ETEP Can Still Break Records

Even if the European Union doesn’t look inclined to restore the annual subsidy it paid toward the European Talent Exchange, event organiser Ruud Berends believes the programme can continue to break records.

All the festivals that pay euro 1,000 to join the programme are entitled to book a couple of acts from those showcasing at Eurosonic-Noorderslag and get a subsidy of about euro 1,250 on each of them.

The other benefits include free registration for Eurosonic and a wristband that gives priority entry to the showcase venues.

Since the loss of the EU support in 2006, the whole shebang has been funded by a collection of organisations including the Noorderslag Foundation, Buma Cultuur, Yourope, the European Broadcasting Union, and the European Music Office.

ETEP 2008 produced a record-breaking 187 shows by 64 European artists from 16 countries at 59 ETEP festivals in 19 countries.

Although more bookings means paying out more subsidies, what’s building ETEP are the festivals that book four, five or even six acts – even though they only get a rebate on the first two.

t was a lot more in the case of Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival, which was ETEP 2009’s most enthusiastic supporter and booked 21 acts from this year’s Groningen showcase.

Denmark’s Roskilde booked 13, Belgium’s Les Nuit Botaniques took nine, and Switzerland’s Paleo-Nyon and the U.K.’s The Great Escape took eight each.

America’s Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival, the only non-European event among the 60 subscribers, took seven acts. So did Holland’s Lowlands Festival, Germany’s Melt Festival and Norway’s Hovafestivalen.

The nine festivals took 87 acts between them and ETEP had to find subsidies for only 18 of them.

Where Berends does have a problem is adding to the 60 festivals already in the scheme because the subsidy budget won’t cover more than that.

This year’s ETEP was dominated by U.K. acts, as Blood Red Shoes collected a dozen shows, Does It Offend You, Yeah? picked up nine and Lightspeed Champion got eight.

French act The Do also got eight and tied for third place, but there were six Brit bands in the Top 10 and nine in the Top 20.
The U.K.’s The Ting Tings were selected for seven shows, Calvin Harris – also from the U.K. – got six, and so did Sweden’s Lykke Li.

The U.K.’s Chrome Hoof and The Futureheads, German acts Miss Platnum and Nneka, and France’s Surkin got five shows each.

Next year’s Eurosonic-Noorderslag (Jan. 15-17) is expected to attract 2,500 delegates, which makes it Europe’s most popular music conference.

The country focus will be on Belgium, with Herman Schueremans, the local Live Nation chief and promoter of the world-famous Rock Werchter Festival, making one of the keynote speeches.