From the 14th to the 17th of January 345 acts performed to an audience of 41,200 music lovers, in 50 different venues in the city of Groningen, The Netherlands. With the addition of the European Production Innovation Conference & Fair (EPIC) and more venues to the festival program the event sold out earlier than previous years and attracted nearly 4,000 industry professionals from all over the world.
Festivals
The Dutch pop music industry is on the rise with acts like Birth of Joy achieving many European festival bookings, Kensington playing sell out shows across Holland and The Common Linnets who won an European Border Breakers Award (EBBA), EBBA Public Choice Award and the Dutch Pop Award. With a line-up of acts from 29 countries, Eurosonic has proven to be a melting pot of European music. So far, 186 acts have been selected by European festivals in the ETEP program with the focus country Iceland showcasing 19 new promising acts.
Photo Credit: Sander Baks
Conference
The Eurosonic Noorderslag conference characterised itself by many discussions and presentations about innovations in the music sector. The European Production Innovation Conference & Fair (EPIC) focused on the latest developments at venues and festivals. Other highlights included keynotes from Karsten Jahnke (Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion, DE), Duncan Stutterheim (SFX, NL), Lennart van der Meulen (VPRO, NL) and Nic Jones (Vevo, UK). The Saturday program went from strength the strength with the inclusion of political debates about the connecting power of music for society, an extended media program and practical workshops for artists.
Awards
On the opening night of the event The Public Choice Award of the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) was won by The Common Linnets, who also won the most important Dutch Pop Award 2014. Other awards included the Pop Media Award, which went to Atze de Vrieze of VPRO’s 3voor12, the Buma Music Meets Tech Award, which was won by the British startup BandApp and the 6th annual European Festival Awards, which celebrated the vision, creativity of the music festival industry.
Official numbers
The official numbers of Eurosonic Noorderslag 2015 are the following:
Total number of visitors (sold out): 41,200
Conference visitors (sold out): 3,977
Nationalities: 42
Acts: 345
Number of venues Eurosonic: 39
Number of venues Noorderslag: 11
Media & journalists: 336
EBU radio stations: 34
International festivals: 432
ETEP festivals: 94
