About the Music Moves Europe Awards
As a specific action within Music Moves Europe, the European Union seeks to highlight and promote the diversity of the European repertoire with a European Union Prize for popular and contemporary music: The Music Moves Awards.
Since 2019, the annual awards celebrate emerging artists who represent the European sound of today and tomorrow. The Prize is implemented by Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in partnership with Reeperbahn Festival and co-funded by the Creative Europe programme. It gets the support of a unique alliance of European music industry partners.
Europe’s vibrant and diverse music scene has to compete against a dominant Anglo-American music industry. With the Music Moves Europe Awards, the European Commission aims to put a spotlight on the most interesting European talents – and to showcase the richness of the European music industry.
Outstanding European emerging artists receive each year a Music Moves Europe Award in recognition of their growing international success. 15 nominated artists are all given the opportunity to perform at the Eurosonic Festival (ESNS) and are offered on top of that a training programme. The winners of the Music Moves Europe Awards are also honoured with a prize money. The nature of the Prize affirms a shared commitment to helping emerging artists to break through in Europe and beyond.
Selection process and yearly activities
Emerging artists are chosen through a complex selection process based on the amount of airplay, music streams, live performances in Europe, as well as via music industry recommendations to reflect the vibrant diversity of the European music scene.
15 nominees for the Music Moves Europe Awards are announced in October/November each year at a European Festival or major music event. Among those nominees, an independent international jury selects 5 winners and an overall Grand Jury Award winner. All the winners receive €10 000 and the Grand Jury Award winner receives an additional €5 000 Green Touring Voucher.
On top of that, music fans have the chance to cast their vote online for their favourite artist among the nominees.
All winners are revealed and celebrated at the Music Moves Europe Awards Ceremony that takes place at the ESNS festival in January in Groningen, the Netherlands. A particular highlight of the ceremony is the announcement of the MME Public Choice Award winner.
A social media campaign follows the MME Award nominees and winners between March and September to highlight their performances and new music releases. In September, at the Reeperbahn Festival (Hamburg, Germany), the Music Moves Europe Awards proudly looks back with artists and partners to present what they have achieved.
The Music Moves Europe Awards are organised by Eurosonic Noorderslag and Reeperbahn Music Festivals with the support of:
- Digital Music Europe (DME)
- European Music Exporters Exchange (EMEE)
- International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP)
- International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP)
- Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA)
- International Music Managers Forum (IMMF)
- the live music platform for new European talent (Liveurope)
- the European network of music venues and festivals (Live DMA)
- European Festival Association (Yourope)
About Music Moves Europe
Music Moves Europe (MME) is the overarching framework for the European Commission’s initiatives and actions in support of the European music sector. MME builds on and enhances the sector's strong assets: creativity, diversity and competitiveness.
Complementing Member States' action, EU support for the sector has several dimensions: policy support; legal environment; funding and structured dialogue with representatives from the European music sector.