CREATIVE EUROPE AGREEMENT – TIME FOR A RENEWED AMBITION FOR MUSIC

Brussels, 14th December 2020,

CREATIVE EUROPE AGREEMENT – TIME FOR A RENEWED AMBITION FOR MUSIC

CULTURE ALSO GETS A BOOST ACROSS OTHER KEY EU PROGRAMMES

IMPALA welcomes today’s agreement on the next Creative Europe programme, the EU’s only programme dedicated to culture.   

With a budget of €2.2bn, the 7-year programme starting in 2021 will be the biggest yet. For the first time ever, specific sectoral actions for music will be introduced, on top of the traditional horizontal support for the cultural and creative sector.   

IMPALA’s Executive Chair Helen Smith, said: “The combination of an increased budget and a new focus on music opens up many opportunities in terms of funding for music projects. Building on all the work done with Music Moves Europe, which was designed to lay the ground for larger-scale support for the sector under Creative Europe, the EU should be able to show renewed ambition for music and hit the ground running ”.    

Recent EU studies show that while the European music sector is rich and diverse, it also faces many challenges: it is highly concentrated, EU repertoire does not travel well, funding schemes at national and European level fall short of the sector’s needs, data is scarce, the list is long…   

Helen Smith continued:  “We now look forward to hearing what the European Commission has in stock for music. At a time when our sector is severely impacted by the Covid crisis, but also by recent EU case-law which will have disastrous implications in terms of revenue and basic copyright principles unless addressed, the time is right for the EU to take a strategic and bold approach to its dynamic music ecosystem”.   

This follows two other agreements concluded last week which are of significant importance for the music sector. First, Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme 2021-2027, will introduce another first in the form of a €2.3bn cluster dedicated to research for cultural and creative industries. The second agreement is on the InvestEU Fund, which will provide an EU guarantee to support financing which cultural and creative SMEs will be able to benefit from. 

Helen Smith concluded: “Adding up all these programmes, and the funding opportunities they offer, we can see that the EU’s awareness of the value of the cultural and creative sector is growing. We now need to see how these budgets will translate into concrete projects and investment for music, an industry which has long been undervalued in EU programmes. We will pay particular attention to InvestEU, which should build on the achievements of the Cultural and Creative Sector Guarantee Facility.”  

IMPALA – Independent Music Companies Association

Rue des Deux Eglises 37-39, 1000, Brussels, BELGIUM

+32 2 503 31 38

info@impalamusic.org