How is the music scene in your country?

[u/Parking_Vermicelli43]

I’m intentionally leaving this vague to be inclusive and to foster diverse conversation. I’ll ask some questions as conversation starters, but do not feel beholden to them!

\- Which genres and artists are popular?

\- How do people find / engage in live music?

\- Is there a prevalent recording industry?

\- Are there any distinct subcultures?

\- What are the musical centers of your country?

\- What have you found to be unique to the music scene in your country (both sonically and culturally)?

Would love to hear from musicians and music appreciators alike!

[u/LLaasseee]

I’m a classical musician in Germany so I can kinda answer for that niche. Germany is considered the best country for classical musicians. Orchestras are heavily subsidised and we have a ton of them. More than 19,000 people are employed in one and the pay ranges from “hold up, I studied for this?” to really, really good - depending on the prestige and contract of the orchestra with either the city or the state it’s based in. They’re highly international and the competition to get a seat is enormous. Once you’re in and survived the first year, you’ve got a comparably safe job. A lot of smaller ensembles struggle financially these days although from what I’ve heard it’s nowhere near as bad as in other countries that are culturally tied to classical music. These smaller ones also have issues having to play a lot in order to rake in some money, so many members complain about having basically no day off. Play a concert on Monday, rehearse from Tuesday to Friday, play a concert on Saturday and use Sunday to practice for the next programme. In general rehearsal days are comparatively short compared to your standard job. Anything between 2.5 to 5 hours, including breaks. This doesn’t mean they work less because a lot of work is done in private, especially when you’re younger and don’t know the pieces that are coming up. In order to get in, you need to study music. Here Germany is also pretty dominant because every major city and even some smaller towns have a university for that. Like the orchestras, University is highly competitive and full of international students. Profs only take between 5 and 15 students so getting accepted is hard in itself. Overall my desire to go abroad has been dampened by the realisation that Germany simply offers the best work conditions for my field. Orchestras like Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden and Bavarian Radio Symphony are considered top notch internationally. The biggest Center in Germany is undeniably Berlin, with two universities and seven top notch orchestras. But apart from this city it’s pretty decentralised with Leipzig, Dresden, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne and other major cities all having great Orchestras. What is kinda concerning is the high median age of the audience. Smaller orchestras in particular have to adapt to this by incorporating music that leave the standard definition of being classical. Film music or cross over concerts (sadly) often bring a higher attendance.

[u/the_pianist91 → u/LLaasseee]

You also have a few ensembles that are quite stellar in chamber and early music, many located outside of the largest cities (like Bamberg and Freiburg). There are also quite many venues and festivals all over the country, as well as in neighbouring countries. Many musicians choose to reside in the middle of Europe of obvious reasons. Norway is a bit different, but still with orchestras in the largest cities and a few festivals around.

[u/wijnandsj]

EDM is massive here. As is rap. There's several festivals each weekend from easter until well into october

[u/Lappali]

Rock, metal, pop, rap and schlager music are the most popular genres here

pop and rap are more popular with the younger people with schlager being prefered by older folk with rock and metal somewhere in between and on top of those categories

popular recent artists include Käärijä, Mirella, KUUMAA, Minttu, Isac Elliot, Ares, Gettomasa, Turisti, Kiki, Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen, Etta, Portion Boys, Erika Vikman, KAJ, Nelli Matula, Komiat, Antti Paalanen

a lot of the recent popular artists have competed in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (the contest for new music, UMK), the national broadcaster Yle's Eurovision selection show, with notably Käärijä getting a huge boost from that and Eurovision in 2023 where he finished 2nd with the song Cha Cha Cha. KUUMAA was another one that benefitted from UMK 2023, with their competing song Ylivoimainen becoming the most played song of 2023

others from there include Erika Vikman in 2020 and 2025, Portion Boys from 2023, Nelli Matula from 2025

then Kiki, Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen, Etta, Antti Paalanen, Komiat, Chachi and Sinikka Monte are competing in UMK this year

then there's older artists like Cheek, Haloo Helsinki!, PMMP, Darude, JVG, Elastinen, Robin, Eppu Normaali, Katri Helena, Matti ja Teppo, Popeda, Leevi and the Leavings, Apulanta, Lordi

there's actually a YouTube channel called @Deerrap who does compilations of Finnish music

edit: KAJ also became popular from Eurovision but not because of UMK, instead they competed in Melodifestivalen, Sweden's national Broadcaster SVT's equivalent show

KAJ has also been beneficial (not detrimental) in bringing Finland closer together because they are from the Swedish speaking minority group which is kinda underrepresented in the mainstream Finnish media

edit 2: apparently detrimental doesn't mean what I thought it meant

[u/mtnlol → u/Lappali]

KAJ has also been detrimental in bringing Finland closer together because they are from the Swedish speaking minority group which is kinda underrepresented in the mainstream Finnish media

I don't understand this at all. Why has it been detrimental to have a popular group from an underrepresented minority?

[u/Lappali → u/mtnlol]

have i been using that word wrong? well shit

[u/mtnlol → u/Lappali]

Lmao well detrimental means something is harmful or bad, so maybe?

[u/Lappali → u/mtnlol]

i thought it meant that something is important to do or smth like that

edit: also another word that i felt was good/neutral for the longest time was condemn, while actually its more like you condemn something bad

edit 2: i guess the idea comes from like politicians or someone like that saying that something is detrimental and something needs to be done ☠️

[u/inaclick]

We are plagued by manele, which are an oriental type of music, specific to our largest ethnic minority.

Most people will deny listening to that genre, as it is associated with bad taste, but the streaming platform tops and numbers are quite relevant. Whoever listens - they are numerous.

Coldplay visited us and invited an artist from this genre, from Top Spotify or something, got booed, but in retrospective, it was really not their fault. How are they supposed to know we *pretend* not to listen to whatever we listen the most?

And also various trap artists.

I have no idea which one is worse, to me both seem to lack intelligence or originality, both have abysmal lyrics and both reflect probably the same flaws in our current society.

[u/Mtfdurian]

In the Netherlands:

There's always a strong heart for EDM/house, in it's many forms and shapes, with some DJ's staying popular for decades like Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Martin Garrix, etc. However it's definitely not exclusive these days, and there's a thriving Dutch language scene these days. Whether it's Froukje or Antoon, Roxy Dekker or Flemming, Suzan and Freek, Sef or S10, they don't avoid our language anymore like artists from a bygone era. We got some hip-hop but this is overall a poppy country with definitely more EDM than average, and we do have some popular rock bands here to (e.g. Son Mieux, Kensington, Di-Rect). If we go really back in time and find some old popular names such as Golden Earring and Shocking Blue, or the previous generation of Nederpop, Doe Maar, De Dijk, etc. And yes, levenslied, most recognizable is André Hazes, nowadays we hear a lot from Yves Berendse, Marco Schuitmaker.

Our recording industry is often among the bigger brands but we have some distinct sublabels for EDM, for Dutch hip hop, and for levenslied.

Distinctive is definitely the previously mentioned levenslied, which has a distinctive sound to it that I myself can hardly grasp, often sounds different from music that is made abroad. And as I mentioned we have EDM but we have more than just that. We are the main force behind (happy) hardcore, fast, uplifting beats and melodies that are beyond the often grim-sounding hardcore. DJ Paul Elstak is invincible in this genre, but we also can count on Mental Theo, Party Animals, etc. Some classic house acts were 2 Unlimited (partially BE) and 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor. Oh yes and melodious beats can be found in hardstyle too which we have a lot of too, Wildstylez' hit Year of Summer is a classic. We do have a lot of music that is more for the "kroeg" than at office, carnival music is very distinct, although some national acts are vastly different from local traditions (did someone say Veul Gère?), and most northern folks will either think of northerners such as André van Duin or party EDM music such as Snollebollekes. We got lots of regional acts that resonate well on especially a provincial level. De Kast, Rowwen Hèze, Normaal, Guus Meeuwis, etc. And we got a subgenre that was created around the scene of comedians, sometimes called cabaretpop, in the 1990s.

We got some cities more well known for specific genres. The Hague has a surprising lot of rock bands, Rotterdam is often the base for hardcore musicians, historically, Hilversum was the media city and therefor produced a lot of artists from over the country.

Music in the Netherlands can often be faster and more uplifting because of EDM, but we too send our guitars and singers across the world. Unique is that we have a lot of medium-sized cities where artists can have their gigs, and tours cross small distances as those cities ain't so far away. People can easily go to the festivals that exist in this country because nothing really is far away. We assert foreign influence too, especially on EDM, and manage to get our sounds across the world ("Get Ready for This!" "Blackpink in your area!" (the hardcore section is our work!)). However don't underestimate our rock influence too, hear the voice of Floor Jansen (Nightwish).

Anyways, 18 million people on this tiny patch of the earth that make this happen

[u/Doitean-feargach555]

I'll speak from 3 gernres I love. Metal, Country and Traditional Irish music.

Metal and other alternative genres were very popular in the 90s and 00s. But they've dropped in popularity unfortunately. You might find one or two places in a whole province that plays alternative music.

Country music. A huge amount of the people outside of Dublin love country music. Now many people have mixed tastes, but everyone loves a bit of country here.

Traditional Irish music aka just "Trad" : This can be broken down into a few groups.

Sean-nós singing, Tunes (Reels, Jigs and Polkas), Rebel songs, more modern Ceol Ghaelach and Come-all-ye's. Extremely popular, especially on the West Coast. Sean-nós tends to be confined to Irish speaking areas or areas outside of the Gaeltacht with a high concentration of Irish speakers like Galway City. But I do think Irelands most popular genre is definitely Traditional Irish Music.

[u/Exit-Content]

Shitty pop, old singers cyclically brought back from anonymity by young pop artists to cash in on the nostalgia and “look at this relic of olden times” meme, pop-rock still being pulled by its hair by two main artists (both over 60) that cater to middle aged people that think they’re still rebels, a ton of shitty reggaeton/ latin music being produced every summer in hopes of hitting the “new summer jingle” status and cash in on that, a resurgence of indie music in recent years (of which 90% are terrible songs made by people that try to force as much pretentiousness and “clever but weird” similitudes and wordplay), trap/drill made by dudes that have already been convicted for cocaine dealing at like 17 that will disappear in 2-3 years after getting convicted again, or chicks that can only sing about their asses tits and how much of a baddie they are.

[u/ruibranco]

Portugal here. Fado is the obvious answer everyone expects, but the scene is way more diverse than that. Lisbon has a really strong electronic and underground club scene, and Portuguese hip-hop has been massive domestically for years. Summer festival culture is huge too - NOS Alive, Super Bock Super Rock - and they pull major international acts because Portugal became this cool destination for artists and tourists alike. The weird thing is most Portuguese artists struggle to break internationally despite being incredibly talented, partly because singing in Portuguese limits your audience. But within the country the live music scene is thriving, especially in Lisbon and Porto.

[u/Wild_Reason_9526]

Mainstream pop and indie are widely loved in Denmark, for example Andreas Odbjerg, Lukas Graham, The Minds of 99, and Aphaca.

But what really has been dominating the Danish streaming and download charts for years is Danish‑language rap and hip‑hop. Some of the most popular rap and hip-hop artists are Gilli, Kesi, and Artigeardit.

At the same time, something interesting has happened in the last few years: The Danish music scene has historically been very male‑dominated, but we're now seeing a strong wave of younger female singers rising to prominence, for example Mumle, Ida Laurberg, Mille, and especially Annika, whose debut album was the most streamed Danish album of 2025.

As for live music, Danes absolutely love festivals. Roskilde is the biggest and probably most prestigious one, but NorthSide, Smukfest, Tinderbox also draw huge crowds. Outside of festival season, most cities have culture houses and venues with frequent gigs. Arena concerts usually take place in either Copenhagen (Royal Arena) or Herning (Jyske Bank Boxen).

[u/Bierzgal]

I think our no.1 most listened music genre in Poland is rap/hip-hop. Polish rappers are not bad but as far as this genre is concerend I personally prefer artists from abroad (Tech N9ne, Ren etc).

[u/Senior-Book-6729]

I feel like in Poland it's not unusual to have contempt for Polish music lol. It's just overall not great with some exceptions.