The Autoplacer Working Group was set up to assess how the ongoing COVID-19 health situation has affected the independent music sector. Four conferences on this topic were held last November, where different groups (labels, musicians, independent collectives, promoters, programmers, self-edited producers, etc.) linked to various elements of the Autoplacer festival delved into the current situation. They aimed to come up with cross-cutting improvements that could be applied both to live music and to other processes involved in self-editing and independent production.
The Autoplacer Working Groups were held on 20, 23, 24 and 25 November from 11am to 5pm with the following attendees: Manuel Moreno, Adolfo Párraga and Roberto Salas, all from Colectivo A.C.; Mar Rojo, Dani Cantó, Andrea Galaxina, Patrizia di Filippo, Alberto G. Pulido and Eduardo García Gil from Giradiscos; Elisa Pérez Caliza, María Eguizabal and Sara Brito from Chicotrópico; José Salas, Sonsoles Rodríguez and Marcos García from Ayuken; and Francisco Meneses, Tommaso Marzocchini, Natalia Piñuel, Gonzalo Sanz and Estrella Serrano Tovar.
The Autoplacer collective has published a complete report based on their combined assessment that addresses different policy, resource and format issues, among others, to foster more independent musical activity through an assessment and a subsequent list of conclusions. There is also a short essay on the definition of underground music arguing for its inclusion by cultural institutions. The 67-page document includes the illustrations that Daniel Puiggròs created for the Autoplacer 2020 festival, photographs of the working groups and profiles of all the attendees.