For Irish artists looking to break into the festival circuit or receive airplay across Europe, the European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP) – introduced in 2003 – has become an indispensable part of the process. Dublin grunge-rockers Fangclub benefitted hugely from playing at the Eurosonic Festival earlier this year.

“We’d been trying to get on the bill before, and we were really excited about playing there,” says Fangcub frontman Steven King. “We played in a killer venue. The city’s amazing for the full weekend, and the festival is run so well, right down to the sound engineers and the behind-the-scenes crew.

“For us, the great thing was that so many of the big promoters from Europe go to it. When we came offstage, we were pretty much right into meetings with people who’d seen us perform. They ended up booking us for a lot of European festivals this summer, and it was a massive success for us, having just done one show.”

For those looking to perform at the Eurosonic Festival in 2020, applications are open now. Keep an eye on esns.nl for more details.