Founded in the 1980s, the techno genre remains one of the pillars of the international electronic music scene. It happened, thanks, in part, to the Time Warp Festival.
Created in 1994, Time Warp celebrated its anniversary on November 22-23. For 25 years, it has remained one of the most significant events in the electronic music world. The festival has given a significant impetus to techno mass and continues to internationalize it.
Billboard spoke with Robin Ebinger, one of the founders and marketing director of Cosmopop, the company that creates and develops the Time Warp Festival.
Time Warp returns to New York for the first time since 2015. What is the significance of New York's tech and electronic scene for Time Warp?
Time Warp has visited hundreds of cities around the world. There are various corners of the world behind him, but not one evokes such strong emotions as Warp New York.
New York has a very powerful aura and unreal atmosphere, which is what makes the event very special. We first made Time Warp in the US for our 20th anniversary in 2014.
Now we are 25 and we are back in the United States - it is an honor to celebrate the next anniversary in creative and musical New York.
Why did you take so long?
It all depended on the place. For example, the first Time Warp abroad was in Prague in 2005. It was held in an old palace, gathering about 4,000 people under one roof. It was a very successful event, but after a few months this palace burned down. So there was a question of finding a new place that had never been found.
The same thing happened with the US. We lost the original venue for the festival in 2014, but immediately found a replacement. In 2015, the situation repeated, but then the alternative place was no longer on the market. It was too risky for us to return without a decent location. So we decided to stop the fest until we found a suitable place to return to the US.
In 2019, Time Warp celebrates 25 years as an event and brand. How has a brand been able to stay viable for more than two decades?
First of all, the brand was not profitable for the first 10 years. When we held our 10-year anniversary event in Mannheim, we called it the "grand final show" because we didn't know if it was worth spending more money. It became a real business later.
I think the real fuel that drives all our projects is the belief that we do. We have always wanted to create the perfect dance floor for our guests and the perfect workplace for artists where they can really teach themselves full and excel.
What made Time Warp profitable after 10 years of damage, what changes have occurred?
There are many different factors that have influenced this. Techno has become more popular, cheaper flights, more accessible to the internet, but most importantly, we have continued to do what we believed in and were always improving. They worked on the atmosphere on the dance floor, used modern technology and continued to be authentic. All this contributed to the success of Time Warp.
What about the 50th anniversary of Time Warp? Are there plans to celebrate longevity?
The main thing is to stay relevant, understand young people, change in time and adapt the brand, what we do. We have a very talented and young team that helps us keep up with the times and current trends.
