The Reeperbahn Festival
The IAEL will participating at Reeperbahnfestival (RBF) again on September 16-19, 2026 in Hamburg, Germany.
We will host a legal panel and a pre-release presentation of our upcoming IAEL book. Our IAEL panelists will be supported this year by our guest lawyer, Dr. Kai Welp, General Counsel at GEMA, responsible for the significant GEMA v. Suno.ai case at the regional court in Munich.
Here are the schedule details:
Thursday, September 17, 4.45-6.45 pm at the EAST Hotel, Room Amber
“That`s Entertainment Law – international legal developments in the entertainment industry”
plus pre-release reception celebrating the new IAEL book (incl. free drinks)
No rights, no value creation in the creative industries - Can the creative industries remain profitable and successful despite the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence)? How can rights still be established? What must the creative industries do to achieve this? Are rights and content otherwise at risk of being diluted? Top entertainment lawyers of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers IAEL plus as guest Dr. Kai Welp, General Counsel at GEMA and responsible for one of the hottest cases on AI between GEMA and Suno.ai, give easy to understand statements to major legal developments. AI and its influence on the music industry and the live entertainment, but also the responsibility of platforms for content infringements or deep fakes and collective licensing will be the hot topics. A pre-release reception will follow the panel, celebrating the presentation of a first article of our yearly IAEL book. This will be about the „The promoters‘ ancillary copyright“. For many years, the yearly IAEL-books contain international deep dive legal expert knowledge, essential for an appropriately equipped work in the music industry. Drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are free. You don’t have to be a lawyer to participate, and you are welcome to discuss and bring your own questions. And all participants are invited to stay and share some drinks. The panel and the book are presented by the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers (IAEL) and they are both co-hosted by SKW Schwarz Rechtsanwälte.
Panelists / Lawyers:
Chantal Bolzern, Partner at BKS Rechtsanwälte AG, Bern, Switzerland
Olivier Sasserath, Partner at MVVP - Advocaten, Brussels, Belgium
Marijn Kingma Partner at Höcker Advocaten, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dr. Niels Lutzhöft, LL.M. (Partner) and Dr. Simon Hembt (Counsel), Bird & Bird, Frankfurt, Germany
Dr. Kai Welp, General Counsel at GEMA, Berlin, Germany
Dr. Johannes Ulbricht, Partner at Michow & Ulbricht Rechtsanwälte and CEO of the collecting society GWVR, Hamburg, Germany
Götz Schneider-Rothhaar (Moderator) – Partner and Head of Music at SKW Schwarz Rechtsanwälte, Frankfurt, Germany
If you attend, please also come to our IAEL book pre-release and feel free to invite your clients and friends to come as well.
IAEL members can receive a discounted rate of € 289,- net (plus VAT and ticketing fee) instead of the regular € 399,- net for full accreditation for the conference and festival. To obtain your IAEL discount, please use the following code IAEL@RBC26 (valid until the end of the festival).
A conference only ticket is available for € 129 net (plus VAT and ticketing fee) instead of the regular € 239,- net for conference only accreditation. This ticket includes access to Reeperbahn Festival Conference programs only, but not to the festival programs (e.g. concerts).
When registering, please choose the category “Conference Ticket” or "Conference Only“ in Reeperbahn's ticket shop. To the right of the ticket options, in the shopping cart, you will find the field “Add promo code” - enter the code there.
Please advise Götz (g.schneider-rothhaar@skwschwarz.de), if you wish to join one of the following dinner events:
Wednesday September 16 at the KRUG (7.30 pm) Das urgemütliche Restaurant auf dem Kiez | KRUG and
Thursday September 17 at the JELLYFISH (8 pm). Jellyfish Hamburg – Jellyfish Restaurant
