Montreux Jazz Festival partners with TikTok

Montreux Jazz Festival has announced a UK and European partnership with TikTok for the festival’s new music initiative, MJF Spotlight.

Launched in 2021, MJF Spotlight was created to support emerging artists and new music with original content creation and live performances. MJF Spotlight will release a series of live performances under the name The Road To Montreux, showcasing emerging acts, as part of the partnership.

TikTok has also been named an official partner for the 2022 edition of the legendary Swiss festival, which returns to the Lake Geneva shoreline for its 56th edition from 1-6 July. TikTok will collaborate with the festival’s talent team to identify the most promising rising stars and provide them with a platform to reach new audiences.

The Road To Montreux will feature six live showcases throughout the year that will be livestreamed via TikTok and on Montreux’s own channels. The showcases will be filmed in Zurich, with stops in Berlin, Hamburg, and London, before ending at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Additionally, Montreux will offer artists from MJF Spotlight the opportunity to perform on the MJF Spotlight stage at the 2022 festival.

“Our passion is enabling artists of any genre take their music and passion to the next level”

“Artist discovery starts on TikTok and at Montreux Jazz Festival,” says Michael Kümmerle, TikTok’s head of music operations Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “Same as for MJF, our passion is enabling emerging artists of any genre take their music and passion to the next level. We cannot wait to see how the next rising stars will be unleashing the interactive potential of TikTok LIVE or create entertaining content to inspire new and existing fans.”

Each month, MJF Spotlight supports one specially selected artist with exclusive digital content and live shows internationally. Previous MJF Spotlight artists have included the likes of Priya Ragu, who released two live music videos from 2021 festival performance, as well as a two-track live EP via DSPs.

MJF Spotlight is organised through the festival’s subsidiary media company Montreux Media Ventures (MMV). Launched in 2019, MMV was created to evolve the festival from an annual event into a sustainable company by creating quality content all year round.

“Like TikTok, we are passionate about music,” says MMV CEO Nick Bonard. “Leveraging the festival’s legacy of supporting young artists, MJF Spotlight offers new talent a physical and digital platform to showcase their music to new audiences. Together, TikTok and MJF Spotlight can supercharge the process of artist discovery through entertaining and engaging content. We are very excited to find new artists to highlight through MJF Spotlight this year.”

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