Horst Weidenmüller (1964 – 10 February 2025) was a German music executive producer, entrepreneur, and the founder of

!K7 Music !K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently hea ...

. He joined the music industry in the early 1980s as a producer of concert video footage of musicians in the punk music genre. He founded !K7 in 1985 and became an influential part of the Berlin

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

music industry in the early 1990s. Weidenmüller curated and produced a popular techno music audiovisual series, , which aired on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

in the mid-1990s. He also served on the board of several

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

s, including the

IMPALA The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'', lit. 'black-footed high-horn' in Ancient Greek) is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'', and tribe Aepycerotini, it ...

where he was co-president until 2011. Since its founding in 2008, he also served on the board of the digital rights agency

Merlin Network Merlin is a digital rights music licensing partner for independent record labels, distributors, and other music rights holders around the world. It was founded in 2007 with Charles Caldas as the chief executive. In January 2020, Jeremy Sirota ste ...

Background

Weidenmüller was born in the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

region of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1964. He moved to Berlin in 1982. Weidenmüller died after a serious illness on 10 February 2025, at the age of 60.

Career

Weidenmüller founded

Studio !K7 !K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently hea ...

(now known as !K7 Music) in 1985 in Berlin at the age of 21. It was located at Kaiserdamm 7, an address that became the inspiration for the company's name. Initially, Weidenmüller focused on creating concert videos for punk bands which were shown in cafes, such as in Berlin, before the advent of music videos on television. He produced live video footage of concerts by

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, ...

, Crime & the City Solution, and

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

. Weidenmüller became an influential part of the Berlin

music industry in the early 1990s. In 1993, he released his first video cassette. These remix videos combined DJ mixes with computer animation for at-home viewing. In the mid-1990s, X-Mix videos, including those of

Laurent Garnier Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums. Early influe ...

Richie Hawtin Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...

, were aired at night on

. X-Mix became a platform by which artists working in computer graphics could showcase their nascent art form. As Germany was reunified, techno had become popular in both East and West Germany and, according to the German magazine ''Der Spiegel'', "X-Mix gave techno a face", bringing it out of the dark basement venues where it initiated. Weidenmüller also started

DJ-Kicks ''DJ-Kicks'' (styled ''DJ-KiCKS'' on all cover artwork) is a series of DJ mix albums, mixed by various artists for the independent record label !K7 Records. History ''DJ-Kicks'' started out in 1993 as a compilation of electronic DJ-style mi ...

, a

DJ mix A DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically beatmixing, mixed together by a Disc jockey, DJ to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as Phonograph, tur ...

series first released in 1993, which released its 72nd edition in August 2020. In 2008, Weidenmüller acquired Strut Records and relaunched the label under the !K7. In the early 2010s, he started an artists management division and signed on to manage the rapper Tricky. Tricky wrote in his biography, ''Hell Is Around The Corner'' (2019), how Weidenmüller helped him rectify his finances and build a new catalogue of music for which he retained the rights. !K7 Management also began representing Mykki Blanco, DJ Tennis,

Brandt Brauer Frick Brandt Brauer Frick is a German electronic music ensemble from Berlin. The group's members are Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer, and Paul Friedrich Frick, Paul Frick. The group's members are classically trained and began performing together in 2009. ''T ...

, Marquis Hawkes, and Portable. In 2017, Weidenmueller created a classical music label 7K!, and signed several composers and musicians from the neoclassical genre, including Luca D'Alberto, Niklas Paschburg and

Henrik Schwarz Henrik Schwarz (born 31 May 1972) is a German deep house and classical crossover producer and DJ from Bodensee, whose career began in the early 1990s. He has remixed music for numerous musicians, including Coldplay, Mary J. Blige, and Foals. In ...

. Weidenmueller was the Executive Producer on Endless, D'Alberto's 2017 album. He was also Creative Director on Paschburg's 2018 album, ''Oceanic''. In 2019, Weidenmüller created Ever Records, a jazz label, and signed musicians such as the Kansas Smitty's House Band. Over the years of !K7, Weidenmüller also worked with the artists

Kruder & Dorfmeister Kruder & Dorfmeister, named after members Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister, is an Austrian duo, known for their trip hop/downtempo remixes of pop, hip hop and drum and bass songs. Career In 1993, they released their first EP '' G-Stoned'' ...

Matthew Herbert Matthew Herbert (born in 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, Wishmountain, and DJ Empty, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music. ...

Fat Freddy's Drop Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by mus ...

Peggy Gou Kim Min-ji (; born 3 July 1991), known as Peggy Gou ( ; ), is a South Korean DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer based in Berlin, Germany. She has released seven Extended play, EPs on record labels including Ninja Tune and The Vinyl Fact ...

The Whitest Boy Alive The Whitest Boy Alive is a German-Norwegian musical group based in Berlin. It was originally active from 2003 to 2014; after a five-year hiatus, the group reformed in 2019. The band is composed of singer and guitarist Erlend Øye of Kings of Co ...

Forest Swords Matthew Edward Barnes, known by his stage name Forest Swords, is an English record producer, composer, DJ, and artist. As of , he has released three studio albums, two EPs, and several scores for film, television, and video games. Career ''Da ...

Moodymann Kenny Dixon Jr., better known by his stage name Moodymann, is an American musician based in Detroit, Michigan. He released his 1997 debut album ''Silentintroduction'' on the label Planet E Communications. He is the owner of the record labels Mah ...

, Carl Craig, Einstürzende Neubauten, Grandmaster Flash, Hercules & Love Affair and Madlib. His label group, !K7 Music, includes !K7 Records, Strut Records, AUS, 7K! and Ever Records. In December 2024, The

Independent Music Companies Association The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda a ...

, IMPALA dedicated its outstanding contribution award to Horst Weidenmüller for his outstanding contribution to the European independent music sector as CEO and founder of !K7 Music as well as founder of IMPALA’s Sustainability task force.

Associations

Weidenmüller served on the board of several associations representing independent artists and record labels. He has served on the board of directors of the

since 2003. He joined the executive team at IMPALA in 2006 and served as co-president until 2011. Since its founding in 2008, Weidenmüller was also on the board of

, the largest organization representing independent

digital rights Digital rights are those human rights and Natural and legal rights, legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create, and publish digital media or to access and use computers, other Consumer electronics, electronic devices, and teleco ...

holders.

Discography

* 2017 – Luca D'Alberto – ''Endless'' * 2018 – Niklas Paschburg – ''Oceanic'' * 2018 – Henrik Schwarz – ''Scripted Orkestra'' * 2018 – Luca D'Alberto – ''Exile'' * 2019 – Henrik Schwarz & Alma Quartet – ''Plunderphonia''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weidenmuller, Horst 1964 births 2025 deaths Businesspeople from Baden-Württemberg German music people Music industry executives