2025 kept the pace up: festivals and conferences, newfound partnerships and a constant flow of releases and live shows— both domestically, and far beyond Austria. Across genres and formats, Austrian artists showed up on international stages and platforms with real consistency, powered by equal parts creativity and hustle.
Packing a whole year into one tidy recap? Impossible. So here’s a selection of Austrian Music Export 2025 highlights to capture a portion of the great musical happenings and accomplishments here at home and abroad — what defined the year, what spilled over the edges, and what’s already rolling on into 2026 and beyond.
Music Export Projects and Initiatives
Austrian Music Fund(ing)
In 2025, the Impulse funding program (Impulsprogramm) – now 2 years strong – continued to support Austrian artists in all genres and endeavors. In addition, funding programs of the Austrian Music Fund with an export component were continued and expanded, such as the international tour support and OMF+ funding programs. The majority of the funding awarded under OMF+ was granted to projects that included international activities.
Future music since 2005 – 20 years of the Austrian Music Fund
Since launching in 2005, the Austrian Music Fund has backed 1,242 productions and 390 tours, steadily expanding its programs and even quadrupling its budget along the way. Many of these recordings wouldn’t exist in the form we know today—or at the level of quality they reached—without this support, which has helped spark and sustain countless musical careers.
Built as a modular system, the Fund offers targeted support for artistic development across all genres: from contemporary, experimental, and classical music to jazz, avant-garde, world, folk, dialect, and brass, as well as indie, rock, and pop in all their crossover variations. Funding strands include: Supported Productions · Supported Tours · OMF+ · Impulse Program
A snapshot of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (BMEIA) 2025/26 New Austrian Sound of Music (NASOM) cohort came into sharp focus at a home-base showcase at Vienna’s Porgy & Bess this September. Featuring performances by Mitra Kotte, Avin Ahmadi, Maria Mogas Gensana, Slowklang, and Aze (A), the evening offered a compelling cross-section of Austria’s forward-thinking musical voices. Playing to a packed room of local fans alongside representatives from international cultural forums and consulates, the artists highlighted the breadth, individuality, and global ambition that define the NASOM programme.
BUILDING BRIDGES
Internationalisation & Capacity Building
Started in 2023, the innovative and decidedly effective Building Bridges project is a modular programme to deepen Austria’s recorded/publishing ties abroad and lift the international share of Austrian copyrights. It focuses on the structures around artists—labels, publishers, management—so that artistic and business goals reinforce each other over time. The approach combines guided market access, targeted networking, and skills transfer, and continued throughout 2025.
A standout moment in 2025 was the strong presence of Austrian music professionals at MUSEXPO in California, where the delegation used the platform to deepen existing relationships and significantly expand its international network. Among the highlights was producer Mario Fartacek’s participation in the Red Bull Producer Camp, a move that quickly translated into high-value international pitching opportunities. OSKA also made a strong impression with multiple live performances, complemented by focused pitching sessions from her management team to key international delegates.
Back in Europe, the Building Bridges mission to c/o pop 2025 in Cologne marked another major programme milestone. As one of the most influential music industry conferences in the German-speaking world, c/o pop offered participants targeted access to decision-makers from Germany’s live and media sectors. Curated formats developed in collaboration with networks such as LiveDMA and LiveKomm delivered hands-on industry insights and fostered lasting professional connections—particularly valuable for emerging professionals.
In 2025, AME also sent—for the first time in the field of new music—two delegations (three music professionals each) to international networking programmes: to the Professionals Program of the Music Biennale Zagreb (April) and to the opening of the Month of Contemporary Music in Berlin (September). These, too, have already yielded meaningful invitations.
Throughout 2025, special emphasis was placed on supporting networking formats tailored to the next generation of music professionals, including initiatives such as LIME Fest and the Waves Songwriting Camp. At the same time, continued funding for established producer and writing-camp programmes ensured Austrian songwriters and producers sustained access to focused international development opportunities.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
As always, the festival year kicked off with Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in Groningen, where six Austrian acts— Bon Jour, Gardens, Kässy, Lucy Dreams, Lukas Oscar and UCHE YARA —performed live. A focused networking event in Groningen was organised for domestic companies working with these artists and for Building Bridges participants. A first highlight of the year: UCHE YARA received the great honor of a Music Moves Europe Award at ESNS!
February brought Laundromat Chicks, Lukas Oscar, and Salò to play extremely well-received live sets at MENT Festival in Ljubljana. On top of that, a delegation consisting of 10 Austrian music professionals was invited to the festival as part of our festival-export office cooperation and was able to take part in a special “speed networking” meeting with selected international industry representatives.
In contemporary music, Austrian Music Export continued its cooperation with the impuls Festival (Graz) and invited international presenters and journalists to connect directly with the Austrian scene—effective invitations have already resulted, with further concerts planned.
At Elevate Festival in Graz, a joint Elevate × AME networking event connected Austrian artists and companies with international media representatives and festivals.
As the weather started warming up end of April, so did the energy in Cologne, with c/o pop hitting the city with live performances by Bac, Beaks, Bitschu Batschu, Kässy, Mathea, Neunundneunzig, Panah and Vicky who were supported by an Austrian Heartbeats Reception to facilitate attention and potential future opportunities for the artists internationally. Moreover, this year a delegation of Austrian industry reps joined workshops and networking as part of a Building Bridges mission.
In 2025 AME again organised and ran the Austrian stand at jazzahead! Bremen, Europe’s only dedicated jazz trade fair—with very positive results: numerous musicians used the stand for talks with agents, labels, etc., significantly strengthening the Austrian jazz scene’s international network.
In May, The Great Escape Festival welcomed Gardens, Kässy, Laundromat Chicks, and Lucy Dreams to their Brighton stages for additional concerts alongside the AME Matinee Showcase.
June delivered another standout moment as Austrian artist OSKA took the stage at Primavera Pro in Barcelona. Alongside her live performance, the programme included a dedicated songwriting camp, while the conference setting created valuable opportunities for her management to pitch new material directly to international sync agencies and music supervisors—further strengthening OSKA’s positioning on the global market.
The summer was sealed with the usual late-August slam-dunk: the Saalfelden International Jazz Festival, a fixture of contemporary jazz for 45 years—16 multipliers from 11 nations (Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Poland, Spain, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Hungary, Slovenia) to experience the internationally renowned, ever-expanding festival, including the numerous concerts from Austrian players and taste-makers. This year, Leonhard Skorupa opened the mainstage this year, premiering his commissioned project “Sonic Feast”.
To start the autumn festival season off right, Austria made remarkable waves at Reeperbahn Festival (Hamburg) this year—Germany’s key platform for Austrian artists and companies—with 24 Austrian talents playing a whopping 28 shows. A packed networking reception took place at the legendary Indra Club, hosted by AKM on the opening day of the festival, followed by the Austrian Heartbeats showcase which brought together four strong voices from the local scene. Sodl, winner of this year’s FM4 Award at the Amadeus Austrian Music Awards, opened with her unmistakable, emotionally direct indie pop. Filiah followed with delicate, honest songwriting and soft folk tones. Lukas Oscar filled the room with soulful melodies and warm production, before Magdalena Wawra’s mix of analogue synths, brass and pop energy closed the night in true celebration.
The Austrian Music Theatre Days offer music-theatre professionals in Austria opportunities for networking and professional exchange with national and international organizers. In 2025, the event focused on inclusion—particularly on deafness—addressing accessibility, new personnel and structural approaches, and artistic strategies that enable deaf people to participate actively both on stage and in the audience, contributing their perspectives to the cultural sector. Launched in 2015 as part of MUSIKTHEATERTAGE WIEN and held since 2018 in cooperation with mica – music austria/Austrian Music Export, the AUSTRIAN MUSIC THEATRE DAY conference formed part of the festival’s commitment to new musical theatre and innovative performance formats. The 2025 edition took place over two days in September at WUK Project Space in Vienna.
October was once again kicked off by the Waves Vienna Festival, which in 2025 celebrated its 15th anniversary with over 15,000 visitors and 1,479 delegates from 30 countries – a standout jubilee edition. Audiences experienced 34 Austrian acts live and exchanged with the Austrian music industry at the conference and numerous networking formats. The festival concluded with the “XA” Music Export Award, for which an expert jury evaluated performances by six nominated Austrian acts and named promising singer-songwriter Filiah as the winner.
Also in October, the fruitful collaboration with the Nuremberg Pop Festival was expanded further this year with 9 acts from Austria, moreover an Austrian Heartbeats reception with standout performances by Anna Buchegger and Magdalena Wawra brought together musicians, fans and local and international players in the scene.
This year, Austrian Music Export took part in the 12th edition of Visa For Music which took place in Rabat, Morocco, from 19 to 22 November 2025, bringing together over 500 artists and around 1,000 international music professionals. For the 2025 edition, Austria was represented by the duo Hadra Rave – a new project emerging from the artistic encounter between Seba Kayan and Orwa Saleh. The band hit the ground running, with a multi-city tour throughout Morocco thereafter, bringing their music into the local spotlight in an unchartered territory for the artists.
In early December, the tenth edition of the Kick Jazz Festival took place. International festival promoters and journalists invited by AME got to experience live bombastic sets by six Austrian acts over two nights at the iconic Porgy & Bess venue in Vienna.
LOOKING AHEAD
As always, the festival season begins with the Eurosonic Festival (ESNS) in Groningen, the Netherlands in January 2026, featuring 6 Austrian acts – Beaks, Filiah, Sofie Royer, Abor & Tynna, Sodl, and LuxJury- on its renowned stages. Moreover, our annual Austrian Heartbeats Networking Lunch will bring numerous professionals, multipliers and Austrian artists together to make the festival bang that much bangier.
In February, Austrian Music Export will once again host a speed-networking meeting at MENT Ljubljana for music professionals and artists to get to know Austrian industry players, and vice versa, offering a compact and focused opportunity to meet a curated selection of international delegates. Moreover, in first-time cooperation with Carinthia Film & Sound, a delegation of Carinthian music industry professionals will also be present at MENT 2026.
BUILDING BRIDGES
In 2026, Building Bridges will continue as a multi-stage programme that, since 2023, has strengthened structured access for Austrian labels, publishers, and managements to international markets and, in the long term, contributes to increasing the internationalisation rate of Austrian copyrights. The programme will keep its modular logic, in which economic and artistic measures interlock to generate greater impact together. The focus remains on the actors surrounding the artists, whose international networking and strategic development across multiple markets are supported.
Next year, Building Bridges will be expanded with a new international component. Following earlier missions to Berlin, and Cologne, a jointly UK Trade Mission with German and Austrian participants will achieve stronger international impact, intensifying not only regional anchoring but also collaboration within the delegation itself.
From 2026, Building Bridges will receive additional impetus through Explore CEE, a newly developed, year-round capacity-building programme in cooperation with longstanding partners from Central and Eastern Europe. Combined with performance opportunities for Austrian artists at regional festivals and curated professional formats, the programme will enable both creatives and business professionals to engage more deeply with the diverse music economy of the CEE region. Partners range from established showcase festivals such as MENT, SHARPE, SHIP, Music Week Poland, and the Budapest Showcase Hub to the Changeover Festival. The region, with its growing recording and publishing structures and comparatively cost-effective production conditions, offers ideal prerequisites for Austrian stakeholders to build long-term collaborations.
And with that, from all of us at Austrian Music Export to you and yours, we wish you warm, safe and sonically-pleasing holidays and can’t wait to see you in the new year! Guten Rutsch!
