Each year ESNS will bring together agents, bookers, festivals, policymakers, media, managers, artists, venues, labels, publishers and all those professionals who provide services to the music industry at the largest music conference in Europe, to join the dialogue on the opportunities and challenges facing the European music sector.

The disruptive force of AI stems not just from the pace of its development, but also from the uncertainty surrounding its long-term impact. New opportunities are emerging alongside fundamental questions about rights, ownership and value creation. For record labels, artists, publishers and collective management organisations, the stakes are particularly high.

Can AI and the music industry find the same beat? Mandy Salem-Aubry from MSA Music Services moderates a special at the ESNS Conference in which Robbert Baruch, Senior Vice President Public Affairs at Universal Music Group, and Thomas Hesse, co-founder and Chief Content & Commercial Officer of music technology platform KLAY, will take a closer look at a potentially important new model and show how artists can use this to their advantage.

With its mosaic of countries, Europe is a rich tapestry of languages, food habits and competing ideas about identity. At the ESNS Conference European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef speaks about what it means to be European and the politics of culture. With the European Culture Compass, Commissioner Micallef is making the case that music is not a nice-to-have, but essential to Europe’s future.

As AI-generated music, synthetic artists, voice cloning, and streaming fraud become mainstream, the industry faces a growing trust deficit. Turo Pekari from Music Tech Europe brings experts Surbhi Gupta (Hirani & Associates), Margarita Grubina (Respeecher) Scott Cohen (former The Orchard/Warner Music Group) and Simon Dilling (ColliderScope Collective / MALT) together, to discuss if trust has become the industry’s most valuable asset. In another panel Pekari explores what happens when creating and building are no longer scarce skills because of technology with Kushal Patel (MassiveMusic), Matthias Strobel Hohmann (MusicTech Germany) and Alisha Outridge (Byte&Chord Inc). Music has attracted billions into technology, catalogues, streaming, creator tools and, lately, AI. But yesterday's big bet isn't necessarily tomorrow's. At the ESNS Conference Aga Samitowska (MusicTech Poland / Creative Industries Institute), Steve Sabatier (Chenavari Investment Managers / STRASS Prod / ANote Music), Nick Maiale (jump.global & HITS HOME) and Jenny Björk (Nordic Music Tech) make some actual bets on where the next generation of value in music will come from.

Building a successful music career today requires far more than creating great music. In a keynote on the ESNS Conference in Groningen, Ben Patashnik, Head Of Editorial Northern Europe at Spotify, offers an exclusive look at the future of editorial curation on Spotify. The session explores the latest trends in editorial playlists, the opportunities for artists to get on the radar of both editors and fans internationally, and how Spotify continues to evolve its platform to better serve listeners, artists, and the industry.

In an intimate, interactive workshop, Ree Seewell, senior artist and label relations manager at SoundCloud, will share the modern playbook for turning an upload into a sustainable career—drawing on insights from millions of creators, fan interactions, and SoundCloud's Music Intelligence. Through real-world examples, attendees will learn practical strategies to get heard, build an engaged fan community, use audience insights to make smarter career decisions, and diversify revenue beyond streaming.

Music knows more about its audience than ever, but which data actually predicts fandom? In the panel No Fans, No Future, Ella Mäntynen (Cultive), Premysl Koudela (Get Moments), Victoria Lallman (toniq), Gareth Deakin (Sonorous Global), and Max Busin (Gotobeat) discuss how better fan intelligence could change discovery, artist development, live music and the economics of building a career around people who genuinely care.

Understanding audiences is only one part of the equation: how music reaches those audiences is equally interesting. Platforms driven by algorithms, responsible for recommending tracks and artists to fans, are a crucial element in discovering new music from various European regions in different genres. At the ESNS Conference researcher Martin Clarke (Panteia) and innovator Yvan Boudillet (MIC - MUSIC INNOVATION CONSULTING) present the most important findings of the European Discoverability Report, a study commissioned by the European Commission, and discuss how to go forward in a digital surrounding that ensures musicians and artists to be successful in a diverse and sustainable cultural world.

Delegate Passes give access to festivals Eurosonic and Noorderslag, the music conference and the exclusive delegate only showcases at the Oosterpoort on Wednesday. Delegate passes are available via the button below.

Delegate Pass (all access) - € 550,00
Young - Delegate Pass (all access) - € 415,00