Diversity & Representation · Indicator 5
Artistic & musical innovation
What this indicator asks
Who are the upcoming artists, sounds and styles in Amsterdam?
not scored
Amsterdam has no single sound. Participants named more than 25 unique rising artists, sounds and formats. Many collectives hone their own sound and communities.
New formats are rising too. For example: listening sessions without dancing, such as Zero BPM, album listening sessions, sober parties such as SOBER, and back-to-back sets.
Sounds are arriving from elsewhere — gqom, kuduro, baile funk and Latin American parties. University and conservatory students are putting on live shows in whatever spaces they can find, to showcase everything from jazz and neo-soul to UK garage reworks.
New formats can find a way to start, but find it hard to keep going. Participants proposed more publicly funded rooms where a night is allowed to fail. They cited Sexyland World, where small parties are given space to grow.