Indie Champions 2025:
Silverdust

Formed after a rocky start for Summer Breeze Open Air, Silverdust GmbH was formed as the company behind the rock and metal-focussed festival.

By IQ | 19 November 2025

The company’s flagship event, the hard-rock and metal-focussed Summer Breeze Open Air, dates back to 1997. “Our motivation back then was driven by the wish to play a festival with my own band, Voodoo Kiss, but in our area there was not much going on at that time,” explains founder and CEO Achim Ostertag.

“After a rocky start, the festival began to gain traction and grow. At some point, the tax office noticed us, which made a proper formation of a company inevitable, so in 2001, Silverdust was founded.”

Outgrowing its original site, in 2006, Summer Breeze moved to its current location in Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. And as operations expanded, Silverdust began offering merchandise solutions to other companies, while a subsidiary began managing Niederalfingen Castle, which the…

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