Program Description Live 500 IV

Live music venues and events play an indispensable role in the diverse music scene in Germany. Situated between creative subculture, established clubs, and concert halls, they ensure local musical basic services in metropolises, cities, and rural areas. Music venues are places for artistic experimentation; their operators identify talent and trends and provide spaces where (emerging) artists to test, present themselves to an audience, and advance their careers.

In the current challenging economic climate, many live music venues and organizers increasingly focus on established musicians. Concert formats featuring newcomers, less popular, or experimental genres are at risk of fading into the background. The Live 500 IV funding program aims to address this issue. It seeks to ensure the continuation of culturally diverse live music programs in the field of popular music. Furthermore, it aims to support small- to medium-sized music venues and event organizers in creating more diverse programming and ensuring fairer compensation for artists, thereby fostering greater cultural participation. Finally, Live 500 IV also aims to strengthen rural and culturally structurally weaker regions, as low-threshold cultural offerings in these areas are often essential to social cohesion and the quality of life there.

The unique structure of the program supports both live music venues and organizers and the performing artists with a subsidy.

Funding is available for live music events that meet the criteria listed below and take place during the project period (beginning with the signing of the grant agreement through December 31, 2027).

Live music events, in this sense, are curated performances by musicians (including events with artistic DJs) generally on a stage in front of an audience. Specific promotion has been done for the concerts. The audience has come because of the musical performance; One or more artists or bands play 100% live. At least 50% of the repertoire is original material. Multiple performances on the same day at the same venue count as a single live music event.

Eligible live music events must also meet the following criteria:

• The maximum entrance fee is 25 EUR net per person.
• A maximum of 250 paying guests per concert participate. For live music events with predominantly artistic DJs, a maximum limit of 500 paying guests applies. Concerts with pay as you wish entry and free concerts targeting the general public can be submitted if all other regulations are fulfilled.
• Diverse program planning must be demonstrated for the funded concerts: at least 50% of the performing artists (voluntarily) identify with one or more of the following underrepresented groups in the music industry: FLINTA* people, LGBTQIA* people, people with experience of racism or antisemitism, persons with disabilities. Further information on the background and goals of this diversity quota is described in the FAQs of Initiative Musik.
• Artists or bands receive a fair fee/remuneration. In order to ensure fair fee for artists, recipients of funding under this programme must pay a guaranteed fee of EUR 150 per solo artist or EUR 250 per duo/band in addition to the fee subsidy of EUR 250 through the funding. This regulation also applies to free concerts and concerts on a donation basis.
• Live music events are reported to and settled with GEMA. Live music events with artists or bands that are not GEMA members can be considered. However, the concerts must still be reported to GEMA.
• Artists and bands are eligible for funding only once as part of a live music event billed through Live 500 IV.
• The same live music events may not receive duplicate funding from different recipients under Live 500 IV, e.g., a music club and an event organizer, or Organizer A and Organizer B.
• Likewise, funding through Live 500 IV is not available if the same live music event is already receiving funding through Live 500 III on the same day.Sofern für dieselben Livemusikveranstaltungen Bundesmittel gewährt werden, dürfen diese nicht über das Programm Live 500 IV beantragt oder gefördert werden.
• The live music events take place in Germany.

Eligible applicants are natural persons, legal entities with legal capacity, or partnerships based in Germany. These include:

Operators of live music venues with a capacity of a maximum of 1.000 unseated places

• located in the Federal Republic of Germany;
  • where a minimum number of live music events in all genres except classical music take place, broken down as follows:
    • at least 12 in rural areas with up to 20,000 residents
    • at least 18 in cities with 20,001 to 50,000 residents
    • at least 24 in cities with 50,001 or more residents
  • Live music events featuring various artists must be verifiable as having taken place between September 2025 and the first day of the application period;
  • who bear the main responsibility for the content and finances of these live music events.

or

Organizers

• who do not operate their own music club;
• who are located in Germany;
• can demonstrate that, between September 2025 and the first day of the application period, they have held at least 12 live music events or a thematically cohesive series of events comprising at least 6 live music events over a period of at least 12 weeks;
• whose respective events in the reference period do not exceed a maximum of 500 paying guests;
• who bear the main responsibility for the content and finances of these live music events;
• where all venues for the proven live music events were not more than 100 km apart.

The following are not eligible to apply:

• Venues or event organizers that received and utilized a Live 500 grant in the second and third funding rounds in a row.
• Venues or event organizers whose music program is not open to the public or is open exclusively to members.
• Legal entities under public law, as well as legal entities and partnerships in which legal entities under public law are the majority shareholders.
• Operators who received 40 % or more in public funds for the basic financing of their business operations. The reference year for this is 2025. Nonprofit organizations are excluded.
• Conference and event centres/halls, recording studios and community halls
• Open-air stages, conference and temporary structures (e.g. mobile stages) are generally not eligible for funding. However, Initiative Musik reserves the right to grant funding in exceptional cases after individual review, provided that the venue sufficiently meets the criteria.
• Music venues that disseminate content that is degrading to human dignity or ideologies of inequality, or that provide a platform for such content, and that violate the guidelines of the Initiative Musik.

For each music club/license or company/person, only one application for Live 500 can be submitted at most.

The funding is provided as a non-repayable grant in the form of a fixed-amount payment as part of a project funding program. The relevant terms and conditions are included in the funding agreements.

A minimum of 6 and a maximum of 20 live music events will be supported with a grant of EUR 500 each, focussing in particular on up-and-coming musicians, less popular genres and experimental formats.

Half of the subsidy – 250 EUR – goes to the respective performing band or act.

The funding application must be submitted to Initiative Musik in digital form. The provided application form must be completed on the online application portal and submitted exclusively online. Details regarding type and scope must be taken from the form. If submitting the application online is a barrier for individual applicants, an application may also be submitted by post after prior consultation. The documents specified in the application form must be uploaded with the application.

The online application period runs from October 6, 2026 (12:00 p.m.) through October 20, 2026 (12:00 p.m.).

Applications will be reviewed in the order they are received (by submission date) for accuracy and completeness, and decisions will be made taking into account a 50:50 distribution between urban and non-urban areas. The “non-urban areas” category includes localities with fewer than 100,000 residents; localities with 100,000 or more residents are considered in the “urban areas” category.

Applications are considered formally submitted only once all supporting documents have been received for review. If the application is successfully reviewed, a funding commitment can be made, provided that the funding allocation for urban or non-urban areas has not yet been exhausted.

Applications that are submitted on time, are complete and meet all formal requirements, and have been successfully reviewed, but for which the funding allocation from the respective funding pool (urban or non-urban) has already been exhausted, will be placed on a waiting list. After the application deadline has passed, any remaining funds may be allocated to applicants on the waiting list (in the order in which their applications were submitted).

Any pending or ongoing insolvency proceedings involving the applicants, and any outstanding debts owed to Initiative Musik, generally preclude the approval of a grant. In justified individual cases, however, Initiative Musik may, after review, still offer the prospect of a grant.

Funding is granted through the digital execution of a private-law funding agreement exclusively on a case-by-case basis. It is a one-time grant and does not entitle the recipient to further funding or an increase in the amount of funding.

The project period starts with the completion of the funding contract and ends no later than December 31, 2027. Funding is not granted for activities that take place outside the specified project period. However, the funding application may be combined with a justified request for an early start of the project, provided that it does not affect its eligibility for funding. The requested start date of the proposed project may not be earlier than the date of application.

Upon conclusion of the funding agreement, the funds will be disbursed only after a successful review of an interim report or, if applicable, the final expenditure report. An interim report may be submitted after at least three concerts have been held, and a corresponding partial payment requested. It is also possible to request the full amount of the funding after all concerts have been held as part of the final expenditure report.

Payments are only possible for concerts that demonstrably meet the criteria listed under “Extent of Funding” and that are proven to be fully completed. The required documents for settlement must be uploaded to the funding portal. Detailed information on the required documentation and supporting materials is provided in the Initiative Musik FAQs.

Further details are specified in the General Funding Conditions and the Funding Principles of Initiative Musik.

After the project has been completed, Initiative Musik will review the report on the use of funds—which must be submitted no later than February 28, 2028—to determine whether the funds were used and the project was carried out in accordance with the application and contract.

As part of the review of the report on the use of funds, Initiative Musik will determine whether the 50% diversity quota specified under “Object of Funding” was achieved with respect to the project as a whole. If this is not the case, a self-declaration by the grantee may be accepted in justified exceptional cases following an in-depth review (see FAQ). The funded project is considered completed only after the statement of account has been successfully reviewed.

The terms and conditions of the funding program described here come into effect on the date of their publication and apply until December 31, 2028.