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CONNECTING

THE DOTS

ETEP and the Value of Live Music Venues

in the European Music Industry

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Connecting the Dots

ETEP and the Value of Live Music Venues in the

European Music Industry

Merel Cuperus

S2323516

Thesis Supervisor: dr. K.A. McGee

Second Supervisor: dr. M.L. Wilders

Master’s Thesis in Cultural Leadership, University of Groningen

August 8, 2019

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Faculty of Arts Master’s thesis Statement, University of Groningen Name of student: Merel Cuperus

Student number: S2323516

Master’s degree programme – specialization: Cultural Leadership

Title of final-year thesis: “Connecting the Dots – ETEP and the Value of Live Music Venues in the European Music Industry.”

Name of Thesis Supervisor: dr. K.A. McGee

I hereby declare unequivocally that the thesis submitted by me is based on my own work and is the product of independent academic research. I declare that I have not used the ideas and formulations of others without stating their sources, that I have not used translations or paraphrases of texts written by others as part of my own argumentation, and that I have not submitted the text of this thesis or a similar text for assignments in other course units then LCR999M30 or LCR000M30.

Date: August 8, 2019

Place: Groningen, the Netherlands

Signature of student:

N.B. All violations of the above statement will be regarded as fraud within the meaning of Art. 3.9 of the Teaching and Examination Regulations.

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Summary

The Anglo-American music industry has been the primary source for music in many places of the world, including Europe. In the past few decades, the European music industry has made significant steps in order to increase its relevance and value in the global music industry. Various organizations and institutions have contributed to this development, including the European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP).

ETEP is an initiative of Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS), a European showcase platform that provides beginning artists with an opportunity to perform in front of many music

professionals. ETEP is a network of festivals, export offices and radio stations that aims to stimulate the circulation of European music and artists. This thesis explores the role of ETEP in the European music industry, and how a new network of live music venues will increase the awareness of the value of live music in the European music industry and the value of the industry itself.

Using literature and participatory observation research, this thesis will argue that ETEP has a significant role in cultural exchange within Europe, however, the current network of ETEP does not cover all valuable parts of the live music industry. The second part of this thesis will explore a new possibility and propose a new network of live music venues, by analyzing two live music venues as case studies, Komedia (UK) and Doornroosje (NL). Concluding, this thesis of will argue that including live music venues in a new version of the ETEP network will create additional value to the existing network and create new valuable possibilities for emerging European artists.

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Content

Foreword ... 6

Introduction ... 7

1 - The role of ETEP in the European music industry ... 18

1.1. Historical context & development of ETEP ... 18

1.2. ETEP in a European context ... 22

1.2.1. Involvement of the EU on an institutional level ... 23

1.2.2. European exchange on a cultural level ... 24

1.2.3. Festivalization in Europe at a musical level ... 26

1.3. The current ETEP network ... 29

1.3.1. Radio stations ... 30

1.3.2. Export offices ... 31

1.3.3. Festivals... 33

1.4. Challenges of ESNS & ETEP ... 35

1.5. Proposing a new network ... 38

2 – A network of live music venues ... 41

2.1. Contextualizing live music ... 43

2.2. Venue 1 – Doornroosje, Nijmegen (NL) ... 51

2.3. Venue 2 – Komedia, Brighton (UK) ... 59

2.4. The new venue network... 65

Conclusion & Discussion ... 70

Bibliography ... 72

Appendices ... 76

Appendix 1 – Festival Monitor Factsheet 2018 ... 77

Appendix 2 – Creative Europe main sectors ... 78

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Foreword

This master’s thesis titled “Connecting the dots – ETEP, the European music industry and the value of live music venues”, is the final step of the research master’s program Cultural

Leadership of the University of Groningen. The research presented in this thesis is based on the research which was done during my traineeship at Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) and valuable academic literature in the field of live music.

Together with my thesis supervisor dr. K.A. McGee, and my traineeship supervisor dr. M.L. Wilders, I was able to create a research problem that challenged the existing ideas of ESNS regarding the European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP), a network of music organizations including festivals, export offices and radio stations. I would like to thank both of my supervisors for their extended feedback and all the help they offered during the complete thesis process. Furthermore, I would like to thank Peter Smidt, my traineeship supervisor from ESNS who provided me with insightful ideas, innovative thinking and valuable connections in the music world. I would also like to thank my fellow interns and colleagues for their support and help during the research process. I specifically would like to thank Sanne Smelt for designing and creating the front page of this thesis.

Lastly, I would like to thank my partner and family for reading all the versions of my research and provide me with helpful feedback.

Thank you.

I hope you enjoy reading this thesis.

Merel Cuperus

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Introduction

“The true beauty of music is that it connects people. It carries a message, and we, the musicians, are the messengers”.

- Roy Ayers

“Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don’t understand the language that you’re singing in, they still know good music when they hear it.”

- Louis Allen Rawls

“Which female artist holds the record of the most-watched YouTube music video so far this year?” is the question posed by Kitty Empire in an online article of The Guardian (2019). You might expect it to be a world-famous American artist, such as Beyoncé or Taylor Swift. However, surprisingly, this top spot is held by the Spanish artist Rosalía, who won a Music Moves Europe Talent Award in Groningen during Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS), a European showcase platform. This is a surprising outcome due to the massive international popularity of the Anglo-American music industry. This popularity has created difficult situations for the European music industry. The Anglo-American music industry has been the primary source for music in many places of the world, including Europe. Music that is distributed by radio or tv primarily originates from this industry. Until recently, music used to travel from the United States, through London to the rest of Europe. However, in the past decade, this situation has changed in which European music starts to find its way back to the United States and other parts of the world.

The European music industry is a unique industry because it encompasses many different countries that create and produce their own music in various languages and genres. ESNS is an organization that connects these different countries and collaborates with

organizations from these countries to stimulate the exchange of European music. Every year in January, during a four-day showcase festival, artists and professionals from the music industry from all over Europe come to Groningen to connect. This year, in 2019, ESNS took place from January 16 until January 19. There were more than 42.000 visitors from 44 countries, and 342 performing artists on 52 stages.

Although the event itself has been a proven success in the past thirty years, ESNS aims to contribute to the music industry beyond this event as well. In order to support the careers of artists throughout Europe, and several non-European countries, ESNS has created an initiative to connect organizations, such as export offices and festivals, throughout Europe and outside Europe. This is called the European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP). Since its inception in 2003, ETEP has created many opportunities for European artists to perform in countries other

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than their own. In other words, ETEP is a tool for artists to take their careers to an international level.

Both ETEP and of ESNS are part of the European music industry. The music industry itself is a complex phenomenon, which consists of many components. One of the main components is the recording industry, which includes the digital environment, such as

streaming, radio airplay and the dissemination of recordings through digital media. Another part of the music industry, is the live music component, which represents a completely different part of this industry, such as live music performances, festivals and clubs. In academic literature, the live music industry has gained increasing attention, due to various reasons, including the

increased economic value of live music (Holt 2014, 243). The live music industry has been examined through many perspectives by different scholars. For example, Fabian Holt

investigates live music through an economic perspective (2010), analyzing live music in a new mediated world, and an urban perspective, highlighting the relationship between live music scenes and gentrification in New York City (2014). Another example is Simon Frith, who explores the value of live music in his famous article “Live Music Matters” (2007), in which he analyzes both the economic and social value of live music performance in the twenty-first century. In live music studies, other perspectives than economics are explored as well. For example, when it comes to legislation, the recording industry is primarily based on copyrights. The live music sector is a bit more complicated than that, especially in the context of the involvement of state or governments with legislation and promotion of live music. Martin Cloonan investigates this legal perspective by looking at the process of regulating live music in the United Kingdom (2010; 2011). Auslander (2008) investigates the relationship between live performance and copyrights, in which he argues, drawing upon various legal articles, that live music is an original and “pure” entity and cannot, strictly speaking, be copied and that is why it cannot be protected by copyrights (Auslander 2008, 158). This shows that live music studies relate to issues such as policy, economics, legal and social aspects.

This thesis focuses on the live network of ETEP, which is a part of the live music industry, in which it provides opportunities for European artists to perform live in different countries. According to various scholars (Frith 2013; Holt 2010, 2014), the role of the live music industry has become more important in the twenty-first century. Frith (2013, 2) argues that the relationship between the live music industry and the recording industry has a changing nature, in which currently the live music industry has an important role in, for example, the economics of recording. Until recently, when publishing an album, live performance was a complementary method for the marketing and promotion process of this album (Frith 2013, 12). However, this role reversed in the past few decades, in which artists now publish albums to promote their tours. Consequently, in academic literature, live music has gained more attention, which is

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primarily due to this development and correlates with the increasing valuable role of live

performance in the economics of music (Holt 2010, 243). This thesis will establish the role of live music specifically in the European music industry, by analyzing a live music network. Therefore, this research will be a valuable contribution to literature about the live music industry.

Besides contributing to live music literature, this thesis aims to establish awareness of the value of live music. Live music happens in a certain space, which needs to be experienced by people in order to gain value. The experience of live music is unique because the live performance will never happen exactly as it did in that moment. Therefore, the space in which live music happens influences the experience, which also supports the idea that experiencing live music at a club is very different from an experience at a festival. The incentive for

experiencing music in a live music venue can also differ from the incentive for a concert at a festival. For example, music participants buy tickets for a specific artist in a live music venue. However, for a festival, there are more than one or two artists to choose from, which makes the experience and the reason for going to a club versus going to a festival different. Therefore, this research will establish the relationship between live music and the spaces in which it takes place, using the analysis of two live music venues, Doornroosje in Nijmegen (NL) and Komedia in Brighton (UK). To clarify, this research will not specifically focus on the actual experience of the audience or the artists, although the experience of these actors is a relevant factor. In other words, the focus of this research is on the specific space, not necessarily on the experience of the space. To understand that spaces affect the experience and perception of live music, one needs to understand the music’s connection to the notions of locality within a particular place (Frith 2010, 3). “The changing spaces of musical performance contain their own technological, architectural and ideological accounts of what people have understood as a good sound, a good performance, a good listening experience, a good night out” (Frith 2010, 3). For example, a concert in a stadium provides a different experience than a concert in a modest live music venue in a small town.

This space where live music takes place can be created in, for example, clubs and at festivals. The current network of ETEP consists of many European organizations, and festivals play a key role in the network and are the main facilitators within the ETEP program. In recent decades, the importance of festivals in the European music industry can be seen by looking at the trend of festivalization, which is an important concept in this research. There are various books and articles that draw upon the growth of the number of festivals in countries in Europe and other continents (Cudny 2016; Bennett et al. 2014; Sassatelli 2011). For example, Waldemar Cudny (2016) theorizes the effects of festivals on urban spaces. He explores different contexts in which a festival can have an impact, such as the impact on of course the physical space of a city. However, festivals can impact cities and communities from an economic perspective as well as from a cultural or political perspective. These are important perspectives to consider

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when researching the value of these festivals for the music industry. Andy Bennet, Jodi Taylor and Ian Woodward (2014) provide other perspectives on festivalization. They argue that festivals play an important role in the formation of communities, and in relation to current political issues as well as in which culture is expressed. Monica Sassatelli (2011) discusses the role of the contemporary festival in modern society. She argues that the growth of festivals in Europe has several reasons, such as increased migration and the implementation of technological

developments (Giorgi & Sassatelli 2011, 2). As seen in Appendix 1, there were 954 festivals in the Netherlands, from which 688 were music festivals, which is 72% of all festivals. In

Groningen, two new festivals in one place have been organized, Stadspark Live, which took place in June 2019, and Hullabaloo Festival, which will take place for the first time at the end of August 2019.

According to Giorgi and Sassatelli (2011, 4), the role of the traditional festival was to re-produce and contextualize the past. The “post-traditional festival” reveals a new role of festivals, and Giorgi and Sassatelli argue that this role is developing form a re-production, to a more politically and economically involved role of festivals in society. As George McKay (2015, 2) argues in the introduction of “The Pop Festival”, “festivals have become a pivotal economic driver in the popular music industry”. In other words, the function of a festival as an expression of culture, has developed into the economic sphere of the music industry. As O’Reilly, Larsen and Kubacki argue from an economic and cultural perspective: “festivals are spaces where music, markets and consumption come together and intersect with culture, society, and politics in ways that produce rich and engaging experiences for the musicians, organizers, audiences and all those involved” (2013, 211). In other words, again, the argument here is that the space of live music affects the experience and eventually the perception of music. Therefore, this thesis argues for investigating not only festivals, but especially live music venues.

This live music perspective, provided by scholars such as Holt, McKay, and O’Reilly et. al, offer insight in the development of the live music discourse in the past few decades, including the concept of festivalization. This thesis will however specifically focus on the European context of this development. By focusing on a European network of music organizations, this research project will contextualize various subjects in Europe. According to a representative of the EACEA, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Union, research on this level is very valuable for the cultural organizations in Europe. In a conversation during ESNS, she explained that this will not only contribute to the existing knowledge on the cultural sector, it will also stimulate further research on cultural exchange, which is very relevant for European organizations and institutions.

In academic literature on European culture and European festivals, scholars have focused on various perspectives, and in this case especially Monica Sassatelli is important to discuss. Sassatelli is a scholar who often focuses on the “European narrative”, elucidates how

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festivals impact and reflect European culture and identity. Sassatelli investigates various perspectives on what it means to be European, how European culture can be defined and perceived, and how this is expressed through various cultural events, such as festivals.

Specifically, in her book Becoming Europeans (2009), Sassatelli argues that European culture is a complex phenomenon in which, for example, the formation of European identity is practically impossible. She explains that Europe consists of many different cultures and languages, in which the formation of a single identity is not necessarily possible. “Unity in diversity” is an infamous statement that has raised many discussions. Currently, this is the slogan of the European Union. However, Sassatelli argues (2009, 198) that this is a paradoxical statement, in which there is no possibility for a single European identity. Europe is diverse and distinctive in its collection of different cultures and cultural expressions, which is, in fact, the essence of Europe. The European music industry is therefore no different in terms of the diversity of cultures, and in this case, the cultural expression of music.

On a more local level, clubs and festivals are important spaces in which these European musical expressions have a place to be experienced. Organizations such as ESNS, connect different European countries, and embrace the cultural diversity in languages, cultural expressions and music, and provide a stage for the music from all over Europe. On this local level, cities and urban contexts are valuable places to discuss. Among others, Fabian Holt (2013, 11) emphasizes the importance of studying live music in different contexts, and argues that live music can have an important role in a city or other urban space. It can contribute to local music scenes, which is shown by not only Holt (2013), but also Sara Cohen (1991), who argues that Liverpool has gained its rock status through the various live music venues in the city.

When thinking of the economic context of live music in a city, music consumption is very much related to the audiences and what an audience wants. As explained before, the incentive to go to a festival is often much different from the incentive to go to a specific concert. This not only shows that both live music in venues and festivals should be researched, it also shows that the audiences of venues and festivals can be very different. Also, as previously mentioned, live music has gained a larger role in the music industry, in which it becomes the “main commodity” and a recorded album becomes a support mechanism. This development, from an economic perspective, can be seen as from a product-based economy to a service-centered economy (Grove et al. 1992, 92).

Organizations such as ETEP are examples of organizations that anticipate developments such as the service-centered development. According to Grove et al. (1992, 97), a service must comply to several criteria, and it must contain the three P’s: participants (artists and audience members), physical evidence (venue, building, setting), and process of service assembly (the performance). In the context of live music studies, this aspect is very important to understand. It not only shows the economic importance of live music, it also clarifies why organizations such

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as ETEP, that connect organizations who provide and endorse live music, have a pivotal role in this context.

Holt (2010, 243) argues that the economic value that is currently attached to live music, is one of the reasons why it gained attention within academic literature. Therefore, the economic perspective is valuable to highlight as well in this context. Not long ago, live performances were not necessarily commodities that could be “measured”, in which they were “non-scalable” products, as Holt describes (2010, 249). Therefore, the reproduction of live music was very expensive and hard to realize. Nowadays, live performances are perceived as more scalable, in which the technological developments regarding, for example, amplification systems will help reproducing and create more efficient production processes. Furthermore, as Tschmuck (2017, 124) argues in his book, The Economics of Music, the core operations in the live music industry is based on ticketing. Back in the day, tickets could only be sold face-to-face at the venue itself. Nowadays, tickets are sold through various channels online, and many new ticketing websites emerge every year. Some of the most popular ticketing sites are, for example,

bandsintown.com, songkick.com and viagogo.com. Ticketmaster is the leading ticketing organization in the market that monopolizes live music tickets. Together with Live Nation, world’s largest concert promoter, Ticketmaster controls the concert world. According to the New York Times, the merger between these two leading companies caused troubling situations for other organizations and control these high ticket prices (Sisario & Bowley 2018). In other words, the economic value of live music attracts much attention.

Concluding from these paragraphs, there are many valuable perspectives when discussing the live music discourse. In this thesis, the live music discourse will be addressed through the analysis of ETEP, in which it will investigate the role of its current live music network of festivals in the European music industry. Due to the increasing festivalization of Europe in the past decades, festivals have become an important medium for distribution, production and promotion in the cultural sector in Europe, and specifically the European music sector (Delanty 2011, 190). According to various people of the organization of ESNS, there is a pressing need for research on the role of the live music sector in the European industry. ETEP has already shown to have a valuable role in the careers of several European artists, such as Rosalía and Pip Blom. However, this research project will focus on establishing the specific role of ETEP in the live music industry of Europe, and in the context of festivals and clubs. Furthermore, this thesis will investigate how it could develop in the upcoming years, to increase its impact by focusing on not only festivals, but other live music spaces as well. This could not only increase awareness of the value of live music in the European music industry, it could eventually show the value of the European music industry itself.

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To create additional value for ESNS and ETEP, this thesis proposes a new network of live music venues. Therefore, the research question of this thesis is the following:

What is the role of the European Talent Exchange Programme in the European music industry and how can a new version of this network, by including live music venues, increase the awareness of the value of live music in the European music industry and the value of the industry itself?

Resulting from conversations with various people from the organization of ESNS, and especially the head of bookings and program, Robert Meijerink, a network of live music venues would be a valuable addition to the festival network. This will not only be a complementary network for the festivals, it would address a whole different category of actors, such as club bookers and fanbases, and create new opportunities for emerging European artists.

To answer this research question and explore this possibility of an additional network, the following sub-questions have been established to address this issue. These questions are answered through the analysis presented in the upcoming chapters. Chapter 2, The European Talent Exchange Programme, will deal with the following questions:

1. What is the history of ETEP?

2. What is the role of ETEP in a European context, including the cultural sector, and specifically the music industry?

3. How does the current network of ETEP function?

4. How could ETEP create a new network and what is a feasible method to achieve this goal?

The first question will highlight the development of ETEP since 2003, and explain some specifics of ETEP. The second question addresses the role of ETEP in a European context, in which the EU involvement, the cultural sector and the festivalization process will be discussed. The first chapter will explore the current network of ETEP, by addressing the three elements: radio

stations, export offices and festivals. The final part of this chapter will address the possibilities of a new ETEP network that includes clubs and other live music venues.

It is no surprise that one of the most valuable sources of information was the

organization of ESNS itself. Through participatory observation research much information was gathered through interviews, casual conversations, and meetings (van Peer, Hakemulder, Zyngier 2012, 73). This observation research includes the professional document that was written during the traineeship of the research master program Cultural Leadership at ESNS and ETEP, from October 2018 until April 2019. This was a valuable period of time in which I could explore these organizations and be part of the operational and organizational processes of both ETEP and ESNS. By understanding these daily processes and the current challenges the

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organization is dealing with, the professional document is a valuable cornerstone for this thesis. By addressing these challenges and future ambitions in interviews, conversations and meetings, a valuable framework could be established. The interviews included in this thesis, were with the following people:

o Peter Sikkema, Festival Manager (31 January 2019, Groningen);

o Ruud Berends, Conference, MMETA and ETEP Manager (13 February 2019, Amsterdam);

o Edlef Heeling, Executive Manager MMETA (1 February 2019, Groningen);

o Robert Meijerink, Head of Programming and Bookings (11 March 2019, Nijmegen). Due to privacy concerns these interviews are not available for others than the interviewees and the interviewer. Using parts of the research from the professional document, this thesis is based on a relevant framework and will help address future ambitions of the organization, such as the additional venue network.

The second chapter of this thesis will focus on the remaining issues to be discussed: 5. What is the value of live music in the European music industry?

6. How could networks like ETEP increase the awareness of the value of live music? 7. What are differences and complementary aspects of festivals and venues?

8. What are relevant criteria to select venues for a network? 9. What would a network of live music venues look like?

The fifth, sixth and seventh question will address a general analysis which contextualizes live music in the European music industry, by addressing notions such as the service-centered economy and the comparison between festivals and venues. Question eight is an important part of the analysis of the case studies, in which two live music venues will be analyzed, using four dimensions, which will be explained below and in Chapter 2. The last question is part of the final section of Chapter 2, in which a discussion of the analysis of both case studies will be presented that will show potential possibilities of this venue network.

The additional live music network will be explored through two case studies. These cases include live music venues in two different cities and countries. The first venue is

Doornroosje, a culture and music organization in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The second venue is Komedia, a venue in Brighton, United Kingdom, which incorporates music, comedy, and theater in its program. These venues have been chosen because of different reasons. First of all, both venues have an indirect relationship with the organization of ESNS. The booker of

Doornroosje is the same person as the ESNS head of bookings. Komedia is a venue that is used during The Great Escape every year, a long-time partner festival of ESNS, in which this year the Dutch music export event took place. Both venues have a different physical structure and they provide different types of programming, which provides two different perspectives on live music venues.

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To determine whether these venues would be potentially relevant partners in the new network, they first need to be analyzed thoroughly using four dimensions. These dimensions are inspired by various articles (Forbes 2012; Webster 2010; Holt 2014) in which clubs are analyzed from perspectives including an urban context, governmental context, and experience of spaces. The four dimensions used in this analysis are 1) history and organization of the venue; 2) the layout and adaptability of the venue; 3) the venue’s relationship to music; and 4) the potential position in the new network.

Each dimension highlights a different aspect of the venue that is relevant for the potential venue network. The first dimension establishes on the venue’s profile by looking at its history, organization and urban context, using their own websites as well as policy plans from the government. The second dimension highlights the physical aspects of the venue, in which the venue structure, its adaptability and its location are discussed. This shows the physical

boundaries and possibilities of the venue. As discussed with Robert Meijerink, a venue needs a certain profile in order to host different artists. The artists who perform during the ESNS festival are all from a different caliber. Some artists are only ready to perform in small venues of

approximately 200 to 400 people and others are ready to perform in bigger venues, with an audience of 1000 people. The third dimension highlights the relationship that the venue has with music, in which an analysis of the venue’s programming will reveal what type of music is booked in these venues. This will show if the venue could be suitable for ETEP artists, who can all be included in very different genres. The fourth dimension highlights the potential position of the venue in the network of ETEP. This dimension is based on the analysis of the previous

dimensions. This dimension will show what kind of role the venue could have in the network. In short, the analysis of these case studies will show potential venue-profiles for the additional venue network. This can eventually lead to valuable criteria that the organization of ESNS can use to construct a live music network of venues and clubs.

To summarize the above paragraphs, this thesis will propose a new network of live music venues that would create additional value and new opportunities for emerging European artists, which is the target group of this network. During ESNS, emerging artists, from various levels are invited to perform and by solely focusing on this target group, it excludes competition from highly established artists and can create more opportunities for emerging artists. In Europe and outside Europe, there are already many networks that involve live music venues and festivals, such as Live Nation and other booking or management agencies. Although these networks already exist, it is still valuable to create this new network. This new network proposed in this thesis is valuable, first of all, due to its unique target group, which is emerging artists performing at ESNS. Its relationship that this new network has with this acknowledged organization is very beneficial for setting it up. Second of all, this network is valuable because it eliminates negative aspects of competition, between festivals, managers and other organizations, and

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highly-commercialized relationships that do exist in, for example, the Live Nation network, which is primarily focused on profits (Tschmuck 2017, 122). This new network would primarily focus on the overarching objective presented by ESNS; to endorse the exchange of European music and support the careers of emerging European artists. Although this might sound idealistic, the venue network could avoid unnecessary feuds and competitions between actors, such as festivals and venues. Therefore, this thesis argues for this new network, focused on supporting emerging European artists by creating new and valuable opportunities on local, national and international levels by including live music venues.

This research project focuses on an organization that can be related to many different subjects, such as festivalization, live music studies and the experience of spaces. Because ETEP has a significant impact on the European artists involved in its program, it is a leading organization. Leadership in the cultural sector can relate to many different subjects. However, one overarching meaning includes that leadership should be about endorsing the exchange of culture and cultural values (Bolden 2006, 46). As described above, the European music industry needs to be improved in terms of the transnational circulation of European music. By creating a network of organizations, such as radio stations and festivals, ETEP makes it possible for the various cultures, languages and cultural products of Europe to move across their own borders. ETEP focuses on the exchange of music, through various organizations and by endorsing cooperation between these organizations throughout Europe, and since a few years it also aims to connect music industries within countries outside of Europe. Contributing to the exchange of culture, and therefore being a leading organization in the European music industry, ESNS and ETEP both can be seen as cultural leaders themselves.

According to Bolden (2006, 44), there has been a crisis in cultural leadership. In the cultural sector, there is a lack of long-term financial security, it is often dependent on the contributions of volunteers and there is a need for completing short-term projects and ensure a constant innovation process. In this complex and uncertain sector, it is important that the balance between the economic and financial, and the cultural and creative components are preserved. Therefore, as Bolden argues, “creative people are to some extent leaders and leadership should be geared towards creating and sustaining organizational structures that enable creativity to flourish” (Bolden 2006, 44). At the organization of ESNS and ETEP, the organizational structure offers the opportunity to be both creative as well as financially stable.

In short, this thesis will present an analysis of live music, and specifically about festivals and venues. In the next chapter, ETEP will be explored in different contexts. First of all, a historical overview of ETEP will be provided. Second of all, the context of the European Union will be discussed, including the institutional structures upon which ETEP depends,

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organizationally and financially. Furthermore, this chapter will provide an analysis of the current network of ETEP, including the explanation of the roles of festivals, radio stations and the export offices. Finally, it will also discuss and analyze in what ways it could be expanded. In short, it discusses the role of the ETEP in the cultural sphere, in which its role in the European music industry will be analyzed. This chapter argues that ETEP has a significant role in the cultural exchange processes within the European music industry. Due to the fact that this exchange is valuable for the EU, ETEP shows, by facilitating connections between organizations such as festivals, export offices and the involved artists, its value in this European context.

The second chapter of this thesis will present a live music analysis, including the contextualization of live music for this research. Furthermore, two case studies will be

presented, in which two venues will be discussed. One of these venues is Doornroosje, a music venue in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The other case study is Komedia, in Brighton, United Kingdom. Both case studies will be analyzed through four dimensions, which will be highlighted and explained in the second chapter. This chapter will argue that including live music venues as an extension of the ETEP network, will create too much competition between the participating festivals and clubs. Therefore, a separate network of clubs is proposed, which would be more valuable in which this unnecessary competition is avoided and the real objective of ETEP can be established, which is facilitating the circulation of emerging European artists.

This thesis will finalize with a conclusion, in which a short summary of the thesis will be provided, conclusions will be drawn and recommendations will be made for further research. In other words, it will provide an overview of the arguments presented in this thesis and allow the reader to understand relationship between these different arguments.

As explained above, the main value of this thesis is its contribution to literature on the live music industry, and specifically on European leveled organizations such as ETEP that aim to facilitate the international development of emerging European music. However, additionally, its relevance can also be found in the value of this thesis for the organization of both ESNS and ETEP. This research project offers new perspectives on the ideas of the organization, and will show possible future developments, specifically for the ETEP project. It provides insight on the importance of music organizations such as ESNS and the ETEP in a European context, which eventually shows their relevance to the European Union and European Commission.

Furthermore, this thesis provides valuable information for the partners of ESNS as well, in which the value of one of their initiatives is presented and show what kind of possibilities there are at organizations such as ESNS for future endeavors.

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1 - The role of ETEP in the European music industry

During ESNS, bookers run from venue to venue to experience as much music and discover new talent for their festivals. ETEP members are allowed to skip the long waiting lines in front of the venues in order to catch only a minute of the performance, and run to the next. Although this sounds rather stressful and ineffective, it is the first step for artists to become a part of the ETEP network. This chapter will explore the role of ETEP in the European music industry. By first creating a brief historical context of the EU and the development of ETEP itself, providing basic but valuable information on the institutional context of the EU, this role can be understood. Furthermore, the current network of organizations will be analyzed by highlighting three

categories of organizations: festivals, radio stations and export offices. Finally, this chapter will analyze in what way the ETEP network could be extended.

1.1. Historical context & development of ETEP

After World War II, and after a horrible time of divided political and social spaces, Europe wanted to become more unified. To create a feeling of unity, various initiatives have been

established. One of the biggest initiatives that connects European countries, and the biggest attempt to unify, is the European Union (EU). There are many scholars who have analyzed and discussed this institution in the context of cultural development and European culture. For example, Cris Shore (2000) argues that culture had one of the most important roles in unifying Europe again. Monica Sassatelli (2009) analyzed the EU and Europe from a cultural perspective as well, in which she addresses cultural exchange and the role of culture in Europe. Sassatelli argues that creating unity requires a feeling of unity, which emerges from a feeling of belonging (2009, 2).

One of the methods to create this feeling of belonging is through culture. Music is one of these cultural elements that contribute to this feeling. Drawing from existing studies such as Sassatelli’s, this chapter argues that ETEP has an important role to play in the cultural exchange patterns within Europe. ETEP stimulates this cultural exchange in terms of supporting the internationalization process of many European artists. When looking at the analysis presented in the professional document (the output of the research traineeship at ESNS) the result showed that Eastern and Southern European countries are much less involved in the ETEP program than the Northern and Western regions of Europe. In other words, this not only shows that there is room for greater geographical expansion and inclusivity, it also shows the potential of improving the program from different perspectives. One of these perspectives includes the role of ETEP in the exchange of culture in Europe. The exchange of music between various countries, within and outside Europe, is managed through export offices, and carried towards relevant actors and other organizations, such as festivals and radio stations. ETEP consists of partnerships with

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these three organization types, and therefore supports this exchange. This will be explained in more detail below.

The ESNS event was first organized in 1986. At that time, the event was solely focused on Dutch music. In 1995, the European part, “Eurosonic”, was added to the festival, in which a new focus on international European music was initiated. Since its inception, the organization of ESNS has established various initiatives that would contribute to the quality of the European music industry. Peter Smidt, the founder of ESNS and the former creative director, has set up many of these initiatives, including ETEP in 2003. ETEP was established together with Ruud Berends, the current manager of ETEP and the ESNS conference. The primary incentive for establishing ETEP was to create a facilitating tool for European artists, in order to simplify the process towards an international career.

In the past few decades, ETEP has contributed to the internationalization process of artists by creating a facilitating network of festivals, export offices and radio stations. ETEP is an initiative of ESNS, an organization that creates opportunities for emerging European artists to perform for thousands of professionals from the music industry. This happens during an annual four-day festival in January that takes place in Groningen, the Netherlands. Since its inception in 1986, it has grown into one of the most influential European music platforms and plays a

significant role in the music industry. The mission of Eurosonic Noorderslag is to create a strong

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22 23

ETEP 2018 - FESTIVAL MAP

01AUSTRIA Acoustic lakeside Festival,Frequency Festival, Nova Rock, Szene Open Air, Waves Vienna

02 BELGIUM Cactusfestival, Dour Festival, Les Ardentes, Les Nuits Botanique, Pukkelpop, Rock Werchter

03 CROATIA INmusic Festival

04 CZECH REPUBLIC Colours of Ostrava, Metronome Festival, Rock For People, United Islands of Prague

05 DENMARK NorthSide Festival, Roskilde Festival, Tinderbox

06ESTONIA Tallinn Music Week

07 FAROE ISLANDS G! Festival

08 FINLAND Ilosaarirock, Provinssi Festival, Ruisrock

09 FRANCE Europavox, Le Printemps de Bourges, Les 3 éléphants, Les Eurockéennes de Belfort, Les Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes, MaMa Event, Rock en Seine, Vieilles Charrues

10GERMANY c/o pop Festival Cologne, Das Fest, Haldern Pop, Happiness Festival, Highfield, Hurricane Festival, Immergut Festival, Juicy Beats, Lollapalooza Berlin, Maifeld Derby Mannheim, Melt!, Orange Blossom Special, Reeperbahn Festival, Rocco del Schlacko, Rock Am Ring, Rolling Stone Weekender, Southside Festival, Summer Breeze, Taubertal Festival

11GREAT BRITAIN Beautiful Days, End of the Road Festival, Festival Number 6, Green Man, Larmer Tree Festival, The Great Escape, TRNSMT

12GREECE Rockwave Festival

13 HUNGARY Budapest Showcase Hub (BUSH), Sziget

14 ICELAND Iceland Airwaves

15 IRELAND Body & Soul Festival

16 ITALY Arezzo Wave Love Festival, Home Festival, Linecheck Music Meeting & Festival, Siren festival, Ypsigrockl

17LATVIA Positivus Festival

18 LITHUANIA Galapagai, What’s Next in Music

19LUXEMBOURG Siren's Call

20 NORWAY by:Larm, Øyafestivalen, Slottsfjell

21POLAND Krakow Live Festival, Off Festival Katowice, Open’er Festival, Orange Warsaw Festival, Spring Break Showcase Festival & Conference , Woodstock Festival

22 PORTUGAL Milho ˜e s de Festa, Rock in Rio, Super Bock Super Rock, Tremor, WestWay Lab Festival

23 REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA Taksirat Festival

24ROMANIA ARTmania Festival, Revolution Festival

25SERBIA Exit Festival

26SLOVAKIA Pohoda

27 SLOVENIA MENT Ljubljana

28SPAIN Bilbao BKK Live, Bizkaia International Music Experience, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, Primavera Sound, Vida Festival

29SWEDEN Way Out West

30SWITZERLAND Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival, Greenfield Festival, Gurtenfestival, Montreux Jazz Festival, OpenAir St. Gallen, Paléo Festival Nyon, Winterhurer Musikfestwochen, Zermatt Unplugged, Zurich Openair

31THE NETHERLANDS Best Kept Secret, Down the Rabbit Hole, Lowlands, Parkpop, Pinkpop

32 UNITED STATES Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

16 17 18 12 23 13 26 24 27 25 14 32 01 02 31 19 03 04 05 21 08 20 29 30 11 09 22 28 10 06 07

ETEP 2018

FESTIVAL MAP

GERMANY HUNGARY SLOVAKIA ROMANIA AUSTRIA CZECH REPUBLIC POLAND CROATIA SLOVENIA SERBIA REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA GREECE GREAT BRITAIN IRELAND SPAIN PORTUGAL FRANCE THE NETHERLANDS ICELAND FAROE ISLANDS USA BELGIUM LUXEMBOURG SWITZERLAND ITALY DENMARK NORWAY SWEDEN FINLAND ESTONIA LATVIA LITHUANIA 15

CHECK WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST UPDATE ON PARTICIPATING FESTIVALS WWW.ETEP.NL

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Image 1. Geographical Spread ETEP festivals in 2018. Source: ETEP Booklet 2018

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focus on Dutch and European music in other countries. ESNS is unique because it solely

focuses on European talent (Stichting Eurosonic Noorderslag 2018, 2). To remain in this relevant position, ESNS needs to innovate and develop on new levels each year, by investing in initiatives such as ETEP.

There are three categories of organizations that can be identified in the ETEP network. All three categories have a different function within the ETEP network. The first category is festivals, which is the biggest category. In 2019, there are 129 festivals in many different countries that are partners in the ETEP network. Every year, representatives and bookers from these festivals attend the ESNS festival in January to look for talent to perform on their festivals. During the ESNS festival, there are various meetings in which these bookers can present their interests for the artists they want to choose. This process embodies the primary objective of Eurosonic Noorderslag as an organization. Each year, more festivals visit the ESNS event, and this year, during the 2019 edition of ESNS, there were representatives of more than 400 festivals who attended the event. The organization of ETEP increases its geographical reach each year by including festivals from European and non-European countries. For example, in recent years, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, is a part of the ETEP network. Furthermore, various festivals in Russia, South America, South Africa, China and Canada are on the list as well, either as a confirmed or optional partner of ETEP. This shows the increasing geographical involvement of ETEP, in which the network expands beyond European borders and provides artists with new opportunities. Extending towards a non-European market, exposes these artists towards audiences that might not exist within European borders.

A second category of organizations consists of the radio stations and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The primary role of the radio stations is to distribute the ESNS performances live in their own countries in which these performances are heard in various parts of Europe by various (potential) fan bases. Currently, there are 36 radio stations that are part of this network and they are all part of the EBU. The EBU is a European radio consortium which is settled in Switzerland, and is the connecting organization between the European radio stations. This year, ESNS and EBU celebrated a 20-year partnership. According to a publicist from Global Publicity, a long-time partner of ESNS, in the changing environment of digitalization and

technological innovation, it is challenging for these radio stations to stay relevant. The role of radio has massively changed in the music industry. However, within the context of ETEP and ESNS, radio remains an important medium to disseminate European music.

The third category of organizations part of ETEP includes the music export offices. The role of export offices can be described as the primary connection between the organization of ESNS and ETEP with local music industries. These export offices are responsible for the music export in their own country and carry therefore an important responsibility towards local artists, radio stations and other music organizations in their country or region. There are export offices

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from different countries included in this network, such as Switzerland, Estonia, Norway and France. Every year more export offices are included and, in 2019, eighteen export offices part of this network. ETEP organizes meetings with the export offices in order to exchange and evaluate marketing strategies and other subjects, such as artist education. This network of organizations will be discussed in more detail further in Chapter 1.3.

All three types of organization have a valuable role to play in the internationalization process of European artists. ETEP wants to centralize the communication between these organizations, in order to stimulate collaborations between various countries. This has turned out to be very effective in the past few years. Therefore, ETEP has grown into a valuable contribution to ESNS. Due to ETEP’s increasing credibility, more festivals want to participate in this project and export offices are eager to join as well.

Although ETEP has shown to be successful, some festivals from the Eastern region of Europe were not able to offer sufficient support to artists they wanted to book. The Northern and Western regions of Europe have a high participation rate, in terms of festivals and artists,

compared to the very low participation rate by the Eastern and Southern regions.1 A few years

ago, in 2016, this fact was noticed by ESNS and ETEP, and the organizations wanted to create a program, that would specifically facilitate this region, which became the Central Eastern

European Talent Exchange Programme (CEETEP). This program aimed to create a better facilitation of the artist exchange in the Central Eastern region of Europe, that ETEP was

primarily meant to do. By partnering up with two festivals, namely Sziget Festival in Hungary and EXIT festival in Serbia, CEETEP was able to offer support to the festivals as well as artists from Central Eastern European countries. In 2016, the program was finalized, in which ESNS focused their programming on the Central Eastern European area, which included the following

countries: Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia.

Bosnia Herzegovina has a one-time participating artist, who, however, did go to four different festivals in three countries. Bulgaria never participated in ETEP. Croatia only

participated in 2018 with one artist, not in the year it was a focus country. Czech Republic was introduced in 2016 and actually participated in the following years as well. This year, in 2019, the Czech Republic was a focus country during ESNS 2019. Hungary is an interesting case, in that they participated in 2016 and then reappeared in 2018. The same happened with Lithuania. Latvia is represented in ETEP since 2015, in which they only had one participating artist, and from 2016 on the country represented two artists each year. Poland had a slight peak in 2016, but not very significant. Macedonia did not participate in 2016. Romania only participated once, in 2016 with one artist. Serbia did participate in the program, however, there is no significant difference with other years. Although Slovakia did not participate in 2016, they did become the

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focus country during ESNS 2019, together with the Czech Republic. Slovenia participated in 2014, 2016 and 2018. Every year they participated in the program, Slovenian artists improved their results, in which more artists and more festivals were included. Since 2016, more than 40 festivals were included and the process of booking was slightly improved. When looking at these results, the number of participating countries in these regions did definitely improve. However, the participation rate is still very low. CEETEP was successful in terms of introducing new

emerging musicians from this geographical area, however, this region still is a small part of ETEP and this issue should definitely be addressed by the organization. When thinking of extending ETEP with clubs, this might provide opportunities to connect more locally with these regions. Since 2019, the export offices of the Czech Republic and Slovakia became part of ETEP, which opens up new connections and a possible gateway to local music organizations. Clubs could, in this context, be a good local link towards new audiences, media and other relevant

organizations.

The development of ETEP has shown that there are still many questions and concerns that relate to the future of ESNS and ETEP. ESNS needs to remain in its relevant and prominent position in the European music industry, which becomes harder due to various reasons,

including festivalization. ETEP needs to keep developing its formula and, according to various people from the ETEP organization, the organization needs to keep innovating its ideas in order to receive sufficient support from the European Union. However, before moving on to these challenges of ESNS and ETEP, the European context of the program is important to understand. Due to the involvement of the EU, it is important to understand the relationship between the EU and ETEP. Furthermore, it is important to establish the role of ETEP in the cultural sphere in Europe, in order to determine its position in the European music industry. Finally, it is important to establish how ETEP contributes to cultural exchange, because this is one of the primary values of the EU. The next section will provide contextualization and explanations of these issues.

1.2. ETEP in a European context

The European foundation and relationship to ETEP consists of the analysis of this context by looking at three levels: 1) institutional (the involvement of the European Union), 2) cultural (the European cultural sector), and 3) musical (the festivalization trend in Europe). These three perspectives will highlight valuable aspects of the organization of ETEP, in terms of the European context from an institutional perspective, the cultural realm of Europe and the most important trend within the live music sector from the past decades in Europe. The institutional level of the analysis will show that the involvement of the EU is primarily financial, but this support also creates a level of dependency. This means that ETEP should keep innovating, which is why a new network of ETEP could be a necessary innovation for the organization to

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remain relevant. On a cultural level, ETEP contributes to the exchange of European culture. Since this is one of the most important values of the EU, it shows the relevance of ETEP’s position in the European cultural realm. Finally, on a musical level, ETEP creates connections between various organizations in the music industry, and in doing so, it anticipates the festivalization trend that occurred in the past few decades. Due to many consequences of festivalization, ETEP has an important role to play in stimulating the circulation of European artists, in which new and exceptional talent can thrive in the music industry. In short, this part of the chapter will analyze the position of ETEP in the European context.

1.2.1. Involvement of the EU on an institutional level

The European Union (EU) consists of many suborganizations that deal with different issues. In short, there are three major managing institutions within the EU: the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission (European Commission 2019). The European Parliament is the institution of “the people” of Europe, representing approximately 500 million citizens, and an entity that decides on topics that Europe has to deal with such as the

environment and issues of sustainability. Second of all, the European Council consists of Ministers, who are the representatives of each member state. Together with the European Parliament, the European Council decides on the budget and various issues that have to be addressed, such as urgent issues of climate change. The Council provides the Parliament with final approvals or rejections of the propositions.

Third, there is the European Commission (EC). This is the executive institution of the EU that oversees various departments in the EU that represent different occupations, such as the Department of Trade, the Research Executive Agency and the Department of Migration. The department relevant to discuss in the context of ETEP, is the Education, Audiovisual, and Cultural Executive Agency (EACEA). The EACEA manages the financial support mechanisms related to education, culture, audiovisuality, sport, citizenship and volunteering (EACEA 2019). Specific organizations that are supported by the EACEA include Creative Europe and the Erasmus+ program. The Erasmus+ program provides students with financial support when they want to study abroad in Europe.

Creative Europe is an institution that focuses on the (financial) support for culture and audiovisual media. This is the department which is very relevant for organizations such as ESNS and ETEP. Creative Europe is a six-year program initiated by the European Commission (2014-2020), in which 1.46 billion euros has been allocated for European cultural initiatives that stimulate the international exchange between countries (Creative Europe 2019 [1]). These cultural initiatives differ from video games conferences and book translation projects to music festivals. Within Creative Europe there are different calls for subsidies to which an organization can apply. The main call for ETEP is the call of subsidies for European platforms. As you can see

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in Appendix 2, 33% of the subsidies have been awarded to music platforms, the section of platforms with the highest number of receiving subsidies from Creative Europe. This not only shows that music is an important part of the Creative Europe program, it also shows that ETEP is not the only music project co-funded by the EU. Another example is Yourope, which is an association of European festivals that deals with issues such as sustainability, the environment and other issues that are important to festivals and their development. “The overall aim of the association is to collaborate, share experiences and to pinpoint areas that would benefit from a joint approach” (Yourope 2019). In other words, this association stimulates the collaboration between festivals in order for them to develop. Yourope is also one of the partners of ETEP, in which Yourope facilitates the communication between the festivals and provides input for ETEP’s development.

This financial involvement of the EU has different consequences. First of all, this means that ETEP has to meet certain criteria from subsidy agreement. As shown in Appendix 3, 65% of the total ETEP budget is funded by the EU, which is the majority of income for ETEP. This means that the involvement of the EU is rather positive in the sense that it supports ETEP financially, but it also shows that ETEP has a certain level of dependency regarding the EU. In other words, this demonstrates that the level of involvement of the EU is rather small on an organizational level. However, this does indicate that ETEP needs to keep innovating and remain in its relevant position. Creating a new ETEP network would provide new opportunities for the organization of ETEP and might strengthen its position within the relationship with the EU.

1.2.2. European exchange on a cultural level

There are different reasons why the ETEP has an important role on a cultural level. One of the most important reasons is related to cultural exchange. Creative Europe supports ETEP because they have acknowledged the importance of their role in the stimulation of the exchange of European culture. When the Creative Europe program was initiated by the European Commission, one of the goals included to stimulate:

“transnational exchange of experiences and know-how in relation to new business and management models, as well as peer-learning activities. It will also support networking among cultural and creative organizations and policy-makers related to the development of cultural and creative sectors, promoting digital networking where appropriate.” (Creative Europe 2019 [2]).

ETEP facilitates this exchange by offering a network of organizations that facilitate the mobility of artists throughout Europe and outside Europe.

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The cultural exchange within Europe has only recently gained attention from the EU, which is due to various historical developments. The EU is a relatively new institution that was only established officially in 1992, in the Maastricht Treaty. The EU was described as “a new stage in the process of creating an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe” (Shore 2000, 1). The EU is an institution that was aimed to resolve conflicts from the first half of the twentieth century, and avoid new ones in the future. Therefore, in the 90s, the EU was

established in which unifying the European countries was a primary goal, with a specific focus on political, social and economic development to get Europe back on its feet.

However, due to this desperate longing to unify Europe, the cultural realm was somewhat ignored by this institution, even though culture is the foundation and strength of Europe (Gielen & Lijster 2015, 57). According to Gielen and Lijster, “culture is the place where we think about what we find important and meaningful and where we are also confronted with how other people think about these issues” (2015, 57). In other words, culture is the space in which various people can express their opinions, and it is constantly changing and thriving due to this interaction between people. Within the cultural realm, people exchange their values and opinions from which culture feeds. Therefore, it is no question that the expression of culture should have had a prominent role in the unification process of Europe.

Although this unification was primarily focused on non-cultural perspectives, Europe does consist of many different countries, which all contain different cultures and languages. Therefore, the idea to “unify” Europe and create one European identity has received many critiques. Sassatelli (2009, 198) argues therefore: “European identity is not one among many, but rather there are many of them, it is in itself multiple”. Therefore, European cultural identity

encompasses many different cultures, which means that it is diverse and not just a single, unified entity.

This feeling of creating a unity comes from a desire of “belonging”. Sassatelli argues that this European institutional development was an explicit attempt to create “a sense of European belonging or identity” (Sassatelli 2009, 2). However, being part of Europe or the EU are two different things. By associating with EU leveled institutions, various organizations can be established and receive credibility, which is shown by, for example, ETEP. Partially due to the (financial) acknowledgement of the EU, ETEP can operate as a valuable and credible

organization for cultural exchange.

Although the main structure of the EU consists of three major institutions, it remains a complex organization that aims to include various narratives of Europe (Sassatelli 2009, 19). One of the most popular sayings of the past few decades in Europe, and which has become the slogan of the EU, is “unity in diversity”. This concept is an intriguing paradox that in the past few years has become an important description and trademark for the European Union. This

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European identity is not possible, because it then refers to Europe as a singular and containable identity, while others argue that Europe consists of various identities (Sassatelli 2009, 30).

Strangely enough, this paradoxical concept describes the strengths of ETEP. The ETEP is an organization, a unity. This unity works because of the diversity of artists that it includes and the diversity of organizations that it connects. By combining efforts by export offices from various parts of Europe, and by facilitating the exchange of European music throughout Europe itself and outside European borders, the strength of ETEP becomes visible. It puts the music from under-represented countries, such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on the radar of music professionals and thereby creates a space for diversity while unifying various

organizations.

As a part of ETEP, ESNS contributes in its own way to this facilitation of cultural exchange. The ESNS festival focuses on different countries each year, in order to highlight different parts of the European music industry. This year, in 2019, ESNS focused on the Eastern European countries Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Because of this focus, the export offices of both countries decided to join the ETEP network, in which the collaboration with the Eastern European region is strengthened. As Robert Meijerink, the head booker of ESNS, explains, by including these countries in “our network”, it opens up a lot of possibilities for artists originating from the Eastern region of Europe, and this experience might create new opportunities in this region. As mentioned before, the CEETEP program was aimed to connect the Central Eastern European regions with the rest of Europe. This could be a first step in the next process of involving this region.

This section shows that ETEP has an important role in the exchange of European culture, and specifically music. With a complex history, the cultural realm of Europe is gaining more attention, in which the paradox of “unity in diversity” is very strong and controversial. ETEP is a major facilitator when it comes to the exchange and export of European music, in which it connects many international organizations. Therefore, I argue that organizations such as ETEP not only show the importance of cultural exchange, it shows the value of culture in Europe as well, to strengthen the collaboration and relationship between different regions. However, there are other factors to be considered in this context. One part of the cultural sector needs to be explored in more detail in order to completely understand the role of ETEP in the cultural realm, which specifically focuses on music: that is the role of the festivalization of music within Europe in recent decades.

1.2.3. Festivalization in Europe at a musical level

As explained above, the cultural realm of Europe was somewhat neglected after World War II. Because the focus was primarily on the political and economic revival of Europe, culture did not have a priority. However, the cultural development is a crucial one in contemporary society due

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to various aspects. Within the European music industry, there was one important development that had a massive influence on various levels, which is festivalization.

When thinking of this concept, it is first important to establish the interest in festivals from a cultural-economic perspective. According to O’Reilly et al. (2013, 11), there is often the division within economy between goods and services, and in terms of marketing, services became more important in the past few decades. The importance of developing theories on service-centered marketing emerged from the question of how to promote and deal with “non-manufactured goods” (O’Reilly et al. 2013, 11). These non-“non-manufactured goods include things such as experiences and entertainment. Therefore, culture has an important role within this service sector, because the cultural values, ideas, and other cultural phenomena are relevant to understand in order to offer the right experiences. Consequently, festivals are an important part of this service sector, in which it offers a place for cultural expressions and experiences for audiences. This trend of festivalization is therefore no surprise.

Due to the increasing economic value of festivals, they have become an important medium for disseminating music in the European music industry (McKay 2015, 2). Festivals are being used for various ends, including the distribution, promotion and production of cultural expressions. Festivals now have an important place in the yearly schedule of European and non-European music professionals. When taking the ESNS festival as an example, it demonstrates that this moment in January is an important one for music professionals. It takes place in January, which is not necessarily a popular month for a festival, but does mark the kick-off of the festival season. ESNS is the moment when relevant music professionals come together in one place, and reflect on the past year and look to future plans. Therefore, it is an opportune moment for meeting professionals from the music industry, for artists as well as others working in the music industry. According to Peter Sikkema (2019), the festival manager of ESNS, many professionals use ESNS as the opportunity to see each other again, before the summer festivals take off. For bookers, this is the moment when they need to finalize line-ups for the upcoming festival editions, by including new talent.

Another important perspective highlights the effects of festivalization on urban spaces. As O’Reilly (2013, 212) explains that “festivals transform places from everyday settings into temporary, unique, and spectacular spaces”. When looking at the ESNS festival, temporary stages are built, food stands and bars are placed throughout the city, and, even more importantly, the city is full of people. Some of the venues themselves are adapted from the inside, in order to be part of the ESNS festival. Although festivals have become a valuable medium in the current music industry, the effects of festivals in urban spaces do not always have positive consequences. For example, in Groningen, the hotels and Airbnb’s are

overbooked and overpriced. There are ships put in the havens near the city with sleeping spaces in order to provide more sleep possibilities. Every live music venue is overcrowded and there are

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