Liveurope to continue boosting the new European talent of tomorrow

Launched in 2014, Liveurope is the first initiative supporting concert venues in their effort to promote emerging European artists. Three years later, the support to the platform was renewed by the European Commission until 2021.

A unique experiment in the European music landscape 

Thanks to funding provided by the Creative Europe program, Liveurope was built on a progressive bonus mechanism: the more risks its members take on new bands from new territories, the more money they receive.

A system that proves to be successful: ‘when we first started this project, it was a real bet, since nothing similar had been implemented before in the live music sector.’ underlines Fabien Miclet, coordinator of the platform. This first phase proves us that it works: with now over 1300 concerts organized in three years throughout our platform, and a 60% increase of emerging European artists booked in our venues, we feel we are making a difference in the industry.

From Copenhagen to Warsaw, through Ljubljana and Barcelona, Liveurope gathers 14 concert halls across the continent. They are considered as references on the European live music map and bring together an audience of more than 2,5 million people per year.

Find out more about the first three years of the project and its future perspectives.

The project has spurred a new dynamic in the artistic community: ‘Liveurope has definitely helped us create stronger bonds with our colleagues within the platform. And more artists are becoming aware of touring possibilities to connect with new audiences’ continues Kurt Overbergh, artistic director at Ancienne Belgique, the coordinating venue of the project.

For emerging artists, Liveurope can be an effective springboard to develop their careers. ‘Artists like Yung Lean (SE), Batida (PT), or Ibeyi (FR) had performed in our venues before they broke through in 2014 and the project continues to support promising talents like Aiming for Enrike (NO), Coals (PL), or Moscoman (DE)’.

Music, a dream generator to rethink the European narrative

‘At our own scale, we see that concert venues can be vehicles to promote the added value of Europe in people’s lives. Because live music can be a bridge-builder, a dream generator.’ underlined Fabien Miclet.

Over the past few months, Liveurope was also involved in the ‘Music Moves Europe’ initiative to discuss the potential of a music policy at the EU level. An initiative supported by the Spanish MEP Javi Lopez: ‘Music is an important sector that’s building the identity of the new generations in Europe. We should use the experience of projects like Liveurope to build better programs for the future of the European project’

Future perspectives for the platform

After this first successful phase, Liveurope was renewed in the new round of applications for EU-funded platforms and ranked 1st out of 64 competing projects. ‘ This is a very positive signal for the project and it encourages us to maintain our growth dynamic” stressed Elise Phamgia, from the project’s coordination unit.

Liveurope’s ambition was already prefigured with the addition of a new venue in 2016. ‘we intend to continue this dynamic and reach more venues by 2021 to cover more countries in the platform’ said Fabien Miclet.

The geographic diversity of the programming is another important parameter underlying the philosophy of Liveurope. ‘During this first pilot phase, we have showcased artists from more than 30 nationalities. These next four years will enable us to take more risks and continue highlighting the greater diversity of the European music scene’ added Phamgia.