The second half of my internship overall went smooth sailing. In addition to all the paperwork (that, I loved), registrations and research I had a chance to help out with organising the first addition of AMAEI’s Digital Music Days conference. What was even more important and motivating, I got to hear the music industry professionals talk about their expertise and also, meet all of them. I was glad I got to give my input to organising the event, because that is something I already know a little about (as I am working in event management). Some of the great people who where speaking at the event included: Chris Cooke (from CMU), Paul Pacifico (from AIM), Wesley A’Harrah (from Hyper Orange), Charles Caldas (formerly the CEO of Merlin) and much more.

During the internship I was able to visit all the associations that are important for musicians, authors and phonographic rights holders in Portugal. It was interesting to see how different the organisations were and how well they worked with a music publisher or Why Portugal („Music Estonia“ in Portugal).

And as I am also interested in music sync, it was really good to see how Lisbon Music Supervision works, what is the logic behind music sync and how small and big sync deals are negotiated.

I helped with some cool international releases that were by European Phonographic label and saw how the preparation process of a release was organised (including the digital playlisting using Spotify etc.)

Doing all that I was always comparing with and searching for the Estonian equivalent to everything. Now, being back, I try to understand if what I learned is being done in Estonia by some people and how could I help with developing this part of the industry.

Of course, all the new information about music industry was important for the future but I was in Lisbon so I had to take advantage of all the concerts in town and for sure I had the best companion (my coworker and now a good friend Ines) to do so. I discovered a lot of new music, cool art, visited some museums, a lot of parks, small villages around Portugal listening to new music and reading good books. And I can’t not mention the Baldaya Christmas lunch where I went with João and got to try homemade Christmas food and experience Portuguese traditions! (Btw. You can listen to the playlist I made on Spotify, it’s called Lisboa 2019

Time in Lisbon went so fast that it feels like a dream. Every time I remember anything about the internship or Portugal, I smile. I for sure plan on going back this year to see my friends, hopefully already in April to Westway Lab!

Thank you to all the people that welcomed me to Portugal and made it feel like home - Nuno, Ines, João, Ana Rita, Duarte, Marlene, Liis and Dino!

PS! The “welcome” dinner was spectacular!

Playlist on Spotify