Musicology was born in February 2014, during a completely relaxed moment while I was skiing my favorite slope. I was far away from everyday chaos, and that was the first time the idea of a project that would later become an important part of my life became completely clear to me.
It’s important to understand that Musicology was never created as a business plan. It came from a desire to give something meaningful back to the city where I was born and raised. I wanted to create a space, a kind of safe haven for people who value music and culture as much as I do.
I came up with the idea in February, planning to organize the first edition already in July of the same year. I still remember the moment I told Tijana and Marijana about it and their complete shock when they realized I was serious, because by then I had already booked a large part of the lineup.
The Beginning That Set the Standard
That first Musicology festival was one of the most beautiful things we ever created. Mario Biondi, with my entire “parallel Belgrade” gathered there. Keziah Jones, an urban legend we had already worked with before. Nicola Conte, who performed both a live concert and a DJ set. And finally Dirty Loops, where despite all our efforts, due to heavy rain, we all ended up standing ankle-deep in water.
To be honest, that final festival day pushed us into financial loss. But it also set the standard that Musicology and BitefArtCafe would always work differently with quality, dedication, and without giving up regardless of the circumstances. That remains true today.
The Moment Everything Made Sense
Another important moment came in 2019, when we were already producing regional Musicology editions in Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Belgrade. At one point I realized: this was it. This was everything I had wanted back in 2001 when I first started the club.
The vision was to connect Skopje, Sofia, and even Trieste, becoming a regional force beyond prejudice and borders.
There is one thing that says a lot about us as an organization: there hasn’t been a single artist who came to BitefArtCafe and Musicology who didn’t want to return afterward. With every artist, we built relationships based on mutual respect.
The Hardest Fall and a Second Chance
There were difficult moments. The hardest for me was the second festival edition in 2015. The best lineup we ever had, and the worst financial result.
I remember going to the seaside afterward and writing letters to myself every day, trying to understand what had happened, who I was doing all this for, and whether any of it still made sense.
That poor result, in a situation where everything seemed perfect: organization, campaign, marketing, truly hit me hard.
Tijana and I came up with the idea of moving the festival into the club and reorganizing it from a four-day festival into a concert series that would last throughout the season. That same year, BitefArtCafe celebrated fifteen years, so it felt natural to return to where everything had originally started. It became a second chance, and we took it.
With the support of Atlantic Group and Barcaffe, everything started growing. Belgrade expanded to Ljubljana and soon after Zagreb. Concerts began selling out in advance, our PR value reached millions, and Musicology Sessions became a place you simply had to be part of.
Had the pandemic not happened, I truly believe that today, alongside those three cities, we would also have Skopje, Trieste, and Sofia, and that Musicology Barcaffe Sessions would have become one of the most important cultural movements in the region.
The Biggest Risk: Believing Before Everyone Else
Bringing new and upcoming artists to Belgrade often means balancing intuition, risk, and timing. You have to recognize the moment when someone is not yet a major star, but it is completely obvious they soon will be.
In March this year, we organized a concert by American artist Michael Mayo, a two-time Grammy nominee. We sold 150 tickets, but I am almost certain that within the next six to eighteen months he will become an artist neither we nor audiences used to intimate venues will be able to afford anymore.
Belgrade’s audience has its own specifics. People rarely discover something new spontaneously; they more often return to what they already know and love. At the same time, the reality is that many people today carefully choose where to spend their money, so attending a concert by an artist they’ve never heard of can feel like a risk.
That is exactly why bringing new artists remains a constant struggle, but also perhaps the most important part of what Musicology is trying to be.
Concerts That Left a Mark
I have my own list of the greatest Musicology Sessions concerts, but the competition is intense.
It started with the first festival in 2014 and Mario Biondi’s concert, then Gregory Porter at Kalemegdan in 2015, followed by Snarky Puppy in flooded Belgrade and Hala Sportova in 2022 – a concert attended by 2,300 people despite flooded streets in the middle of June. Cory Henry in 2023 delivered the strongest concert energy I have ever witnessed. And New Power Generation in 2019 – the band of my musical idol Prince – two nights in my club when the entire city seemed to gather at BitefArtCafe.
The Audience Exists. The System Doesn’t.
People recognize what we do, and we feel that every day. Strangers approach us in stores to thank us. They stop us in the street. We receive messages from people we have never met before.
And it is precisely because of that genuine connection with the audience that Musicology continues to exist. More and more people want to be part of the story and support the idea of a space where music and emotion still have real value.
But at the same time, there is another side to it. Institutions, sponsors, the city, and the state often behave as if we do not exist. For years we remained outside official support systems, relying mostly on ourselves and the audience that stood by us.
Maybe that is exactly why we never belonged to anyone. And maybe that is why, through all these years, we managed to remain completely our own.
Showcase and the Future of the Scene
We should not forget the “Showcase by Lenovo” project, which we have been organizing together with Lenovo Serbia for four years now. Through this program, young artists get the opportunity to perform in front of their musical idols and an audience that genuinely understands and listens to this kind of music.
For many of these bands, there are almost no spaces where they can perform in front of 300 or 400 people. That is why this project carries far greater significance than simply being an opening act – it represents direct support for the scene, for new artists, and for the future of the music we want to preserve.
Why Sponsors Matter
We believe the time has come for projects like Musicology Sessions to be more widely recognized not only by institutions and the city, but also by companies that want to support content with long-term cultural and social value.
For us, partnerships have never been about simply placing a logo on a poster. With every partner, we strive to create real projects, meaningful content, and experiences that genuinely impact audiences and the music scene.
Today, Musicology gathers between 8,000 and 10,000 visitors annually, with media and PR value that goes far beyond traditional concert production. But more important than the numbers is what remains after every concert, a space where audiences discover new music, young artists are given opportunities, and the city receives the cultural content it truly needs.
That is why we do not see Musicology merely as a concert project, but as a platform that has actively contributed for years to the cultural identity of Belgrade and the regional music scene.
In the End
Some things survive not because they are easy, profitable, or popular.
They survive because people genuinely believe in them.
That is exactly how Musicology has grown throughout all these years – through energy, love for music, and the need for Belgrade to have a place where emotion, culture, and real live concert experiences still matter.
Even without major support in recent years, we managed to preserve a unique atmosphere and a community of people who keep coming back because of the music, the sense of belonging, and the moments that stay with them long after the concert ends.
But with the right partners, this story can go much further.
It can grow together with the city, the audience, and the new generations still to come.
Because Musicology was never just a concert.
It is a way of life, a perspective on music, and a belief that some things are still worth doing with heart.