ESNS as a booster for the European music industry

Authors: Joep Coolen (Live Music and Dance Events) and Simon de Wijs (Urban Life & Placemaking) work at Academy for Leisure & Events (BUas).

Every year around mid-January thousands of professionals from the music industry pay a visit to the Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in Groningen. ESNS is the only event and music platform exclusively focusing on upcoming acts in European and Dutch pop music. To make this pop music visible and audible for audiences, the media and professionals, ESNS organises a four-day festival and conference programme. By means of showcases, presentations, meetups, dialogue and discussion, the organisers give (young) artists a career perspective. ESNS thus contributes to a flying start to the careers of artists such as Shame, Stromae, Agnes Obel, George Ezra, and Dua Lipa. Yet, ESNS is also jokingly summed up in a few words as an industry New Year’s reception that has grown out of control. But ESNS is much more than that.

ESNS as a band contest 
In 1986, the first Noorderslag edition took place in the form of a band contest as part of the Holland-Belgium festival. Where the first editions, in remote Groningen, attracted around 1,500 visitors, this has gradually grown into an annual festival attracting tens of thousands of visitors. In 1999, Eurosonic (Noorderslag does not sound so good in English) was added to give international musicians a place in the spotlights alongside Dutch ones. The broad focus on all European countries creates an attraction for international acts and therefore professionals and fans and makes it hard to imagine the annual calendar of European music professionals without ESNS.

ESNS as an alumni meetup   
For music professionals a visit to ESNS is useful for several reasons, but most of all – as reported by the three BUas alumni we are talking to – the network element is highlighted.

Joost van Abeelen works as a marketeer at Mojo Concerts and he "surely considers ESNS the most important gathering of the music industry, the place where everyone shares their plans for the coming year and where plans are made." Joost also appreciates the diversity of connections: "You speak to people from all corners of the music industry, from labels to venues and booking offices. For professionals, ESNS is the place to build your career."

Max de Beijer works at pop venue Hall of Fame and visits ESNS for several reasons: "The reason why I am going to ESNS is my position as programme coordinator at the Hall of Fame. ESNS is the event to see all the faces again that I send emails to all year. Of course, also getting to know new people to produce great shows with. Success stories are born at ESNS and that ranges from budding artists to collaborations for which seeds are planted during ESNS."

Rowan Wapperom, marketeer for Greenhouse Talent, says: "The entire music industry is then just in one place. That makes it super easy to chat with each other, and link a face to the email. Especially that face-to-face networking with national and international partners is of immense value. By the way, that's why we as Greenhouse Talent always organise a drinks party for our business contacts."

ESNS is developing as the place for many networks to meet. There are, just to give a few examples, a BUas alumni drinks party, the VNPF members’ meeting, a meetup of crowd safety professionals and a policymakers’ day. The attraction of ESNS is huge, which also leads, with a growing diversity of stakeholders and visitors, to a growing diversity of activities including fringe programmes.

ESNS as a springboard for talent 
Because of its context, ESNS acts like a place where you need to be and want to break through as a budding musician. One of the ways to write more success stories is the European talent exchange programme (ETEP). ETEP is a 'flagship project' for the European Commission and an essential link in the ESNS talent development track, as it ensures circulation of European artists. It works as follows: some 130 European and international festivals are members of ETEP (among other things, Roskilde, Glastonbury, Sziget, Lowlands, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Rock in Rio). Their programmers (who book the artists for the festivals) come to ESNS; from the programme, they select artists to perform at their festival. Working with music export offices, European radio stations and other partners, ESNS supports international festival performances with media coverage, in the form of airplay and (online) publications. The festivals thus buy success in advance, the bands are assured of an audience that knows their repertoire and the media parties get a leadership position with listeners.

ESNS as a spotlight
ESNS generates attention for Dutch and European pop music and enhances the international careers of Dutch and European artists all over the globe. For European and Dutch artists, ESNS is the most important export platform within and outside Europe. And that happens across the breadth of all genres, just look at the diversity of Popprijs winners (annual award for a Dutch act that has made a major contribution to Dutch pop music) with winners such as Herman Brood, Armin van Buren, Osdorp Posse, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, Direct and Joost Klein. You want to be in the ESNS spotlight, both as a Dutch and European musician. Especially now that the European music sector has matured, it is time to take European music to an intercontinental level. ESNS is shifting focus in its strategy. 'From Europe for Europe' becomes 'from Europe to the world'. At the same time, ESNS wants to put Dutch artists centre stage and become even more of an embassy for Dutch pop music in the coming years. Through stronger cooperation with Dutch Music Export, ESNS aims to raise its profile as a stamp of quality, by promoting Dutch acts at various events in and outside Europe. Looking at the festival's music programme, ESNS is the trendsetter for line-ups in the next festival summer. With a shift towards more emphasis on hip-hop and female artists in recent years.

ESNS as a compass for the future 
For professionals, the ESNS conference is also the place to do business, get inspired and exchange knowledge. It is thus the meeting place for music professionals, but also for insight into how the ins and outs of the market are evolving. Today, the conference programme, which takes place during the day on festival days, includes more than 200 panel discussions, interviews, and keynote speeches. The programme addresses leading topics and innovations and aims to put the music industry on the road to a sustainable future. In its strategy, ESNS calls it: Music forever & for everyone. ESNS aims to take a position on social issues and propagate that as a source of inspiration, acting as a compass in terms of sustainability, innovation, technology, business models and inclusion. For example, to further increase sustainability around ESNS itself, the organisation is introducing innovative actions based on six themes: Energy, Food, Transport, Waste, Water, and Fair Trade. During ESNS, the organisers continuously pay attention to sustainable innovations in the fields of technology, production, and climate, among other things, to be a source of inspiration for visitors. Where ten years ago, for example, little attention was paid to sustainability or inclusion, a large part of the programme is now about these topics. In this way, ESNS provides space for and gives direction to the social debate and development of the sector.

ESNS as an urban transformer
A lot of fringe programming has organically developed around both the conference and festival programme, most of which is free to attend, even for non-professional visitors. So, there are all kinds of serious fringe programmes (full-fledged festivals of their own) like Platosonic (ESNS artists with a small set in the record shop), Grunnsonic (for local artists), Pleuropsonic (kicking ass at ESNS) or Altersonic (for bands too small for the ESNS stage). There is also Eurosonic Open Air at Grote Markt (Main Market Square) with bigger (mostly) Dutch artists. On the days of ESNS, there is virtually no room to be booked in the city (prices are also skyrocketing). Cafés and restaurants are full and the cultural infrastructure, such as Forum and Gronings Museum, but also cinemas, are crowded. Many entrepreneurs reap the benefits and profit from the liveliness during ESNS days. You can even state that ESNS can be seen as part of Groningen's cultural heritage.

It is hard to imagine the annual calendar of the European music industry without ESNS. To many perhaps, above all, the perfect annual network event at the interface between business and pleasure, but for this very reason the situation is emerging where ESNS can create value at multiple levels.

This article was published in Uncover Magazine - Internationalisation. You can read the complete magazine via this link. 

Photography: 
Ben Houdijk