In the scene now include Calvin Harris, Franz Ferdinand, James Blake, MØ, The Kooks, The XX, Within Temptation and Years & Years.
391 shows by 164 acts, the ETEP 2019 final results are out! Through this, the Eurosonic Noorderslag Talent Exchange Programme continues to lead the way in offering international opportunities for artists. The ETEP year has come to an end as Les Trans and Taxirat are the final festivals happening this week.
Before we elaborate more on The European Talent Exchange Programme of Eurosonic Noorderslag, here’s a video on what it’s all about! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK-vQHN0e-g
About ETEP
So, what is ETEP? The European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP) was introduced in 2003 to stimulate the exchange of European artists across Europe, and would not be possible without the funding of the support programmes for culture by the European Union. ETEP has been one of the very first programmes to support popular music on a European level. Currently ETEP receives funding by the sub-programme “Culture” as part of Creative Europe.
ETEP is an initiative of ESNS, facilitating the bookings of European acts for European & international festivals outside their home countries. They also generate extensive media exposure for these artists in cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) public radio stations, as well as national and international media.
Since the start of the program, ETEP has already facilitated 4.392 shows by 1.609 acts in 38 countries! Many acts that received support from ETEP at the start of their careers have grown out to be very successful. Some of these acts that are huge in the scene now include Calvin Harris, Franz Ferdinand, James Blake, MØ, The Kooks, The XX, Within Temptation and Years & Years.
Results
Who topped the list this year for ETEP? According to the ETEP 2019 results, Fontaines D.C. topped the list this year, performing at Dour Festival, End of the Road Festival, Glastonbury, Halderrn Pop, INmusic Festival, Les Eurockeennes, De Belfort, Lowlands, Oyafestivalen, Release Athens, Roskilde Festival, Stereoleto, TRNSMT, Vida Festival, and Ypsigrock.
This is followed by Black Midi and Flohio, who played nine shows. Then, Elderbrook, Pip Blom, and Mavi Phoenix had eight festivals. SEA Girls, girl in red, Penelope Isles, and Iris Gold conclude the top ten by performing at seven festivals!
As for the ETEP festival list, The Great Escape had 26 ETEP acts, Reeperbahn Festival hosted 24 ETEP acts, Iceland Airwaves came third with 16, and Sziget had 12. Waves Vienna welcomed 11 ETEP acts, there were 10 at Dour Festival, and Winterthurer Musikfestowchen had 9 ETEP acts in total. Coming in eight, ninth, and tenth place are Europavox, Haldern Pop, and Les Nuits Botanique hosting eight ETEP acts each!
When it comes to ETEP results by country chart, Ireland tops the list because of Fontaine D.C., followed by Black Midi from Great Britain. The Netherlands is third with Pip Blom, then Austria with Mavi Phoenix. Norwegian performer girl in red brings Norway at number five, followed by Iris Gold from Denmark, Whispering Sons from Belgium, Yegor Zabelov of Belarus, Gato Preto from Germany, and topping off the country list, Rendez Vous from France!
Which of those countries do you think has the best music?
Next year
Next year, ETEP will offer opportunities for European artists in even more countries, adding two new export offices: Music Export Denmark and Music Latvia. Additionally, ETEP aims to have 11 non-European ETEP festivals in 2020.
Guess what, the first has actually just been confirmed. It’s gonna be Playtime festival in Mongolia!
There’ll also be new partners, offering more opportunities! Music Export Denmark and Music Latvia is supporting these upcoming international artists with their export offices from Austria, Belgium, Catalonia, Czechia, Estonia, Italy, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, and Switzerland. This adds to the support that Yourope and PRS Foundation is already providing!
ETEP would not be possible without all the partners involved. The festivals play a great role in offering these emerging acts an opportunity to present themselves to an audience of international music lovers. Eurosonic Noorderslag has even already started adding festivals from outside of Europe in order to grant the artists further opportunities to expand their careers outside their home countries, aiming to have 11 non-European festival participants in 2020.
Here’s a video on more of what’s to come in 2020 from Eurosonic Noorderslag! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0quKvjr_69s
What are you most excited for?
Q&A with Eric van Eerdenburg
Festival director Eric van Eerdenburg, who is also known as Mr. Lowlands, even gave his two cents about the program! In his words, “There is no other place where the European principle comes to life such as on a festival site. It’s a gathering of like-minded people united through culture. Diverse culture. There is a lot of traveling between the countries to visit festivals. There are acts from all over the world playing in many different countries. Where the business side of things is really tough, the social side of festivals is still very close to the hippy attitudes when it all started back in the sixties.”
Let us know if you agree with him!
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Clubbing Trends about Eurosonic Noorderslag’s European Talent Exchange Programme! If you want to discover the breakthrough European acts next year, register now on www.esns.nl!
Be sure to tell us which of this year’s acts are your favorite on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
