FAQ International Export Funding for Music Companies

The start dates, deadlines, and related information will be announced in a timely manner on our website and via our newsletter.

The application phase dates can also be found in our calendar.

Applications must be completed online and submitted by 12:00 PM on the submission deadline of the respective funding round. Only fully completed, correctly formatted, and timely submitted applications can be considered.

Applications are formally reviewed by Initiative Musik; if documents are incomplete or contain errors, additional documentation may be requested and must be submitted within five days. For this reason, it is recommended to submit applications as early as possible.

All formally correct and complete applications are evaluated by a professional jury. All approvals and rejections are based on the majority decisions of the jury. Individual jury decisions are neither made public nor explained to the applicants.

There is no limit to the number of applications that can be submitted. However, International Export Funding for music companies can be awarded a maximum of three times per calendar year. The maximum total funding per company per year is €35,000.

No applicant or co-applicant, including legally independent subsidiaries or affiliated companies according to §15 of the German Stock Corporation Act, may receive more than €100,000 in funding from Initiative Musik per year.

The review and jury voting process usually takes about 5 to 6 weeks.

The project start, and therefore the start of all measures, may only begin after the funding approval. The earliest possible project start defines the earliest service, invoice, and payment dates for all activities that can be accounted for with the funding.

All services, invoices, and payments related to the project must occur within the project period.

The International Export Funding for Music Companies program is open to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as self-employed professionals in the German music industry. This includes, for example, labels, management companies, agencies, publishers, producers, entrepreneurial artists, and other service providers with an international focus.

Applicants must significantly contribute to the international development of artists from Germany.

For questions, our Export Team is available. The current contact persons and consultation hours can be found on our website.

In principle, this is possible, but it is likely to be of limited success to reapply with the same project.
Before submitting a new application, it is recommended to improve the initial situation, set realistic goals, and clearly define project objectives and content orientation in the new application.

A new application must be submitted for each re-application.

The funding rate is degressive and depends on the total project costs. This means: the higher the total costs, the lower the percentage of funding.
The requested funding amount may be up to 60% of total costs and cannot exceed €20,000.

Yes, this is not a formal exclusion criterion. While the program focuses on high-demand target markets such as the USA, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Europe (especially the UK, France, the Benelux countries, and the Nordic countries), other countries may also be considered if there is evidence of a following or contacts via agents, management, or social media.

In principle, applications for other Initiative Musik funding programs can be submitted simultaneously.
It is important that the measures supported by International Export Funding are not part of another funding application, in order to avoid double funding, which is not permitted.

The application form must be completed fully online, including detailed information about the applicant/company, export strategy, project description, and planned activities.

In addition, the application must include:

• a short profile of the applicant,
• a financing plan (using the Excel template provided by Initiative Musik),
• proof of official registration (see program description International Export Funding for Music Companies VI. Application Documents),

The short description should provide a concise summary of the essential aspects of the company’s music-related activities, including any represented artists/bands if applicable.
A general resume or CV is not required.

This refers to an extract from the commercial register or association register.
If such a registration does not exist, an alternative such as a trade registration (Gewerbeanmeldung) or, for self-employed individuals, a confirmation of tax number assignment is accepted.

The document must clearly indicate who is legally authorized to represent the company.
The official registration should be current (not older than one year).

The International Export Funding for Music Companies aims primarily to facilitate entry into international music markets or support further establishment in these markets.

Therefore, the project description should specify concrete, measurable goals to evaluate success.
Examples include: number of new contacts, number of completed meetings, follow-up contracts or bookings.
It is also possible to include non-measurable goals.

The project description must list all planned activities of the project. For the application, you should first describe the initial situation of the company and the participating artists. You should then explain the project idea and how it fits into the export strategy, i.e. how the project contributes to making the company and, if applicable, the artists known internationally.

Subsequently, you should explain how the project will be implemented in practice and which artists and companies are involved. In addition, it is important to explain which objectives are to be achieved with the project. Finally, a timeline with all key dates and steps of the project should be provided.

General:
For an application for International Export Funding for Music Companies, only the financing plan template provided by Initiative Musik may be used.

The financing plan must be submitted exclusively in native Excel format (xls/xlsx). Please edit the template only in Microsoft Excel or in the current version of the free LibreOffice. Conversion into Apple Numbers damages the functionality of the template and may ultimately lead to arithmetically incorrect results. Editing the template with Apple Numbers does not meet the formal requirements.

As a rule, purchases cannot be subsidized within the framework of project funding.

Travel and accommodation costs:
Travel and accommodation costs are budgeted and accounted for in accordance with the German Federal Travel Expenses Act.

For the accounting of travel expenses for stays abroad, the Regulation on Travel Expense Reimbursement for Foreign Official Travel (ARV) and the General Administrative Regulation on the Reassessment of Foreign Daily and Overnight Allowances apply as a basis.

The corresponding foreign daily and overnight allowances are already stored in the financing plan template and in the numerical statement (planned vs. actual comparison).

Fees:
Please observe the information under the FAQ question: “Which minimum fees apply to funded projects?”

Own funds are cash funds contributed directly by the applicants from their own assets to finance the project, including income from sales or admission fees generated for the project during the funding period.

Third-party funds are cash funds contributed directly to finance the project by third parties or from other sources, such as sponsorships or crowdfunding.

With the application, applicants must confirm that they will raise and use the necessary own and third-party funds during the project period in the required stated amount to cover the own contribution.

Since 1 July 2024, minimum fee thresholds apply. Projects that are funded under this program in accordance with the submitted financing plan with a funding share of at least 50% or more must comply with minimum fee thresholds for artistic and creative freelance services. Fees are only eligible for funding if these minimum thresholds are observed.

A remuneration recommendation from the currently valid nationwide recommendations of professional and federal associations and trade unions must be applied. In the expenditure report, it must be justified which fee recommendation was used.

As funding recipients, you are obliged to inform yourselves independently about the applicable minimum fee recommendations in the music sector. An overview of fee recommendations can be found on the website of the German Cultural Council.

In principle, only costs that are incurred solely and directly as a result of the project may be budgeted. If you submit an application as a freelancer or sole trader and wish to perform paid work within the project, this is generally possible subject to compliance with the applicable requirements.

Due to freelance status, there is no employment subject to social insurance contributions, and therefore these are not personnel costs in the strict sense. It is not possible to issue an invoice to oneself within the project, and therefore these are also not material expenses in the sense of a fee.

The work can nevertheless be funded if a detailed record of working time is kept (days, hours, activities within the project). A maximum daily rate of EUR 500 applies. In total, the applicant’s own contribution in the project may not exceed 15% of the total eligible expenditure.

Self-performed work cannot be used as a means of coverage to meet the required own contribution to the total expenditure.

Only expenses for rentals from commercial providers that are supported by complete invoices including VAT disclosure can be recognized.
Costs for non-commercial Airbnb accommodation can only be accounted for as a flat-rate private overnight stay without receipt.

Project-related expenses for promotional activities may be funded. These include, for example, social media activities, PR and marketing campaigns, tour posters and flyers, photography, video, etc., provided they can be directly attributed to the project.

General expenses (e.g. for a photo shoot) are not eligible for funding.

Applicants who disseminate anti-constitutional, unlawful, or criminal content, or who place violence-glorifying or youth-endangering emphases in their activities, are excluded from funding. The guidelines of Initiative Musik apply.

Additional funding from federal states or municipalities is generally compatible but must be declared at the time of application.
In order to avoid double funding, projects that already receive federal funding (e.g. from the Goethe-Institut or the Music Fund) are excluded from International Export Funding for Music Companies provided by Initiative Musik.

The application must be submitted online by the deadline. After submission, an automated email is sent confirming receipt of the application. The status of the application can also be viewed at any time in the application management portal.

It may happen that email notifications are filtered into the spam folder—please check this first. If the deadline is approaching, please contact Initiative Musik by email or telephone.

In the event of technical issues, please contact nuclos@initiative-musik.de, stating the project number and providing a detailed description of the problem, including screenshots where possible.

Applications for the International Export Funding for Music Companies must generally be submitted by authorized signatories of the applying company. If the application is submitted by a person with power of representation, a power of attorney from the company management must be provided.

The role/function of the contact person, however, may also be assumed by another person who is not authorized to sign. In this case, both the contact person and the entrepreneur/company representative must register in the application tool.

To prevent malicious activity and reduce server load, all uploads are subject to size limits. For practical reasons, certain uploads are also restricted by file type. The following limits generally apply depending on the file format:

• .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ods, .txt: 2 MB
• .pdf, .msg: 1 MB
• .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .bmp, .tiff: 6 MB
• .mp3: 8 MB

Other file types are not permitted.

Due to filename restrictions in Microsoft Windows, file names must also not contain the following characters:
~ “ # % & * : < > ? / \ { | }

Invitations can be found under Menu → Home in the section “My Requests”. Please click “Open” in the “Link” column.

Please also check your spam folder.

If a user account already exists, please ensure that the invitation request is sent to the primary email address of the account. This address can be found under Menu → Contact, on the left-hand side under User Account. Invitations sent to, for example, Additional Email Address 1 or 2 will not appear in the invitation overview. Please ensure that the email addresses match exactly

Please note that editing mode must be actively ended before another person—or you yourself—can accept an invitation. To accept the invitation, end editing mode by clicking “End editing mode”. The application should then display a red indicator and show the status “Online Application Entry”.
Important: Logging out of the system does not end editing mode.

Only one person can work on an application at a time, including accepting invitations.

Please note that invitations are valid for 24 hours only.

The person who sent the invitation can view its status either within the respective application or under Menu → Home → “My Requests”.

Incorrectly sent invitations can be withdrawn within the application by clicking “Withdraw invitation”.

In addition, as long as the application has not yet been submitted, invitations for roles (contact person, artist) can be resent at any time by clicking “Invite contact”. This is also possible if the mistakenly invited person has already accepted the invitation and assumed the role. In this case, you simply need to confirm that you wish to reassign the role.

In principle, the application can be submitted using all common browsers. However, we observe that issues occur more frequently in Edge and Safari. We therefore recommend using Chrome or Firefox.

Please note: There are two weekly maintenance windows during which the application portal may be temporarily unavailable:

Monday: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Thursday: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Please try again after these times.

After the funding is approved and the funding agreement is signed, access to the approved funding amount is granted, minus a 10% retention, which will only be paid out after the project has been accounted for.

As a general rule, own funds and third-party funds should be used first, wherever available and economically feasible, to cover costs. Funding can be requested during the project as needed, and if necessary multiple times in advance for periods of six weeks, to finance uncovered costs.

More detailed information about the procedure will be provided after the funding is approved.

Unfortunately, a subsequent increase of the approved funding amount, i.e. additional funding, is generally not possible.
In the event of unexpected, cost-neutral reallocations within individual budget items, these must be reported in advance, i.e. before the respective measure is implemented, and must be approved on a case-by-case basis by the project management.

No. The maximum approved funding amount cannot be increased after approval.

Changes such as last-minute cancellations of performances or other unforeseen deviations must be reported to Initiative Musik immediately. Such changes may result in the approved funding being reduced or withdrawn entirely.

Proof is provided by bank statements showing the funding payments, with the project number and project name indicated as a federal grant, in conjunction with the funding agreement, which serves as the basis for the payments.

Once funding is approved, it is mandatory to include the following two logos in the specified order, along with the funding note, on all media related to the project:

• Initiative Musik logo
• Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM) logo
• Funding note (“Supported by / Gefördert von:”)

All project-related media (e.g., audio/video media, posters, flyers, books, film products, invitations, websites, press releases, press invitations, programs) must display the logos and the funding note in coordination with the project team.

The logos may only be used in the approved versions, meaning shape and colors may not be altered. Approval of logos is provided by the project supervisor.

The logos must be used at the same size. The logo of the project holder/project itself should be clearly emphasized. Funding logos should occupy no more than 5% of the visible area. The core message of project-related media must be clearly separated from the funding acknowledgment.

For website use, the logos must be hyperlinked. Any deviations from these specifications must be approved in writing by the project supervisor beforehand.
It is the responsibility of the project holder to ensure that the Initiative Musik logo guidelines (for the Initiative Musik logo) and the Federal Government style guide (e.g., for the BKM logo) are followed. This also applies to media produced by third parties on behalf of the project holder. Logos and acknowledgments for special programs under which funding is provided must also be published.

All services, invoices, and payments associated with the project must occur within the project period.

The earliest possible project start date defines the earliest possible service, invoice, and payment date for all measures that can be accounted for with the funding. If any of these three dates for a measure occur before this date, the measure cannot be included in the funding and must not be listed in the submitted budget and financing plan.

Initiative Musik is a member of Keychange, an initiative promoting gender equality in the music industry. By 2029, we aim to support at least 50% FLINTA* [1] through our funding programs, projects, and awards. The goal of this target is to track and promote the actual participation of FLINTA individuals* in the music industry. A summary of Initiative Musik’s Keychange objectives can be found here.

To achieve this goal, we request your support by participating in our Keychange survey. Information about whether someone belongs to the FLINTA group* can only be provided voluntarily by the individual. Participation in the survey is confidential and conducted in accordance with Initiative Musik’s data protection regulations. Participation in the Keychange survey has no impact on eligibility for funding or participation in the project.

[1] FLINTA* stands for Women, Lesbians, Inter*, Non-binary, Trans*, and Agender persons. The asterisk (*) indicates inclusivity of additional groups not explicitly named, who do not identify as cis-male. “Cis” describes individuals whose gender identity matches the sex assigned at birth. Trans men are therefore included in the FLINTA* definition. The term emphasizes that other gender identities besides women are also affected by gender-based discrimination.

The expenditure report must be completed in full online via the Initiative Musik online portal.

In the expenditure report, income and expenses are presented in a plausible manner by means of a numerical report (planned–actual comparison) and a list of receipts. Initiative Musik also reserves the right to request supporting documents or receipts for the entire funding on a random basis.

The numerical report (planned–actual comparison) must be prepared using the template provided by Initiative Musik. On the basis of the valid financial plan and the originally approved budget, the actual income and expenses incurred are compared. The template is available for download for each project in the online portal. The numerical report (planned–actual comparison) can be found under the second tab titled “Expenditure Report”, must be completed, and then uploaded again.

In addition, a narrative report must be submitted describing the results of the project. Activities carried out, in particular press and public relations measures, must be documented. Experience gained, project images, excerpts from media coverage (scans of press articles, screenshots of online reports, etc.), and the achievement of objectives must also be presented in the report.

Recipients of funding under the International Export Funding for Music Companies are exclusively the applicants/companies. Therefore, all invoices must be issued to the funding recipients or to the company.

In addition, all services charged must have been performed, invoiced, and paid within the project period in order to be eligible for funding.

Travel expenses are budgeted and accounted for in accordance with the German Federal Travel Expenses Act (Bundesreisekostengesetz).

For the settlement of travel expenses incurred during international trips, the Ordinance on the Reimbursement of Travel Expenses for Official Foreign Travel (Auslandsreisekostenverordnung – ARV) and the General Administrative Regulation on the Reassessment of Foreign Per Diem and Accommodation Allowances serve as the basis.

The applicable foreign per diem and accommodation allowances are already stored in the financial plan template and in the numerical report (planned–actual comparison).

There is no specified length; the content is more important.

The narrative report should explain to what extent the project was implemented according to plan and how successful the project was overall. It should include:

A review of the measures carried out,
Information on changes to the project,
An explanation of the extent to which the project objectives were achieved

No. Value-added tax (VAT) cannot be claimed. Funding is generally considered a grant without consideration, meaning that VAT is normally not applicable. A final assessment should always be carried out by the responsible tax office or tax advisor.

Tax-related questions must always be clarified individually with the respective tax advisor. As guidance, reference is made here to Section 10 of the German VAT Application Decree (Umsatzsteueranwendungserlass).

This information does not constitute binding tax advice. In case of doubt or for more detailed questions, please always consult a tax advisor or auditor.