After being shuttered by a pandemic for two years, the live festival industry seems to be back in motion. This shows in the first ESNS Exchange results of 2022. Already 133 bookings were made from the programme’s pool.

First results
With ESNS 2022 behind us, the first results are in. With 133 bookings by 77 artists from 20 countries, the programme is proving its worth for the live music sector. To give the acts that played at a digital ESNS edition due to COVID an extra push, the ESNS Exchange pool of this year represents artists from both ESNS 2021 and 2022. Here is a top 10 of the most booked acts and a top 10 of the most booked acts per country;

ESNS Exchange Artist Chart}
Priya Ragu (CH) 8
Holly Humberstone (GB) 7
Altin Gün (NL) 6
Yard Act (GB) 5
Enola Gay (IE) 4
CMAT (IE) 4
Wet Leg (GB) 4
Ascendant Vierge (BE) 3
Joe & The Shitboys (FO) 3
Myd (FR) 3

ESNS Exchange By Country Chart
Priya Ragu (CH) 8
Holly Humberstone (GB)7
Altin Gün (NL) 6
Enola Gay (IE) 4
Ascendant Vierge (BE) 3
Joe & The Shitboys (FO) 3
Myd (FR) 3
Daði Freyr (IS)3
Alyona Alyona (UA) 2
K.ZIA (DE) 2

*Results filtered by the most booked artist per country

As yet, acts from the United Kingdom and Switzerland are not supported financially by ESNS Exchange. ESNS is negotiating this with the (export) offices that represent these countries. It will depend on the outcome of these negotiations whether acts are financially supported performing at the ESNS Exchange festivals in 2022.

Find a full overview of the first results of ESNS Exchange 2022 at https://esns-exchange.eu/results-2022/

While this is good news for the ESNS Exchange programme, our thoughts are with the people in Ukraine. If you want to help out, let your voice be heard online or support Ukrainian artists like GO-A, Alina Pash and Alyona Alyona who are part of ESNS Exchange. Music journalists and the wider music communities of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have created this playlist filled with Ukrainian artists: https://spoti.fi/3JRAAz1. Get to know how you can additionally help via Global Citizen. 

ESNS donated money to MusicSavesUA, a project from All-Ukrainian Association of Music Events, including Atlas Festival, who need financial assistance urgently for the humanitarian needs of the civilians in Ukraine. We urge you to do the same: musicsavesua.com.

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, ESNS Exchange 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.

About ESNS
ESNS is a non-profit showcase festival for European artists, and a conference with panels, keynotes, interviews, and gatherings on the latest developments in the international and European music industry. ESNS’ mission is to stimulate and further promote the circulation of European music, and to give European artists a stepping stone onto international success.

Tickets for ESNS23 are available at an early-bird rate via https://esns.nl/tickets/