intro.

From 2009 to 2017, I ran my website ContentSphere.de, the predecessor to WolfgangSenges.de. ContentSphere is still available, including all its articles. I must admit that I should have devoted more time to it in recent years. Other projects took up more of my time.

With the launch of WolfgangSenges.de in 2024, I have been trying to bring greater transparency to my wide-ranging activities in the creative and cultural sectors. A separate site for “ravelsberg.”, my creative alter ego, will hopefully and eventually replace the links to Ampwall, Bandcamp und Subvert. At the moment, posts on all topics are being consolidated under “kreativ_schaltwerk/_”. Some of the older articles – some of which were not published on ContentSphere – are already available there.

My current projects and activities give me hope that I will be able to give my numerous ideas, comments and new concepts the platform they deserve.

If you are not familiar with my person, you can read about me in the sections “CV” and “Projects”. You can always find the updates on “now!”.

If you have any questions or requests for corrections, please contact me directly. It concerns content, data protection, and the implementation of open, LGBTQIA+-friendly, non-discriminatory language. If you notice any potential for improvement, please get in touch with me – looking forward to your feedback!

ws [at] wolfgangsenges.de

short bio.

 

Wolfgang Senges, born in 1965, has been a freelance strategic consultant for innovation and a project manager in the creative industries since 2009. Since 2015, his work has focused on researching approaches to metadata validation using emerging technologies, whilst taking transformative influences into account. Alongside his freelance work, he works for PRO Agency GmbH as the coordinator of the MDQS research project.

Prior to this, he spent ten years working in media asset management for broadcasting and archives. He is a co-founder of the German music industry’s Blockchain & Metadata Working Group and a co-initiator of the Cultural Commons Collecting Society (C3S SCE), which he led as co-managing director until 2015. After conceiving and leading the “Le Blockathon de la Musique” in Cologne in 2019, he took on the role of project manager for the “Kulturhackathon OWL” in 2021. Since 2022, he has been advising PRO Agency GmbH and Cargo Records, amongst others. For the Culture & Creativity Hub of the European Institute of Technology (EIT CC), he has been working as an external service provider in the role of an evaluator since 2023.

As part of his work in the creative industries, he has worked with GEMA, GVL, VUT, BVMI, Fraunhofer IDMT, Fraunhofer IOSB-INA, MusicDNA, CREATIVE.NRW, the Marta Herford Museum, SafeCreative, and the artists Imogen Heap, Marillion, Martin Atkins, Amanda Palmer, Zoë Keating, Luci van Org and Ingrid Chavez, among others. In his spare time, he devotes himself to his electronic music project “ravelsberg.”.

cv.

June 2025 – Present

Project manager music technologies and innovation

PRO Agency GmbH
// Wuppertal

Activities

Project management, administration of grants/public funding, metadata, partner management, conceptualisation of projects

Partners

Cargo Records; Fraunhofer IDMT; MusicDNA; VUT e.V.

May 2019 – Present

Projects & advisory for creatives

music x tech (self-employed)
// Cologne-Bonn

Activities

Networking, consulting, grant writing, DIY projects, coding, workshops

December 2008 – Present

Digital concepts, strategies and projects in the creative industries

ContentSphere (self-employed)
// Cologne-Bonn

Activities

Project lead, conceptualisation, partner management, consulting, grant writing, evaluation of applications for grants, curating, panel speaker, keynotes, marketing

Clients

all2gethernow; b-sides x; Berlin Music Week; Board of Music; Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI); Cargo Records; Cquenz; European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Culture & Creativity; GEMA; hack.institute Cologne; Ministry for Innovation, Digitalisation, Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of NRW; MusicPoolBerlin; pierlane; PRO Agency; City of Gütersloh; TELEVISOR Troika; ununu.io; VUT e.V. and more.

Cooperation with

Amanda Palmer, Dodo Origami, Imogen Heap, Ingrid Chavez, Marillion, Martin Atkins, Zoë Keating and more.

February 2010 – June 2015

Co-founder and Managing Director

Cultural Commons Collecting Society (C3S SCE mbH)
// Düsseldorf

Activities

Project coordination, member of the board of directors, partner management, spokesperson, funding applications, administration of funding, concept and realisation of crowdfunding campaigns.

October 2007 – December 2008

Senior Project Manager

MEDIAL – Gesellschaft für Digitale Medien mbH (now: I-D Media AG)
// Cologne

September 2006 – September 2007

Consultant ECM/IPTV/Digital Distribution

self-employed
// Trier

June 2004 – May 2006

Project Manager Digital Media Management

S|4|M – Solutions for Media GmbH (now: Arvato Systems S4M GmbH)
// Cologne

April 2001 – August 2002

Technology Manager

blue order GmbH (successor of tecmath AG, now: AVID Group)
// Kaiserslautern

January 2000 – March 2001

Marketing Services Manager

tecmath AG – Content Management Systems Division
// Kaiserslautern

August 1998 – December 1999

Web Development & Web Design

tecmath AG – Content Management Systems Division
// Kaiserslautern

projects.

Commissions, projects and concepts

08.2026 – Present

Strategic consulting: Spatial Audio & Archiving

Consulting

07.2026 – Present

Project concept & application for grants (Cargo Records/Berlin 3 Services)

Funding application

04.2023 – Present

Independent Expert Evaluator and Rapporteur/finalising Evaluator (external provider for EIT Culture & Creativity)

Evaluator

04.2022 – Present

Digital Projects Consulting (PRO Agency)

Consulting

12.2020 – Present

ravelsberg.: electronic music

Music production

01.2024 – 12.2024

Application for grant / MDQS (PRO Agency)

Funding application

10.2023 – 04.2024

Project concept MDQS: “Metadata quality and security: Holistic data validation and licence management in the music industry” (PRO Agency)

Concept

08.2023 – 12.2024

Cooperation (b-sides-x Claudia Saar und Martin Wisniowski GbR)

Consulting

01.2023 – 10.2023

Metadata validation & reliability score (music x tech / ContentSphere)

Research

01.2022 – 05.2022

Project “kunst_treffen” (with participants of the “Kulturhackathon OWL”)

Consulting

09.2021 – 12.2023

Project “art x digit” (music x tech / ContentSphere)

Concept

07.2021 – 10.2021

Kulturhackathon OWL (City of Gütersloh)

Design website

06.2021 – 12.2021

Kulturhackathon OWL (City of Gütersloh)

Project management

01.2021 – 07.2021

creative:IO (music x tech / ContentSphere)

Concept

11.2020 – 05.2021

RX5USB: 3D case-design for a Drum-Machine-Extension (music x tech / ContentSphere)

Design

09.2020 – 12.2020

Funding application (Dodo Origami)

Funding application

07.2020 – 11.2020

Relaunch of website (Dr. Christiane Handrick)

Design website

08.2019 – 04.2021

Strategical consulting (Board of Music)

Consulting

07.2019 – 06.2021

Strategical start-up consulting (cquenz ununu)

Consulting

11.2018 – 06.2019

Le Blockathon de la Musique (hack.institute Cologne)

Project management

08.2016 – 12.2018

Working Group Blockchain and Metadata (GEMA, VUT, BVMI)

Consulting

06.2014 – 05.2015

C3S-IMP: Integration of procedures and methods of micro-payments for making voluntary payments for multimedia works in the context of a collecting society (C3S SCE)

Project coordination

12.2013 – 01.2014

“Winter Stocks” Online-Shop (C3S SCE)

Website coding

04.2013 – 09.2013

Crowdfunding “C3S: The fair alternative to GEMA” (C3S SCE)

Project management

04.2012 – 08.2012

Crowdfunding: “The Cultural Commons Collecting Society’s Barcamp” (C3S SCE)

Project management

11.2011 – 11.2012

Exhibition “The Art of Pop Video” (TELEVISOR Troika GmbH)

Consulting

12.2010 – 03.2014

Marketing / A R: Songpier-App (pierlane GmbH)

Consulting

07.2010 – 09.2010

CD release: “Various Artists: all2gethernow – Creative Commons Compilation 2010” (all2gethernow e.V./C3S SCE)

Project management

02.2010 – 05.2015

Cultural Commons Collecting Society (C3S SCE)

Foundation

01.2010 – 04.2012

Berlin Music Week (all2gethernow e.V.)

Curation

09.2009 – 12.2013

Consulting (Zoe.LeelA)

Consulting

07.2009 – 03.2012

Moderator curator (all2gethernow e.V.)

Curation

02.2009 – 04.2009

New Music Strategies: “The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online”, by Andrew Dubber

Translation

publications.

Documentation: Le Blockathon de la Musique - Concept // Objectives // Analysis // Results

A project by hack.institute Cologne and ContentSphere, with the support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. [2019]

Topic and aim of the event

The topic of the French-German “Le Blockathon de Musique” was the development of approaches to sustainably improve the income situation in the digital sector for those working in the creative industries, especially for musicians and composers. The programming challenges focused on the generation, validation and utilisation of metadata, the revision of existing workflows and the development of new business models. The guidelines proposed implementing the challenges using blockchain approaches and artificial intelligence methods.

Download German version / Download English version

Keywords: Blockchain, artificial intelligence, hackathon, Franco-German cooperation, metadata, culture, coding, creative industries

Blockchain for Music Business: Preventing the Threat of Disruption

In: Peter Tschmuck et al. [Eds.]: Intl. Journal of Music Business Research (IJMBR), Vol. 7, No. 2. [2018]

Abstract

Blockchain has the potential to trigger disruptive processes. If Blockchain is used in the music industry, a framework must be defined to prevent potential damage. A collaborative approach, agile methods and transition management are identified and proposed as tools for successfully shaping the effects of the disrupted processes. Transition management in particular is recommended as an approach for research. The article applies blockchain concepts to areas of the music industry using examples.

https://musicbusinessresearch.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/volume-7-no-2-october-2018-final.pdf

Keywords: Blockchain, music industry, disruption, transition management, metadata

Blockchain as an opportunity for collecting societies

In: Ahlers et al.: „Big Data und Musik“. Jahrbuch f. Musikwirtschafts- u. Musikkulturforschung 1/2018. [2018]

Abstract

At the centre of the practice-oriented article is an initial draft for mapping the blockchain concept to the music industry, based on statements from an interview study with experts from music, technology and research. An impact assessment for collecting societies will be carried out based on this draft. Blockchain architectures can strengthen the attractiveness and position of collecting societies. However, a successful introduction of these technologies requires a detailed assessment of blockchain, a needs analysis of the music industry and, above all, a solution to the metadata problem. Integrating the new concept requires an increased level of coordination and communication in the form of collaborative approaches based on transition management principles. Consistent implementation with the support of the collecting societies can lead to the development of an expanded value creation space in the music industry.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-21220-9_4

Keywords: Blockchain, public rights organisations, music industry, transition management, disruption, impact assessment, evaluation, metadata, content value, licensing

Innovative business models of online distribution,
illustrated using the example of audio content

Wolfgang Senges (Author), Innovative Geschäftsmodelle der Online-Distribution, München, GRIN Verlag [2008]

Abstract

The Master’s thesis focuses on the practice- and product-orientated analysis of current online distribution business models (download portals) and their expansion and development through innovative follow-up models and variations of the value chain. The present work does not consider the abstraction to economic contexts. The analysis of the music industry market with regard to its current and foreseeable development is largely ignored.

https://www.grin.com/document/115892

Keywords: Innovation, business models, music industry, digital service providers, metadata, Napster, eMusic, iTunes