2021 results
In a year where we still had to deal with a pandemic that had a firm grip on the music industry, many ESNS Exchange festivals had to be cancelled or postponed. To still succeed in its mission, to give emerging acts as much exposure as possible, the strategy of ESNS Exchange had to be adjusted. Like last year, next to booking the ESNS Exchange artists, the festivals were allowed to promote the acts on their platforms if their festival could not take place. Also, 2020 and 2021 acts were eligible to be booked or promoted through ESNS Exchange. This resulted in 79 promotions for 59 acts. These acts came from 22 different countries and were booked by 37 festivals from 20 countries. 100 acts from 29 countries played 141 shows at 39 different festivals in 21 countries. In total there were 134 different emerging artists from 31 countries supported by bookings or promotions from ESNS Exchange festivals.
Most booked acts
Although a lot of festivals weren’t able to take place the way they used to, still, a lot of acts were booked to play festivals or were promoted on platforms of ESNS Exchange festivals. The most popular acts of 2021 were;
- Altin Gün (nl) – 6 (2 shows, 4 promotions)
Molchat Doma (by) – 6 (4 shows, 2 promotions) - Los Bitchos (gb) – 5 (4 shows, 1 promotion)
My Ugly Clementine (at) – 5 (1 show, 4 promotions) - Alicia Edelweiss (at) – 4 (4 shows)
Meskerem Mees (be) – 4 (3 shows, 1 promotion)
Sinead O’Brien (ie) – 4 (3 shows, 1 promotion)
Alyona Alyona (ua) – 4 (2 shows, 2 promotions)
About ESNS Exchange
The European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP), now ESNS Exchange, was introduced in 2003 to make the ‘exchange’ of European artists across Europe possible on a greater scale than ever before. An initiative of ESNS, ETEP facilitates the bookings of European acts on festivals outside their home countries and generates extensive media exposure for these artists in cooperation with Euroradio, export offices and local media. This way, ESNS Exchange aims to give a boost to the international careers of European artists.