Initiative Musik — International Export Funding for Music Companies

This is export money for companies rather than for artists directly. If you run a label, management, agency, publishing or production business registered in Germany, or work as an entrepreneurial artist with your own company, it pays part of the cost of taking your roster into markets abroad. Eligible activity is business-facing: travelling to international showcase festivals and industry conferences, running songwriting camps or co-writing sessions in other countries, targeted press and social campaigns in a specific market, and hiring outside booking, PR or production help on the ground. Ordinary public concerts and tours that sit outside an export strategy are not covered.

You need at least three years of documented business activity in the German music industry and evidence of having worked on the international development of artists from Germany. Priority goes to markets where you or your artists already have some foothold, through contacts, an agent or an online following, but are not yet properly present.

The grant is non-repayable, and the share it covers shrinks as your budget grows: up to 60 percent of a small project, falling to 40 percent once total costs reach EUR 50,000. EUR 20,000 is the ceiling on any single project and EUR 35,000 per company per year, across a maximum of three grants. Budgets under EUR 1,000 are not considered, and nothing may begin before you apply.

Applications go through an online portal and require proof of company registration, evidence of past export work, a portfolio of the artists concerned, and a project plan with schedule and financing. An independent jury weighs export potential, how plausible the strategy is and how lasting the results are likely to be. Decisions are not explained.