All information on the next funding round and your opportunities

The Initiative Musik is entering its 63rd funding round! With this article, we provide you with a guide that gives you the most important information about the funding. The Initiative Musik is a nationwide federal funding organisation for pop music and jazz. This means that artists from any part of Germany can apply for this funding.

What is the Initiative Musik?

The Initiative Musik was founded in Berlin in 2007 to exclusively support underground music. It advocates for a diverse musical landscape, sustainable economic structures and social justice. It is aimed at solo artists, bands and authors who want to gain a foothold in the German and international music market. The following can be supported: Composition, conception, production, recording, production of sound carriers, videos, content production, promotion, marketing and touring.

The platform not only supports you as an artist:in, but also the expansion of live music. For this purpose, the initiative offers infrastructure support.

The funding application

If you decide to apply for funding for your music, it would make sense to attend the Infocall of the Initiative Musik on 18 September 2023. In this free info call, which starts at 6 pm, the Initiative Musik will guide you through the most important parts of your application. This is necessary because the application is quite comprehensive. Among other things, they will explain how to prepare your financial plan, explain terminology and the documents to be submitted.

The official application phase begins on 20.09.2023 and ends on 11.10.2023. It is important that the plan you come up with for your music takes place in a project period from 11.12.2023 to 15.12.2o24. As a rule, you have a good year to realise everything so that the funding and your own contribution can take effect. Anything after that can no longer be funded so easily and must be arranged via possible grace periods.

By the way, you can apply online via the funding portal. The staff then check all applications for completeness and formal correctness. If the team finds formal errors or missing information, they will contact you and usually give you the opportunity to make adjustments or submit additional information.

How much funding can be provided?

As your total expenditure increases, your funding share decreases. For example? For total expenditure of up to 10,000 euros, the possible funding share is up to 60 percent of the total expenditure. For example, if your total expenditure is 150,000 euros, your possible funding share is up to 40 percent of the total expenditure.

You can take a look at the entire financial plan and proof of use for past funding rounds at the downloads page on the Initiative Musik website. Everything you would like to have funded must be listed. It is not enough to write down the expenses. You need receipts for everything – invoices, receipts for expenses and receipts for income. You can calculate your costs down to the penny, including VAT, using the personal contribution calculator attached to the financial plan.

Who decides on your funding application?

A twelve-member jury consisting of artists and people from the music industry will decide on your application. The jury members are appointed by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and by the partners of the Initiative Musik. You can also contact the Initiative Musik by phone or email if you have any questions about the application.

Good luck!