The EBU and Music 

An endless waltz 

From its headquarters in Geneva, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is at the service of its 75 active Members with a broad range of musical activities related to the exchange of programmes, information and experience as well as the development of joint projects.

More details and links below... 

Download the EBU and Music flyer (pdf)

Download the Eurosonic brochure (pdf)

Euroradio, the world’s largest concert hall

Through the Euroradio network, EBU Members exchange concert recordings and live music from leading orchestras, concert seasons, festivals, and the very best of their national music from across a range of genres. The network ensures access for public radio broadcasters to over 2,500 music performances every year.

Euroradio offers 350 live programmes, concerts, opera, jazz and festivals yearly. A Euroradio concert has an average audience of 1.7 million listeners.

Eurosonic, the partnership of EBU radio stations specialised in pop-rock music and youth programming, offers its Members over 500 concerts and music programmes a year. It is the world’s largest concert arena acquiring radio rights for the live transmission of major events, such as the Montreux Festival and many others. Eurosonic has offered concerts from Coldplay, Peter Gabriel, Amy Winehouse, Cat Power and many other international artists.

Music on TV

The Eurovision Song Contest, established in 1956, is one of the longest-running and most-watched television programmes in the world with yearly audience figures of approximately 90 million internationally. In 2003, the EBU launched the Junior Eurovision Song Contest which promotes competition among young talent in the field of popular music.

European Roots is a unique series of 15 documentaries featuring some of the best new performers and bands in Europe. The programme showcases the vitality and variety of Europe’s musical roots and traditions.

Another TV collaboration in the field of music is European Classics, a pool of over 37 classical music and dance programmes offered for broadcast by EBU Members in exchange for the rights to broadcast all other programmes free.

Music competitions

The EBU has launched a number of competitions across different musical genres such as the Ars Acustica Jingle Competition, the European Jazz Competition, Let the Peoples Sing, and the Folk Music competition.

Eurovision Young Musicians is a classical music competition for young talent, aged no more than 19 years old. It is one of the most important international, classical music competitions followed by a live audience of tens of thousands.

The competition, broadcast on television across Europe, is organised together with the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen). The opening ceremony of the Festival is devoted to young artists, as the finalists in the Eurovision Young Musicians take to the stage. 

List of radio competitions

Music in the night: Euroclassic-Notturno

In 1997, the EBU launched the first Pan-European music channel scheduling only classical music every night between midnight and 7:00am, with the great orchestras of Europe and beyond. The programme is broadcast by satellite, and produced by the BBC for the EBU, based on non-commercial recordings provided by Members.

Jazzing up Europe

Each year, EBU jazz producers handpick a new conductor, new composers and a new line-up of young musicians, who form the European Youth Jazz Orchestra. The orchestra tours the continent for three weeks presenting a series of concerts under the aegis of the EBU, and the Danish-based organization Swinging Europe, supported by the European Commission.

The Eurosonic partnership develops and launches projects with festivals, artists and record companies. One of these is the Eurosonic Festival in Groningen. The renowned Festival attracts 2,400 music professionals from all over Europe. It fosters European integration, intercultural dialogue, and showcases new European music.

Negotiating rights

The EBU negotiates broadcast rights for major music events such as the season of the New York Metropolitan Opera (MET) and, for TV and radio, a series of three concerts from Vienna including the famous New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Other examples include the world-premiere performance by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra live from Pyongyang, Stars of Europe – a rock/pop concert to celebrate the EU’s 50th anniversary – and the 24- hour broadcasting marathons dedicated to Bach and Mozart.