Showcase Festivals Cooperations

The Great Escape Festival will place in Brighton from May 12 -15 and in addition to a colorful showcase program, there will also be a conference for all music professionals with numerous networking opportunities – such as our ZEITGEIST reception, and showcase hosted together with RockCity Hamburg e.V., Musicboard Berlin, popNRW and Verband für Popkultur in Bayern.

From March 15-21, 2027, South By Southwest (SXSW) will take place in Austin, Texas. At SXSW – one of the largest showcase festivals in the world – artists and professionals from the music, film and tech industries meet organizers, investors and key players from the international creative industry.

From January 13 – 16, 2027, Europe’s largest showcase festival – ESNS – will take place in Groningen. We will be on site again with wonderful acts from Germany.

From October 21–25, we will be heading to Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) – the leading business and networking platform for the global electronic music industry. ADE brings together music professionals, aspiring DJs, producers, artists, tech start-ups, brand and marketing experts, and countless other industry players from around the world.

From October 1–3, 2026, the Austrian showcase festival Waves Vienna will take place in Vienna.

In cooperation with the regional pop music funding organizations Musicboard Berlin, popNRW, Pop-Büro Region Stuttgart, RockCity Hamburg, and the Association for Pop Culture in Bavaria, we are once again hosting our German Showcase this year, bringing 10 emerging German acts to stages across Vienna: Angelic in Jeans, Atomic Lobster, Eilis Frawley, JOSY, Lyhre, Keshia, Nachtkinder, Sloe Noon, VIOLET und YAAMA. Register here for the German Showcase – Artist Pitch & Reception.

More German acts at Waves Vienna: Agatha Is Dead!, Charlize, Das Beat, FarAvaz, Flo Naegeli, Kombynat Robotron, Lizki, M. RIDER, schluma, SCHRAMM, und Trustfundbabes.

The following artists are receiving financial support for their performances at Waves Vienna through our ‘International Live and Showcase Funding’ program: Angelic in Jeans, Atomic Lobster, Eilis Frawley, FarAvaz, Flo Naegeli, Keshia, Kombynat Robotron, Nachtkinder, SCHRAMM, Sloe Noon, VIOLET and YAAMA.

From September 16–19, 2026, Reeperbahn Festival will once again take place in Hamburg. We’re excited to be there again this year, including with our own matchmaking format: Heavy Matchmaking @ RBF 2026.

The Great Escape Festival will place in Brighton from May 13 -16 and in addition to a colorful showcase program, there will also be a conference for all music professionals with numerous networking opportunities – such as our ZEITGEIST reception, and showcase hosted together with RockCity Hamburg e.V., Musicboard Berlin, popNRW and Verband für Popkultur in Bayern.

jazzahead! will take place from April 22 – 25 in Bremen and is the world’s largest meeting place for the jazz industry, around 2,800 international trade participants, with its own international showcase program and accompanying festival. With its focus on jazz and the scope of the showcase concerts, jazzahead! has earned worldwide reputation. jazzahead! is an event organized by MESSE BREMEN, M3B GmbH, and takes place in Bremen, four days in April, since 2006.

Since 2012, the export module for German jazz, the “German Jazz Expo“, takes place at jazzahead!, Jazz made in Germany receives national and international visibility at the event. The German Jazz Expo includes eight annual jury-selected showcase concerts by German bands, to which international promoters and media representatives are specifically invited, the large communal area German Market and a conference program with topics most relevant to the scene.

jazzahead! is funded by the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media / Initiative Musik.

From January 14 – 17, 2026, Europe’s largest showcase festival – ESNS – took place in Groningen.
We were on site again with wonderful acts from Germany.

With the aim of supporting musicians and festivals in their internationalisation, German Music Export by Initiative Musik is the official German representation at European Talent Exchange. The EU programme opens up new perspectives for all performing musicians at ESNS in Groningen (Netherlands).

The showcase festival takes place every year in January and is one of the industry meetings for the international music scene. Selected bands get the unique chance to showcase themselves to an international audience of professionals. Concerts arranged through Eurosonic are funded by the EU programme European Talent Exchange. For the participating festivals, this creates a strong additional incentive to book European newcomers.

The project funds for the participation of the Initiative Musik in European Talent Exchange are made available through the budget of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM).