She knows what Daft Punk look like without helmets. After entering the music industry at the music company Intercord, founded by the Holtzbrinck publishing group, Anne Haffmans quickly worked as label manager for Daniel Miller's legendary record company Mute Records. She worked for international artists such as Nick Cave, Erasure, Moby and Depeche Mode. She later managed another renowned UK label, Domino Recording in Germany, which once again came into the public eye thanks to artists such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys.
In addition, she is involved in a wide range of activities and is co-founder and chairwoman of the Association for the Promotion of Pop Culture eV, which awards the “Pop Culture Prize” as an alternative to the now discontinued “Echo” industry award. In addition to other engagements in the context of promoting young talent within the music industry, she works as a jury member for the Music Initiative and reports in the Redfield Podcast how musicians are selected for the artist support program and provides insights into the decision-making process.
Anne Haffmans talks about the most important stages of her long career - about the beginnings that drove her into the music business by chance and what it feels like to suddenly work with stars like Depeche Mode, who she then accompanied for years.
She talks about her further career, which, after working at EMI, took her to Cologne and finally back to Berlin to join Mute and Domino. In a conversation with Alexander Schröder, she discusses whether it is still possible to build such influential labels these days, what characteristics successful artists and label makers such as Daniel Miller (Mute) or Laurence Bell (Domino) have internalized and why she is so involved in so many different things.
Both also talk about the often discussed radio quota for German-language music, which she clearly rejects, as well as the role of women in leadership positions within the music industry and why she now supports a women's quota here.