Netherlands

Music Center the Netherlands serves as the knowledge and promotion center of Dutch music for the professional music world. Home to many different partners active in the music sector, MCN is a unifier in the chain of supply and demand. Moreover, it also serves as the nerve center and memory bank in the music sector in The Netherlands. MCN's mission is to propagate and enhance the position of Dutch musical life, both nationally and internationally. MCN plays a coordinating and stimulating role within the national and international music arena by supporting, communicating, and most importantly, by initiating activities.

MCN is active in contemporary music, classical, jazz, pop and worldmusic, both on a promotional level as well as in documentation and information. The Music Information Center (MIC) reflects the variety of genres that MCN covers. 

The MIC offers information, audio recordings, and an extensive collection of contemporary sheet music of publishing house Donemus. MIC publishes the magazines Fret and Jazzbulletin, and maintains a digital music encyclopaedia. Its unique collection will be presented through innovative exhibitions in a central place in the MCN building, through CD releases and contribution to CDs and magazines, and through an Internet site with catalogues, documentation on composers and musicians, photos and sound samples

MCN also supports and organizes its own festivals and showcases in all genres. We also advise international organizations on new developments in dutch music as well as facilitate the attendance of Dutch composers, performers and ensembles at leading festivals.

To provide current information and to preserve the history of Dutch music, the MIC at MCN will use, maintain and expand its contemporary, jazz, and pop archives, which were developed by its predecessors. The evaluation and cataloguing of the collection is based on a balanced archival and documentation policy. Given the size and complexity of the music field, MCN also envisions a key role for itself as a neutral umbrella organization with an overview of the music sector, dedicated to fine-tuning and coordination.