‘Tough Decision’: ESNS Goes All-Digital Again

ESNS 2022 will be an all-digital event once again.
– ESNS 2022 will be an all-digital event once again.

The organizers of Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS), one of Europe’s leading showcase festivals and music conference, announced that the 36th edition will once again take place as an online-only event in light of the Dutch governments most recent announcement of new coronavirus restrictions.

“The current measures regarding COVID-19 will not allow ESNS to host all the booked European acts and bring music professionals together in the Netherlands. Motivated by the continuously changing COVID-19 restrictions and the uncertainties surrounding entry to the Netherlands, a physical edition of ESNS is no longer possible,” the official statement reads.
On the upside, organizers were quite happy with the online edition of this year’s ESNS 2021, counting almost 4,000 people from 124 different countries, who bought a €50 ticket for the full program, Jan 13-16. 
Hard to believe that the Grote Markt, usually one of the most buzzing places during ESNS, will not host a massive stage in 2022.
Niels Knelis
– Hard to believe that the Grote Markt, usually one of the most buzzing places during ESNS, will not host a massive stage in 2022.

The team intends to build on that success, managing director Dago Houben commented: “ESNS is of great importance to the entire music industry and especially to European musicians. It is therefore essential to carry out our function of providing the best possible platform for European pop music. Earlier this year we saw that the reach of a digital edition can be huge and that we were able to make a difference to an artist’s career. We are therefore pleased to give all booked ESNS artists the exposure they deserve with the help of our media partners.”

ESNS will give all already booked acts for the 2022 edition the opportunity to take centre stage on the freely accessible online event platform, which is hosted in collaboration with Dutch radio broadcaster NPO 3FM. 
Tickets for the digital conference cost € 99, and are available via www.esns.nl. Ticket buyers who’ve already bought a ticket for the physical edition will be notified as soon as possible.
The digital edition of ESNS 2022 includes a conference program as well as the festival program of Noorderslag, Eurosonic and the Music Moves Europe Awards award ceremony.