Five new additions have been added to the ESNS festival line-up, including Dutch acts MEROL, Wies, Pom and Cloudsurfers, who will all be playing Noorderslag - plus Tinlicker at Eurosonic.

ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) is the key exchange for emerging European music talent, with a proven track record of helping to break new acts on the international music scene. Well-known names such as Alma, Altin Gün, Arlo Parks, Aurora, Black Country, New Road, Celeste, Dua Lipa, Fontaines D.C., girl in red, Hinds, Idles, Mavi Phoenix, Meduza, Melanas, Oscar and the Wolf, Pip Blom, Podium, Pongo, Shame and Sigrid have all performed.

The new names join a diverse list of European acts who will be performing on the second digital version of the ESNS festival. Among previously announced acts are the UK's Yard Act and Wet Leg, K.ZIA (de), Carla Prata (pt), S10 (nl), Meskerem Mees (be), Alina Pash (ua), Blanks (nl), Yard Act (gb), Priya Ragu (ch) and Gaidaa (nl).

Some of the Irish acts heading to Groningen include Denise Chaila, For Those I Love, Kynsy, Dea Matrona, 49th & Main, John Francis Flynn, Smoothboi Ezra, Fears, Sprints, Cian Ducrot, Chonchúr White and CMAT.

The ESNS 2022 conference will focus on subjects such as sustainability and the recovery of the music industry. Themed ‘Building Back Better Together’, ESNS aims to make the industry a better, more inclusive, and greener sector. Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for The Green Deal will be opening the conference and is set to give a keynote on ESNS Wednesday. Marjan Minnesma, director of Urgenda, will give a keynote speech titled Scale up and Hurry up!, on Friday the 21st.

The conference side of the event attracts more than 4,000 entertainment industry professionals from all sections of the industry, including representatives of over 400 European festivals. Each year, ESNS stages more than 350 showcases all over the city of Groningen as well as offering a comprehensive and focused conference programme of around 150 panels and keynotes, alongside multiple networking opportunities.

ESNS also features the ceremony for the prestigious European prize for emerging talent at Music Moves Europe Awards, as well the Popprijs, ESNS Kickstart, Pop Media Prijs, Popstipendium and IJzeren Podiumdieren.

ESNS takes place – entirely online – from January 19 – 22, 2022. Tickets for the digital conference are available for €99 here. The festival will be available – free of charge – with sessions recorded by Dutch broadcaster NTR in collaboration with NPO 3FM, to be broadcast by NPO 3FM, NPO 3 and the digital festival platform, hosted by VPRO 3VOOR12.

To find the full line-up of ESNS Festival and ESNS Conference, head to esns.nl.