Roxana Popa is part of the new generation of entertainment industry professionals. Her passion for electronic music and festivals led her to discover how to combine these interests within the UNTOLD Universe team, where she adds value to brand partnerships and business growth.
Q: How does the music industry look like to you in 2024?
A: The music industry in Romania is relatively young. It is an industry in full process of growth and development, an industry as fresh as a teenager who is still learning how to navigate through life and what they need to do. It is an industry in which event organizers can innovate and bring new local concepts to life.
Q: What are the main challenges that a young person faces when starting out in the current music industry (in Romania)?
A: Related to what I have previously mentioned, being such a young industry, it is still not fully known what tools are needed to enable a smoother workflow for everybody. This happened to me as well at the beginning, when I realized that my role (Account Manager at that time) was not fully grasped by either my colleagues or commercial partners until after the first festival edition carried out in this team formula. Only then did they understand how much having a designated person to maintain the communication between the 2 sides – festival and partner – eased the planning process.
I also think it is important to mention the “battle of the ages,” as I would like to call it. It is very challenging to state your opinion in various situations when talking with older, more experienced people, who have been managing a business for years (I am talking here from the position of a person who manages commercial partnerships). However, with solid argumentation, you can break that limit. While also being results-oriented, people appreciate your fresh vision as a young professional. The secret is to flip this “disadvantage” of age in your favor, as it is an industry that allows you to do so 🙂
Q: What is the professional achievement of which you are most proud?
A: I believe the biggest personal achievement came this year actually, as I single-handedly managed the commercial partners of UNTOLD festival. However, this is an inherited achievement that I only contributed to because there were many years of work before it. The project in which I have the biggest personal touch is the UNTOLD Creators, made in collaboration with Visa, through which we provide exactly what was missing from the events industry: we teach people how to be the next generation of festival-makers, as well as teaching them how to become our industry peers, colleagues, collaborators, and even artists. We cover artists, sponsorship, marketing, photo-video, booking and artist management. I’m more than happy to see that the people taking part in this project are thriving!
Q: How does the future of the music industry (in Romania) look like to you?
A: I would rather say how it looks to me now: fresh, young, competitive. However, I see it more settled in the future, as I believe we are in an event boom and the coming years will do a lot of filtering, regarding both festivals and small parties/events.
Q: How did you break into the music industry?
A: I started due to an ambition and desire to work with “glitter,” as I like to call it. The events industry is amazing, glamorous and in the spotlight. It also meets with a big passion of mine: DJs. I was lucky enough to be selected for the misunderstood role I have mentioned before, that of Account Manager, which today has become vital for the establishment of high-level partnerships and brand activations, either, pre-, during or post-event.
What makes me stay and be so passionate about it? The pure joy I feel when I see hundreds of thousands of people enjoying themselves and having the best time of their lives. The happiness and adrenaline you feel knowing you contributed to that joy cannot be compared to any other feeling.
What makes me stay and be so passionate about it? The joy I feel when I see hundreds of thousands of people enjoying themselves and having the best time of their life. The happiness and adrenaline you feel knowing you contributed to that joy cannot be compared to any other feeling.
Q: What piece of advice would you give to a young person dreaming of working in the music industry?
A: Don’t overthink it! It is an amazing industry in which no day resembles another and in which you simply cannot get bored. It is an industry that allows and even encourages creativity, while also being an industry in which you need to be patient and resilient.
