Guides
Music funding guides for working musicians
How applications actually get read, where the money for records and tours comes from, and which programmes are worth a weekend of your time. Free, and written for musicians rather than grant professionals.
Start here
Where to begin: how applications get read, what residencies are really offering, and how records and tours actually get paid for.
Guide
How to Apply for Music Grants: A Step-by-Step Guide
What funders actually look for, how to build a simple application kit you can reuse, and the mistakes that get good projects rejected.
Read the guide →Guide
How Artist Residencies Work (and How Musicians Get In)
What residencies offer, what they expect in return, and how to write a proposal that stands out — even if you've never done one.
Read the guide →Guide
Funding an Album: Grants for Recording, Mixing and Release
How to combine grants, competitions and support programs to cover a recording project — with a realistic budget you can actually show a funder.
Read the guide →Guide
Touring & Showcase Funding: How Bands Afford to Tour
Travel support, export offices and showcase funding explained — and how to plan applications around a booking timeline.
Read the guide →Find and win funding
Choosing what to apply for, staying ahead of deadlines, and hand-checked lists of specific programmes worth knowing.
Guide
How to Find Music Grants That Actually Fit Your Project
Most musicians apply to the wrong funding. Here's how to find grants, residencies and awards that fit your project, your stage and your goals — and skip the ones that only cost you time.
Read the guide →Guide
Why Most Musicians Miss Grant Deadlines — and How to Never Miss One Again
Missing a funding deadline is the most avoidable way to lose a grant. Here's why it keeps happening to good musicians, and a system simple enough that you'll actually keep it running.
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21 Artist Residencies for Musicians in Europe
A curated, human-checked guide to music and sound residencies across Europe — from funded composer retreats to electronic-music studios — with who they're for, what they pay, and when to apply.
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Recording Grants Every Independent Producer Should Know
Producers are told funding isn't for them. It's not true. Here's how recording and production money actually reaches producers — plus 15 grants and schemes worth knowing, with amounts and eligibility.
Read the guide →Monthly briefings
What opened, what closed and what the numbers say, month by month. Written on the date shown — older editions are a record of that month, not a live list.
US Music Funding in September 2026: Stop Waiting for a Season That Isn't Coming
Europe has 58 music funding deadlines this September. America has 13. Here's where the US money actually lives, what it's really worth, and the seven funds open year-round.
Read the guide →European Music Funding in September 2026: 94 Deadlines in Eight Weeks
87% of Europe's confirmed music funding deadlines close by 31 October, then the calendar empties until spring. What's open, and how to choose the two applications worth writing.
Read the guide →US Music Funding in August 2026: There's No American Door Out
No US programme exists to send American artists abroad, while Austria, Germany, France and Canada all built one. Here are the three routes that work instead, and the six deadlines that landed on 1 September.
Read the guide →European Music Funding in August 2026: The Money Is for the Journey
Most of the European funding that opened that month pays you to travel, tour or showcase, not to record. Here's the mobility money, and how to actually win it.
Read the guide →Or go straight to what's open
Every guide points at live listings, but you can also start from the funding itself: music grants, residencies, fellowships, competitions and awards — or by country, starting with the UK, the USA and Spain.