MUMBAI: The first digital edition of showcase festival ESNS took place less than a month ago and the first selection of the European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP) 2021 is already here. The exchange programme, which focuses on offering European acts international opportunities, announces the first selection of 2021 and decided to give the acts of 2020 another year of support.

Results 2020

The year 2020 was different than any other year, since we all had to deal with a pandemic that brought the world to a standstill. Because of this, many ETEP festivals were cancelled or postponed. To still succeed in the mission of ETEP, to give emerging acts as much exposure as possible, we adjusted our strategy. Next to booking the ETEP artists, the festivals were allowed to promote them on their platforms if their festival could not take place. This resulted in 124 promotions for 74 acts from 21 countries by 74 festivals from 26 countries and a total of 45 shows by 40 acts from 26 countries playing at 12 festivals in 12 countries. In total there were 102 different emerging artists from 31 countries supported by bookings or promotions by ETEP festivals.

2020 acts are eligible for ETEP 2021

Despite the results from the ETEP 2020 programme, we chose to give the ETEP20 acts another chance at being booked by ETEP festivals. For this year's ETEP-programme all festivals can select artists from both ESNS 2020 and 2021 line-ups.

First selection 2021

With ESNS just behind us, the first selection results are in. With 25 festivals voting for 136 artists, we present the artists to watch, according to the participating ETEP festivals.

Altin Gün (nl)

Daði Freyr (is)

Holly Humberstone (gb)

Alyona Alyona (ua)

Faux Real (fr)

These five acts are followed closely by Afrodelic (it), Donna Blue (nl), Finn Ronsdorf (de), Katy J Pearson (gb), Lous & The Yakuza (be), My Ugly Clementine (at), Nava (it), Personal Trainer (nl), Playback Maracas (es), The Goa Express (gb) and Yīn Yīn (nl).

Re-watch ESNS 2021

All ESNS21 shows have been broadcast during the festival last month. The shows can be re-watched on the festival platform via: 3fm.nl/esns. All videos are available until the end of this year.

About ETEP

The European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP) was introduced in 2003 to stimulate the exchange of European artists across Europe, and would not be possible without the funding of the support programmes for culture by the European Union. ETEP has been one of the very first programmes to support popular music on a European level. Currently, ETEP receives funding by the sub-programme "Culture" as part of Creative Europe.

An initiative of ESNS, ETEP facilitates the bookings of European acts on European & international festivals outside their home countries and generates extensive media exposure for these artists in cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) public radio stations, as well as national and international media. Additionally, ETEP actively cooperates with 18 music export offices. This way, ETEP aims to give a boost to the international careers of European artists and highlights the participating ETEP festivals.

Since the start of the programme ETEP has facilitated 4.437 shows by 1.649 acts in 38 countries, and we are very proud to have contributed to the careers of so many talented European acts. Many acts that received support from ETEP at the start of their careers have grown out to be very successful. Over the past 18 years, acts such as Agnes Obel, Ásgeir, Ben Howard, Benjamin Clementine, Calvin Harris, Christine and the Queens, Dua Lipa, Franz Ferdinand, James Blake, MØ, Noisia, Selah Sue, The Editors, The Kooks, The XX, Within Temptation and Years & Years have greatly benefited from the support of the ETEP programme. More recently, acts such as Alma, Altin Gün, Arlo Parks, Aurora, Black Country, New Road, Celeste, Fontaines D.C., girl in red, Idles, Mavi Phoenix, Meduza, Oscar and the Wolf, Pip Blom, Pongo, Shame, Sigrid and 5KHD played some of their first international shows with the support of the European Talent Exchange Programme.

More info: https://esns.nl/etep-2/