The European Festival Awards has announced that this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Juhani Merimaa, an industry stalwart credited with bringing rock and roll to Finland.

With a career that spans over five decades, Merimaa has been involved in running Finland’s most legendary music venue Tavastia Klubi from the 70s to 2023 when he stepped down from the position of promoter and CEO.

He has also played a central role in Finland’s festival scene, as a co-founder of Ankkarock and former promoter and CEO of Ruisrock.

Merimaa also promoted the first edition of Tuska Open Air at Tavastia and later became a partner and board member of the now Superstruct-managed festival.

While he is now mostly retired from everyday business, he is still active as a mentor for many in the Finnish music industry and previously appeared on one of Finland’s most popular music TV shows “Tähdet tähdet” where he was a jury member for five seasons.

Juhani Merimaa is an industry stalwart credited with bringing rock and roll to Finland

Last year’s Lifetime Achievement award went to former Eurosonic conference chief Ruud Berends.

Merimaa will receive the award at the 15 January 2025 ceremony at de Oosterpoort in Groningen, The Netherlands, on the first day of ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag). The shortlists for 13 of the ceremony’s categories have also been announced and can be seen here.

ESNS recently added a new wave of speakers to the conference programme including ATC Live’s Alex Bruford, Mad Cool’s Cindy Castillo, FKP Scorpio’s Rauha Kyyrö, Øyafestivalen’s Claes Olsen, Spotify’s Annika Walsh and BBC Music Introducing’s Kelly Betts.

The 2025 programme focuses on topics such as the impact of AI on the music industry, the future of streaming, achieving sustainability goals for festivals by 2030, the fairness of dynamic pricing, activism among artists and festivals, the effect of private equity on business, and the devastating impact of rising costs and lack of personnel in the live music industry.

Previously announced speakers include Sumit Bothra (SB3 Artist Management), Alex Hardee (Wasserman Music), Jess Iszatt (BBC) and Katie Melua (artist). Italy was unveiled as the Focus Country for the 2025 showcase.

ESNS takes place between 15–18 January in Groningen, the Netherlands. The full conference programme can be found here and delegate passes can be purchased here.

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The 38th edition of ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) drew 4,000 music professionals from Europe plus delegations from countries such as Canada, India and Mexico, it has been revealed.

The European showcase festival and conference took place between 17–20 January in Groningen, the Netherlands, and featured a total of 40,000 fans and professionals from around the world – around 4,000 less than last year.

More than 500 speakers participated in the conference, including keynote speakers Amy Thomson (formerly Hipgnosis, ATM Artists), John Mulder (MOJO Concerts/Live Nation) and Mark Mulligan (MIDiA Research).

In addition, 280 new European acts showcased their talents, including 12 from the 2024 focus country Poland. ESNS this year expanded its Noorderslag programme this year, showcasing 50 Dutch acts on Saturday.

“ESNS continues to play an indispensable role for the Dutch and European music community”

Elsewhere, the European Festival Awards, which took place on the opening night of ESNS (Wednesday 17 January), honoured executives including Wasserman’s Tom Schroeder, Lowlands promoter Eric van Eerdenburg and Lifetime Achievement honouree Ruud Berends.

“Once again, Groningen was the music capital of Europe and beyond,” says Frans Vreeke, interim director of ESNS.

“Thanks to the dedication and quality of artists, visitors, delegates, and our staff, we had a wonderful week with an amazing atmosphere. ESNS continues to play an indispensable role for the Dutch and European music community, especially for Dutch talent. Eurosonic, Noorderslag, and the conference once again showcased the strength and diversity of European pop culture. We look forward to the year ahead where we will undoubtedly see many acts that have proven themselves at ESNS on the stages of European summer festivals.”

ESNS 2025 will take place from 15–18 January in Groningen, the Netherlands, with Italy as the Focus Country.

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The Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) conference programme kicked off this morning with an IQ panel exploring the shared challenges of festival organisers from around Europe and some of the ways in which they resolve those issues.

The Common Ground: Boutique and Major Festivals session, moderated by IQ editor Gordon Masson, saw guests Beke Trojan (MS Dockville), Codruta Vulcu (ARTmania), Eric van Eerdenburg (Lowlands) and Virág Csiszár (Sziget) tackle a variety of subjects including supply chain issues, ticket prices, timing of announcements, staffing, gender balance on line-ups, and artist booking.

“The problems we had in 22 and 23, I think are over,” said Van Eerdenburg about supply chain matters. “But the answer has been that we have to invest and pay much more for the stuff that’s coming in. And that translates to ticket prices that are rising faster than inflation, which is already high – that’s what is the most worrying issue for me.”

Noting that the price of a three-day ticket for ARTmania is just €90, Vulcu admitted that she and her team are contemplating taking the event to just two days because of other pressures on the audience. “The cost of hotels for the audience was maybe €100 per night, so for three nights practically, accommodation was ridiculous, which in the long term could kill the festival because it’s not sustainable.”

Trojan noted, “Our aim is to book a festival with a good mix of international national artists. But we are definitely struggling getting the international names because it’s January, and they’re only starting to make decisions now, which is very late for us, because rigorous planning and ticket sales really should be a lot earlier.

“We have a very young audience that buy the tickets very last minute, so we need to sell day tickets”

“Obviously we would want to sell three-day tickets, but we have a very young audience that buy the tickets very last minute, so we need to sell day tickets. But even with that, we can’t really announce like the day line-up yet, because we’re still struggling with international names. It’s a big problem, but I don’t really have a solution.”

Csiszár revealed that with Sziget’s massive audience involving more than 50% international visitors, local Hungarian acts are not really an option for the bill, even though some of them can sell out stadiums. “International people don’t really get it, so we can’t book them as headliners, but it’s the international stadium acts that we have to look at as our headliners, which is also difficult when there are so many stadium tours happening,” she said. “Stadium tours are definitely competitors for us during the summer.”

Both Csiszár and Van Eerdenburg said that they were using VIP offers such as glamping and sky boxes to help balance the books, rather than pushing general admission tickets too high in price, while with all the panellists working to improve gender balance on line-ups, the conversation moved to the timing of announcements and the various strategies employed by each festival.

The session concluded with panellists answering a question from an audience member regarding their expectations for the next generation of industry staff. Van Eerdenburg stated that when his colleagues work long hours at festivals, he compensates them with weeks off after the event. He added that when it comes to recruitment, “I always pick the [people] who are also working in a club, or running a stage, or volunteering at a festival, because they have the motivation to not only do it theory, but also in practice.”

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ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) has announced a second wave of speakers for the forthcoming edition, taking place between 17–20 January 2024 in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Tom Windish (Wasserman Music), Kim Bloem (Mojo Concerts), Bryan Johnson (Spotify) and Gemma Bradley (musician, presenter, DJ) will be discussing The Art of Curation during a session moderated by Boyan Pinter (Believe, Spike Bulgarian Music Showcase, Green Futures Field Glastonbury).

While Beckie Sugden (CAA) and Carlos Abreu (UTA) join Touring in ’24: Are There Bumps in the Road?, moderated by ILMC’s Greg Parmley.

Also lined up for ESNS 2024 are Henrik Bondo Nielsen and Morten Therkildsen (Roskilde Festival), Pascal Viot (Paléo), Sander Teunissen (Crowdcows) and Alexandra von Samson (Rock am Ring), who will be discussing Crowd Communication to Improve Event Safety Management.

Plus, representatives from festivals such as Pinkpop, Way Out West and Positivus share with Lisa Henderson (IQ) how they keep their festivals relevant in the lives of millions of young people, and in popular culture in general.

Beckie Sugden (CAA) and Carlos Abreu (UTA) join Touring in ’24: Are There Bumps in the Road?

In a panel discussion moderated by Katharina Webe (BN*PD YOUROPE), Mika Christoffersen (Roskilde Festival), Artur Mendes (Boom Festival), and Marta Pallarès (Primavera Sound) equip delegates with a Diversity & Inclusion Toolbox.

Other speakers include Márk Bóna (Sziget Festival), Claire O’Neill (A Greener Future), Helen Sildna (Tallinn Music Week), Tessaly Felida (MOJO Concerts) and Jess Partridge (EMMA).

The new additions join previously announced keynote speakers Amy Thomson (formerly Hipgnosis, ATM Artists), John Mulder (MOJO Concerts/Live Nation) and Mark Mulligan (MIDiA Research).

Live acts for the European Festival Awards (EFA) on 17 January have also been announced, with Polish pop sensation Berry Galazka, Limerick folk trio Kingfishr and British indie band Picture Parlour due to take to the stage.

As previously announced, Ruud Berends will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at EFA. See the shortlists for 12 of the ceremony’s categories here.

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ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) has revealed details about next year’s conference programme, as well as the 13th edition of the European Festival Awards (EFA).

The showcase festival and conference will return to Groningen in the Netherlands between 17–20 January 2024 with thousands of delegates from the international live music industry.

The conference programme is starting to take shape, with sessions including Common Ground: Boutique & Major Festivals, moderated by IQ‘s Gordon Masson, which invites organisers from across Europe to discuss shared obstacles faced by the sector as a whole.

Elsewhere, How to Keep Your Festival Relevant, presented by Yourope and moderated by IQ’s Lisa Henderson, explores how tomorrow’s festivals ensure that they continue to play an important role in popular culture and the lives of millions of young people.

And Touring in ’24: Are There Bumps in the Road? will see ILMC’s Greg Parmley lead a discussion on the challenges promoters and agents are facing, with costs and fan expectations increasing year on year.

As previously announced, keynote speakers for the conference include John Mulder (MOJO Concerts/Live Nation), Amy Thomson (formerly Hipgnosis, ATM Artists) and Mark Mulligan (MIDiA Research). See the full conference programme here.

“It means a lot to get this award from this part of the music industry”

Meanwhile, the EFAs, set to take place on 17 January, has announced Ruud Berends as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Berends is the co-founder and head of agenda of IFF in London (GB) and advisor for Westway Lab in Guimaraes (PT), Canadian Music Week in Toronto (CA), and SoAlive Music Conference in Sofia (BG).

From 2002 till 2018, he was project manager of the various Dutch Music Export organisations and executive producer of the Dutch Impact Parties for Buma Cultuur. From 2002 to March 2023, he worked for Buma Cultuur & ESNS as head of conference, ETEP & CEETEP, international marketing and sales.

In this position, Berends was crucial for the networking and interconnection of European artists and promoters alike and the European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP) was his brainchild.

Earlier in his career, he co-founded Paperclip Agency (est. 1981), whose clients included Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Tad, Nirvana, The Flaming Lips and more. He left the Nijmegen-based agency in 2001 and set up Networking Music the following year.

“Life is full of surprises. I did not know that I was up for an award,” says Berends. “I am deeply honoured, humbled and grateful to have won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Especially, as it is at the European Festival Awards, an event close to my heart. It means a lot to get this award from this part of the music industry with many friends and music industry family in the room.”

ESNS has also announced the shortlists for 12 of the ceremony’s categories, which can be seen here.

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