmesse was cancelled, organisers were taking the potential spread of the coronavirus seriously, announcing that personal instrument mouthpieces were allowed to be taken into Musikmesse for instrument testing.
People bringing instruments and equipment into the exhibition were due to have them sealed at the entrances, at which point they were to be issued a document entitling them to take the instrument into the fair.