At this year’s SPOT Festival in Aarhus, Eurosonic Noorderslag presented Denmark as its focus for 2018. Booker Robert Meijerink comments, We have been amazed by the quality and diversity of Danish acts that performed at Eurosonic in the past. Lots of Danish artists are making great music and are successful worldwide. The Danish music-scene is booming: a great reason to put the focus on Denmark.”

 The Danish export office MXD sees the focus as a great honor. “We all have seen Eurosonic grow over the years to become one of the most important festivals and music launching platforms on the face of planet earth.” Says MXD CEO Thomas Rohde. “ Denmark has supported and been engaged in the festival since the very beginning, so it’s an immense delight to have been offered the opportunity to be focus country in 2018. The moment is also ideal – The Danish scene is booming across many genres, so we will come with quite a treat to the Dutch audiences and international music professionals.”

Each year Eurosonic Noorderslag highlights a different country, showcasing the diverse musical talent across Europe. The choice for Denmark was easily made. Since the very early years of the festival, Eurosonic established a fruitful relationship with Denmark; the Danish music-scene and partners MXD Rosa, P6 Beat and P3 Radio.

Danish acts are also regular winners of The European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) with a host of acts such as Agnes Obel, Lukas Graham and MØ who have gone onto to have strong international careers.

Eurosonic Noorderslag have also previously booked several Danish acts, including: Agnes Obel, Alex Vargas, Alphabeat, Broken Twin, Communions, Efterklang, Iceage, Kashmir, LISS, Liima, Lowly, Lukas Graham, Mew, MØ and Whomadewho.

Sarah Sølvsteen from Birds Eye Agency tells what Eurosonic Noorderslag means to her work, when she books artists such as MØ to festivals and venues around the world:

“Eurosonic is quite simply the showcase festival where you get to play for the largest possible amount of European promoters and festivals at once. So with the right timing in regards to the artist’s development, there are incredibly good chances of making concrete results and deals. MØ played Eurosonic for the first time in 2013. At that time, she still wasn’t signed to any foreign label, so it was early in her career. Nevertheless, she had received great exposure on different American and British blogs, and in the industry in general, so people came to her show at Eurosonic. This immediately resulted in several deals with European promoters and got on the bill for several European festivals. The next year, she played there again… New offers on the table… All this amounted to her shows selling out in many European cities, before she even got a radio hit.”

As well as the music, Denmark also has an impressive number of successful festivals such as Roskilde, Tinderbox and Northside that Eurosonic Noorderslag partners with through its European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP).

Danish music grows abroad
For the second consecutive year, global music sales grew in 2016. According to IFPI (trade association of the music companies) the increase in sales amounted to 5,6%[1].

The Danish artists have gotten a solid share of the global sales. Koda, who represents the Danish right holders, recounts in their newly released annual report that the revenue from international sales has increased by 32% from 2015 to 2016[2].

Furthermore, Koda states that the revenue from streaming increased by 49% in 2016. The Danes are streaming like never before. This represents a great opportunity for growth in Danish music export. When the Danes stream relatively more than in other countries, the Danish music consumption (which consists of a great amount of Danish music) can amount to good placements on international charts and the most important playlists.

Lukas Graham, MØ, Volbeat, Trentemøller, Thomas Troelsen, Kölsch and Martin Jensen are all examples of Danes, who cemented their position on the international music stage in 2016.

Music Export Denmark
From the Danish side, the business promotion will be project managed by MXD – Music Export Denmark with SPOT Festival as partner. Besides the concerts and different networking events between Danish and international music companies, there will be press coverage of Danish music and other Danish culture in international media – here, we will focus on the nearer European main markets for Danish music: The UK, Germany and France.

The promotion is made possible with support from:

The Danish Arts Foundation Committee for Music Funding
The Cooperation Agreement between the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture for Denmark’s international cultural exchange

Register to play at Eurosonic
Eurosonic Noorderslag invites Danish acts and those from all over Europe, to come out and play on 17, 18, and 19 January 2018. Acts can submit an application for a showcase at the festival via Eurosonic Noorderslag’s website until September 1, 2017.

Delegate Registrations for Eurosonic Noorderslag
Conference registrations for Eurosonic Noorderslag can already be purchased on the festival’s website. Festival tickets will go on sale later in the year.
https://www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl/en/

Contact
Nikki McNeill | Global Publicity
nikki@globalpublicity.co.uk