In summer, it fills the city with sound on several days – on concert stages as well as in conference rooms. Its premiere took place in 2004. A year earlier, Dieter Gorny had announced that the music fair Popkomm, founded by him in 1989, would leave Cologne. However, the c/o pop was never intended as a replacement. Instead, local alliances fashioned a suitable alternative. Cologne concert promoters, record companies, and musicians came together to take care of venues and sales opportunities.
At some point, the whole thing was called c/o pop, which stands for "cologne on pop." The initiators Norbert Oberhaus and Ralph Christoph were previously responsible for the concert program of two Cologne clubs. Even at that time, they were convinced that pop music could only have a chance in the consumer frenzy if it came in conjunction with other media.
Electronic artists are least distanced from technical possibilities such as downloads, netlabels, and online games. Thus, the festival program initially focused primarily on electronic music. Today, the range of c/o pop is broader; for instance, Patrick Wolf and the "Black Lips" make an appearance, or "Beirut" and "The Notwist" perform in the Cologne Philharmonic.
