The awards were presented at the Industry Awards Gala on 26 September 2025 in Tampere, as part of the Music x Media professional event.
The Tampere Music Award, presented by the City of Tampere and Music x Media since 2010, aims to highlight international excellence and pioneers in the music industry. The award is given to artists who have contributed to the creative ecosystem of music and built bridges between the Finnish and international music markets.
This year, the award was given to Lars Karlsson, currently CEO of music publisher Warner Chappell Music Scandinavia. Mr Karlsson is one of the long-standing driving forces behind the Nordic and Finnish music industry, whose work has enabled the international breakthroughs of numerous musicians and artists. Karlsson has also played a significant role in the internationalisation of Finnish music publishing and music making.
During his career, Karlsson has been involved in bringing to the fore several top Nordic and Finnish musicians. He has been involved in bringing the following well-known names to the scene. At Warner Chappell, Karlsson's most notable achievements include the Wolf Cousins partnership with MXM and Shellback. He has also been involved in the development of the Finnish publishing business KAJ.
Now in its fourth year, the Creative Economy Innovator (LUO(V)UUS) Award from the City of Tampere honours a person, entity, act or organisation that has developed dialogue between creative sectors and the creative economy and has actively worked to reform it. The winner is selected each year by a jury of creative economy experts.
The winner of the 2025 LUO(V)UUS Award, ODDfest is a new generation cultural event that brings together culture, business and international artists. The event offers creatives and organisations in need of creative talent the opportunity to meet each other across national and industry borders. ODDfest aims to focus on the creative industries as Finland's growth destinations and to put Finnish talent on the world map.
ODDfest was awarded for its open-minded approach to building cooperation between different creative industries and for its courage to take a new approach to this cooperation. The jury's criteria also included promoting inclusiveness and maintaining a year-round brand.
The Industry Awards Gala also celebrated the new stars of Tampere's star street, who were immortalised on Åkerlundinkatu a week earlier on 19 September 2025. This year's new stars were Dalia Stasevska, Dallapé, Heikki Silvennoinen and Lea Laven .
