EBBA Awards – Winners of the 2014 European Music Awards

Brussels / Groningen – The winners of the 2014 European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA Awards), celebrating the best new acts in Europe that have achieved cross-border chart success, were announced today by Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and Eurosonic Noorderslag, the European music conference and showcase festival.

The winners of the 2014 EBBA Awards are:

GuGabriel (Austria)
Lukas Graham (Denmark)
Woodkid (France)
Zedd (Germany)
Asgeir (Iceland)
Kodaline (Ireland)
Jacco Gardner (Netherlands)
Envy (Norway)
Icona Pop (Sweden)
Disclosure (United Kingdom)

“Without music, life would be a mistake, said Friedrich Nietzsche some time ago; musical tastes might have changed a bit since his day, but music is still a universal language that touches everyone, regardless of age or background. The internet has made it easier than ever to access music, yet, paradoxically, it is much harder for artists to break through and achieve lasting success. The European Commission supports the EBBA Awards because we want to help the most promising acts to reach audiences beyond their home base and to break into new international markets,” said Commissioner Vassiliou.

To be eligible for the awards, the artists must have achieved border-breaking success with their first international release in Europe between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013. The winners are selected by market analyst Nielsen Music Control on the basis of sales and broadcast frequency, as well as votes cast by European Broadcasting Union radio stations and music festivals supporting the European Talent Exchange Programme.

Background

The winners will receive their awards in a ceremony hosted by TV personality and musician Jools Holland at the Eurosonic Noorderslag festival in Groningen, Netherlands, on 15 January 2014. The ceremony – including performances by all or most of the winning acts – will be streamed live via YouTube and broadcast by Dutch National Television (NTR), as well as other European TV channels and radio stations.

One of the winners will receive a Public Choice Award based on votes cast from 1 November to 20 December on the EBBA Awards website. Up to 15 voters will be invited to the award ceremony: each will be able to bring a friend and the prize includes their flight and hotel costs.

Former winners of the EBBA Awards include Adele, Stromae, Emeli Sandé, Gabriel Rios, Of Monsters and Men, Mumford & Sons, Caro Emerald, Lykke Li, The Darkness, Katie Melua, The Ting Tings, C2C, Tokio Hotel, The Script, Zaz, Swedish House Mafia, Saybia, Damien Rice, KT Tunstall, Alphabeat, Milow and Afrojack.

Now in their eleventh year, the awards are funded by the EU Culture Programme and organised by Eurosonic Noorderslag, in partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The awards are supported by Buma Cultuur, SNN, Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Province of Groningen, City of Groningen and the European Music Office.

Eurosonic Noorderslag is Europe’s biggest music conference and showcase festival, aiming to boost European acts. Eurosonic Noorderslag also organises the European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP), which helps ensure that hot new talents in Europe are on the bill at major European music festivals.

In cultural terms, Europe is a fragmented market with many small countries and a large number of languages. As a consequence, it is often difficult for artists to work internationally and achieve sales success across borders. The EBBA Awards seek to help artists overcome these obstacles.

The European music industry makes a significant contribution to growth and jobs, as part of the cultural and creative sectors which provide jobs for more than 8 million people in the EU and up to 4.5% of Europe’s GDP. The total value of the EU recorded music market is around € 6 billion a year. The European recorded music market presents around a fifth of the total music market which is worth close to € 30 billion.

In January 2014, the Commission will launch Creative Europe, its new funding programme for the cultural and creative sectors. It aims to strengthen the international competitiveness of the sectors and to promote cultural diversity. It is envisaged that the new programme will have a total budget of €1.46 billion[1] in 2014-2020. This represents a 9% increase compared with current funding levels.