About neue musikzeitung

neue musikzeitung

The neue musikzeitung (nmz) is the German specialist journal for music in newspaper format — the Regensburg music professionals' journal published ten times a year by the ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft. With the ISSN 0944-8136 and its first issue in 1952, the paper is the music world's information medium: it covers premieres, music pedagogy, performance and festival reviews, cultural politics and the music economy, and the people and facts of the music scene — plus the job market. Under the publishers Theo Geißler and Barbara Haack and editor-in-chief Andreas Kolb (since 2007), the nmz appears as an independent publication with a circulation of 22,000 copies (1993; en.wikipedia notes 23,000). Awarded the Deutscher Kritikerpreis (German Critics' Prize) in 1999, the paper has been available online since 1997 — "die umfangreichste Musikzeitschrift im Netz" (the most comprehensive music journal on the web). The nmz is the official publisher of news from the music associations: the Verband deutscher Musikschulen, the Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband, Jeunesses Musicales Germany, and the Arbeitskreis Musik in der Jugend — the institutional voice of the German music education, since 1952, from Regensburg to the music world, in newspaper format, for the music professionals, in print and online, for more than seven decades, since 1952, and still the professionals' paper. In the German music press, the neue musikzeitung is the professionals' paper: the Regensburg journal of the music world — the newspaper-format specialist journal that the musicians, the teachers, and the managers read, ten times a year, for more than 70 years, since 1952, without interruption.

Overview

The paper presents itself as the specialist journal for music in newspaper format — the medium that informs the music professionals. Its editorial program covers the music world's full spectrum: the premieres — the new works, the first performances; the music pedagogy — the teaching, the music schools, the youth competitions (Jugend musiziert); the reviews — the performances, the festivals, the new editions; the cultural politics and music economy — the comments, the analyses; and the people and facts — the appointments, the awards, the obituaries. The job market — the positions in the music world — is the paper's service core.

The readership is the German music professions: the musicians, the music teachers, the music-school directors, the cultural managers, the students — the professionals of the classical and contemporary music. The paper's authority rests on its 70-year continuity and its association mandates: the official news publisher for the Verband deutscher Musikschulen, the Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband, Jeunesses Musicales Germany, and the Arbeitskreis Musik in der Jugend — plus the exclusive news on Jugend musiziert and the organizations (Landesmusikrat NRW, Deutscher Kulturrat, Bayerischer Kulturrat, the Landes-Musikakademien, EMCY).

The ten-issues-a-year rhythm — monthly with the double numbers 7·8 and 12·1 — provides the music world's regular briefing. The Berliner-format newspaper (five columns, newsprint) appears at the month's start. The nmz.de portal — with the full-text search in the archive (the most comprehensive music journal on the web) — extends the print paper into the daily music information.

History

The neue musikzeitung's history begins in 1952: Bernhard Bosse and Eckart Rohlfs founded the paper under the title Musikalische Jugend – jeunesses musicales. The publisher and editor-in-chief was until 1986 the publisher Bernhard Bosse. Since 1993 the nmz has appeared as an independent publication with a circulation of 22,000 copies in the ConBrio Verlag, Regensburg (Brunnstraße 23, 93053 Regensburg). The publishers: Theo Geißler and Barbara Haack. The editor-in-chief: Andreas Kolb (since 2007); the chief of staff (CvD): Ursula Gaisa (since 2024).

The paper's name continues an older tradition: from 1880 to 1928 the Klett Verlag published the semimonthly Neue Musik-Zeitung, united in 1929 with the semimonthly Die Musik. The 1999 Deutscher Kritikerpreis documented the paper's journalistic standing. The digital history — online since 1997, the nmzMedia video-streaming portal (2005, the culture TV channel with the free interviews and concert recordings), the Pädagogische Infozentrum (PIZ, the culture-pedagogical information portal) — added the multimedia channels. The Bayerischer Rundfunk cooperation — since 1998 the monthly music magazine taktlos (the RealAudio archive to 2005, the mp3 data 2006–2015), the European Dialogue +++contrapunkt+++ with the Goethe-Forum — brought the paper to the radio.

Coverage and Content

The paper's coverage follows the music professional's world. Premieres and new music form the core: the first performances, the contemporary music, the festivals — the new works that the paper reports. Music pedagogy addresses the teaching: the music schools, the youth work, Jugend musiziert (the exclusive news), the competitions — the next generation. Reviews cover the performances: the concerts, the opera, the festivals, the new editions — the critical judgment.

Cultural politics and music economy provide the context: the comments on the cultural policy, the music economy's developments, the funding — the professionals' political information. People and facts document the scene: the appointments, the awards, the anniversaries, the obituaries. The job market — the online-only job ads (269 euros net for 30 days), the nmz-Branchenbuch (the industry directory, print and online) — is the paper's marketplace.

Organization and Ownership

The neue musikzeitung is published by the ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft mbH in Regensburg (Brunnstraße 23, 93053 Regensburg; 0941 94593-35; anzeigen@nmz.de) — the Regensburg music publishing house. The publishers (Herausgeber): Theo Geißler and Barbara Haack. The editor-in-chief: Andreas Kolb (since 2007). The chief of staff (CvD): Ursula Gaisa (since 2024). The advertising: Martina Wagner (0941 94593-35). The paper's ISSN 0944-8136, its 22,000-copy circulation, and its 1999 Deutscher Kritikerpreis document its established position.

The commercial model is that of a specialist newspaper: subscriptions to the music professionals, the music schools, and the institutions; advertising from the music industry (the 2026 media data: the Berliner-format rates, the supplements, the discounts); the job ads and the industry directory — and the online advertising on nmz.de.

Digital Presence

The paper's digital home is nmz.de, where the ten-issues-a-year print paper's program extends into the online music information. The portal offers the current issue, the nmz archive (the full-text search, the most comprehensive music journal on the web), the Branchenbuch (the industry directory), and the online-only job ads. The nmzMedia portal (since 2005) provides the video streaming: the interviews and concert recordings, free of charge. The taktlos radio archive (1998–2015, with the Bayerischer Rundfunk) documents the paper's radio history.

The music world's networks — the associations (VdM, DTKV, Jeunesses Musicales), the music schools, the orchestras, the festivals — form the ecosystem in which the paper's content circulates: the professional information flow between the music world's actors that the Regensburg paper organizes, ten times a year, for more than 70 years, since 1952. For more than 70 years — from the 1952 founding to the present — the neue musikzeitung has been the music professionals' paper: the Regensburg journal of the music world, in newspaper format, in print and online.

The Paper's Professional Role

The paper's role in the German music world goes beyond the ten annual issues: the nmz is the music professionals' information infrastructure — the job market where the orchestras advertise, the Branchenbuch where the industry lists, the archive where the researchers search, the association news that the music schools read. The nmzMedia video portal — the free interviews and concert recordings — brings the paper's journalism to the screen: the culture TV channel that the 2005 launch created. The taktlos radio cooperation — the monthly music magazine with the Bayerischer Rundfunk (1998–2015) — brought the paper to the airwaves: the RealAudio and mp3 archives that document the cooperation.