By the third day of Eurosonic Noorderslag, things are really in full swing. There are 40,000 extra bodies in Groningen, and 4,000 of them are music industry professionals here for the keynote interviews and panel discussion in De Oosterpoort conference centre. Today’s topics include ‘Streaming and the Global Marketing Strategy of Developing Artists’, ‘Waste-free Festivals’ and ‘Blockchain and Machine Learning for Music Copyright’.

Hot Press manages to grab a few words with Eurosonic founder Peter Smidt. “After 32 years, we don’t want to make Eurosonic any bigger than it already is,” he explains. “We do want to make it more efficient.”

It’s very efficient as it is. There’s a mind-boggling amount of organisation that goes into managing 352 bands from 42 nationalities playing 62 venues across the city. Add to that the daily demands of 479 journalists and 37 radio stations, and there’s never a dull moment. Of course, they can’t control the weather and, while yesterday’s major storm mainly hit Amsterdam and Rotterdam, a small number of conference speakers and bands haven’t been able to make it. No major cancellations, but frustrating for those affected.