The official final press release indicated mixed feelings for the event. According to the organizers the resume is positive as indicated in one part of the press release, which states that visitor figures remained stable with 14,572 participants. This compares well with the 14,533 claimed for the previous year. However a few lines later it states that this year 10,247 trade delegates attended the convention while 4,325 visitors showed up for the first ever Popkomm.Public.

It doesn't require a pocket calculator to work out that there must be a huge difference between trade delegates who pay between 50 Euro (company day passes) or 135 Euro (for the early bird registration) and normal consumers who paid 11 Euro at the door to visit Popkomm.Public. It was also obvious that the number of exhibitors declined, but the exhibition itself was a success for several companies attending. More than 60% of the exhibitors for Popkomm 2003 came from abroad. All in all Popkomm reported 618 exhibiting companies of which 249 came from Germany and 369 from abroad Particularly the joint stands of Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Finland and France seemed to be well attended and busy. The Australian representatives said they were satisfied with their attendance, although the New Zealand stand was three times as big as the one from Australia.

. The bumper stand of the year was that of Sony Music Germany. The major company preferred to leave most of their relevant staff in their offices in Berlin or away from the stand. To get in touch with product and communications managers, Popkomm visitors were provided with mobile phones hanging down on lines from the top of the stand. When calling one of these professionals, who were portrayed on attractive poster displays, on Thursday and Friday during Popkomm you got to speak to an assistant, while on Saturday you were able to leave an answering machine message. Nevertheless it appears that Sony Music CEO Balthasar Schramm may have figured that a personal appearance could bring more TV-Interview opportunities than just staying in Berlin and so it happened that he was spotted in Cologne.

And who would have thought that top record business executives heavily involved in discussing how to solve the problems of the record industry could have spared the time to listen to such a conversation as took place at the official opening reception? Two well know executives shared experiences relating to their problems as owners of blocks of rented flats and the difficulties with their tenants. Well after all these are problems that beset us all aren't they?! With the drop in numbers of exhibitors and visitors, the number of shows declined as well. The opening concert on Thursday night in the E-Werk achieved very poor attendance with only 150 sold tickets and 200 delegates. Only 350 people showed for the Hip Hop show with RZA & Friends, ASD, Creutzfeld & Jakob and others, while shows like 'Introducing' featuring Fehlfarben and Zoot Woman, 'Monster Of Spex' with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Blood Brothers, went very well. But the last Popkomm-Festival in Cologne also suffered from difficulties with late bookings and cancellations. For the first time in many years the Prime Club and Live Music Hall were not been part of the regular program. While Prime Club hosted a show case by Universal Music with Finish act Rasmus, planned shows for Live Music Hall had simply had been cancelled upfront.

At least the Viva TV hosted award show 'Comet' went very well. With approximately 12.000 tickets sold the show took place for the very first time in the Cologne Arena. It was reported that Ricky Martin left the venue very quickly, but nevertheless the show impressed due to a very good stage set up and proper production, even though most performances were to full or semi play back. Due to tight cost control measures currently undertake by t Viva TV, there was no official after show party scheduled, although an unofficial get together party took place under self-service conditions in the Hyatt.

However, most of the attendees enjoyed Popkomm 2003. Several delegates said that they were satisfied with the business and the contacts they made. Someone stated that with less visitors he was better able to meet all the people he wanted to. While the Popkomm-Thursday built up gradually, Friday saw the peak. Many people had already left on Saturday Morning, so that the fair ground was quite empty by early afternoon.