This nomination for the prestigious NME Awards puts EXIT among the most prominent names of the global music industry, such as Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, Måneskin, BTS, Lil Nas X, Taylor Swift, Liam Gallagher, and many more. EXIT Festival
In its 70-year history, NME (New Musical Express) has been one of the world’s most prestigious media, covering music, film, and culture. The NME Awards were established a year after the magazine was founded, and some of the most notable winners throughout the Awards’ history include Elvis Presley, David Bowie, John Peel, Cliff Richard, Paul Weller, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Morrissey, Oasis, The Beatles, The Jam and Blur.
The BandLab NME Awards 2022 will be held at the O2 Academy Brixton in London on March 2. On the night of the 69th NME Awards ceremony, the best in music, film, TV, and gaming will be selected. The honor of being among the candidates for the prominent NME Awards, which have been presented since 1953, was given to EXIT after the music industry’s most challenging period, in which it was the first major festival on the planet since the beginning of the pandemic. NME selected 10 events in the Best Festival in the World category.
Aside from EXIT, these include All Points East, Austin City Limits, Fuji Rock, Green Man, Life Is Beautiful, Reading & Leeds, Riot Fest, TRNSMT and Wireless.
EXIT was twice officially proclaimed “Best Major European Festival” at the EU Festival Awards and won the “Best Overseas Festival” award at the UK Festival Awards. Numerous reputable international media, such as The Guardian, New York Times, CNN, BBC, ranked EXIT among the best events in the world.
The first confirmed headliners of the 21st edition of EXIT, which will take place at the Petrovaradin Fortress from 7 to 10 July 2022, are alternative rock king Nick Cave and his The Bad Seeds, one of the most original and influential bands in the world, as well as local favorite Boris Brejcha, while more names will be announced very soon. EXIT Festival
The Importance of Exit Festival
Last year, in a season in which EXIT was the first major festival in the world to take place a year and a half after the start of the pandemic, the total contribution of Serbian largest festival to the national economy has exceeded 200 million euros, thanks to some crucial parameters, such as a high number of foreign tourists and increased spending.
The research that “Tim Centar” from Novi Sad conducts every year showed during this summer’s festival that EXIT, at its two-decade anniversary, brought 18,8 million euros to the tourist economy of Novi Sad and Serbia. Since the festival’s establishment until today, the country’s economy profited over 200 million euros from EXIT, while the value of the international promotion of the city and the country as a whole is likely worth many times this amount.
The previous edition of the EXIT festival had an exceptional 61% of foreign visitors, matching the 2009 record. Over four days, more than 180,000 visitors from 70 countries passed through the festival gates, with most foreign guests arriving from France, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, the USA, Italy, as well as from countries in the region. Audiences from Western Europe (23.5%) took precedence over visitors from Eastern Europe (10.6%) and other continents (8.1%). Interestingly, there was an almost 1,000% increase in the number of visitors from France, meaning there were about 2,000 of them, taking over primacy from British visitors, who were less frequent this year due to travel restrictions.
As in the previous years, over 90% of visitors came to Novi Sad exclusively because of the festival, while as many as 97% said that their impression of the city was improved (47.8%) or remained the same (48.5), proving the direct influence of EXIT on tourism and the overall image of Novi Sad and Serbia.
The entire festival received a record high score of 4.53.