FM Belfast’s Late Surge

Icelandic electro group FM Belfast has come up with a late run to force a dead heat in this year’s European Talent Exchange Programme.

It made up ground on British indie pop act The xx, which has since won the Mercury Music Prize, to tie with 11 shows each thanks to the ETEP. Five of the top six acts in the ETEP list were from the UK.

Band Of Skulls and Marina & the Diamonds tied for third place with eight shows each, while Charlie Winston and Ellie Goulding were both fifth with seven.

Seventy-one acts benefited from this year’s programme, exactly the same number as last year, but the total number of shows dropped from 214 to 172.

Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival, which has booked 17 ETEP acts for Sept. 23-25, took most advantage of the scheme. The same country’s Haldern Festival booked 13 ETEP acts and Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival booked 12.

Next year’s ETEP and the Eurosonic-Noorderslag weekend that hosts it have been scheduled for Jan. 12-15. It has already announced that U.S. music business commentators Bob Lefsetz and Fred Goodman will be among the keynote speakers.