More than 60 Euroradio Members have gathered in Leuven for New Radio Day (6 to 7 November) – the annual strategic two-day conference that this year brings Europe’s top music producers and editors face to face with key industry players.

EBU head of radio, Christian Vogg says the 2014 edition will focus on the response of public service broadcasters to commercial music aggregation platforms such as Spotify or Deezer that provide music streaming from major record labels.

“A decade ago there were only a handful of ways to discover new music,” said Mr Vogg, “your favourite radio station, your local music shop, the opinion of friends or the impressions formed at a local music festival. But today, the choice of platforms and offers is tremendous. For a relatively modest investment, you can access millions and millions of songs online. How should broadcasters react to the competition - collaborate? Or is it even a competition? Are music aggregation platforms so different to live radio that they don't count? These are questions we seek to answer.”

The event, which is being hosted by Flemish broadcaster VRT, will showcase up to 20 best case practises from at least eleven European countries, and discuss for instance, the role of YouTube as a special channel for radio-related video-based music content.  

“The next two days will feature some outstanding concrete applications to learn from,” Mr Vogg said. “ BBC Playlister allows users to export BBC music lists to their private accounts on commercial aggregation platforms and there is also the example of a classical music platform run by German member WDR.”

The keynote address will be given by  the editor-in-chief of the Munich based magazine Musikwoche (Music Week), Manfred Gillig-Degrave.