PROFESSIONALISM
Applicants must be professionally active in the field of contemporary music.

RESIDENCE
Applicants or applicant organisations must have their place of residence or business in Germany, the planned project must (mainly) take place in Germany.

START OF PROJECT
Projects for which funding is applied for must not have started at the time of the funding decision by the Board of Trustees.

PRESENTATION
Proposed projects must be presented publicly.

DOUBLE FUNDING THROUGH FEDERAL FUNDS
The Musikfonds may not support projects that receive funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) or from an organisation permanently funded by the BKM. (These include, for example, the Federal Cultural Foundation, Capital City Cultural Fund, German Music Council, Initiative Musik, Performing Arts Fund, Sociocultural Fund e

The Music Fund supports all genres of contemporary music equally and is open to cross-genre and interdisciplinary approaches. A variety of event and presentation formats are conceivable, and artistic experimentation and research are the focus of funding.

The Musikfonds differentiates between the following genres:

• Composer-performer/real-time music
• Electronic music (in the context of experimental club music, electronica)
• Electronic or electro-acoustic music (context new music)
• Experimental pop, rock or hip hop
• Interdisciplinary (no purely musical formats, inclusion of art forms such as dance, literature, photography, etc.)
• Experimental jazz/improvised music
• Sound art (installation or exhibition formats)
• New music (classically influenced contemporary music)
• Transtraditional music
• Vocal music (including choral music)

Music theatre projects can be applied for from the Performing Arts Fund.

Music projects without a clearly recognisable experimental, professional reference are not in the funding focus of the Musikfonds have little prospect of funding. 

The aim of the Musikfonds  is to promote contemporary music of all genres in all its diversity and complexity. The Music Fund focusses on highly ambitious music, which grasps art as a purpose in itself, as an existential-creative necessity or consequence of an indispensable will to express itself and is not commercially oriented. With radiance and depth, it is independent, forward-looking and experimental, ahead of its time and visionary, explosive, controversial, provocative and thus also formative for established, economically viable parts of the music business.

The Musikfonds supports avant-garde music of all genres, including new music and contemporary modernism; jazz and improvised music; free music and real-time music; electronic and electro-acoustic music; experimental hip-hop, pop and rock; radical trends in DJing and dance music; audio installations and sound art. With its funding measures, the Musikfonds also addresses all genre-spanning intermediate areas and interdisciplinary approaches of current music production from subculture to high culture.

In accordance with its statutes, the Musikfonds e.V. supports outstanding projects in all areas of contemporary music that are characterised by their quality, make an exemplary contribution to the artistic development of music and, when viewed together, make the overall national significance of the funding visible. In addition to project funding, other funding (e.g. temporary scholarships or scholarship-type funding) can also be awarded within the framework of corresponding programmes.

Natural and legal persons, i.e. artists, musicians, composers, bands or ensembles of all sizes as well as institutions are eligible to apply. The Musikfonds primarily supports the professional, independent music scene. This does not exclude the inclusion of amateurs; however, purely amateur music projects are excluded from the application process.

Applicants must be based or resident in Germany. International collaborations are possible and encouraged. However, funded projects must be realised with a focus on Germany and have a clearly recognisable connection to musical life in Germany.

The Musikfonds supports temporary projects with a maximum of 50,000 euros or grants within the framework of the respective programmes. Permanent funding (regular or institutional funding) is excluded. Funding for purchases (e.g. of instruments) is also generally excluded. 

In exceptional cases or as part of special programmes, funding for multi-year projects is possible. In these cases, the funding must be strictly limited to a maximum period of three years, whereby the funding may not exceed an amount of 50,000 euros per year.

Funding is generally granted as fixed-amount funding. In principle, the funding requires co-financing of at least 10 per cent of the total expenditure. The funding should be used in such a way that further private and/or public sources of funding are tapped.

Projects for which funding is applied for must not have begun at the time of the funding decision by the Board of Trustees (or another jury appointed by the fund).

The Musikfonds may not support projects that receive funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) or from an organisation permanently funded by the BKM (e.g. Federal Cultural Foundation, Capital Cultural Fund, German Music Council, Initiative Musik, Performing Arts Fund, Sociocultural Fund). The funding of the Musikfonds from BKM resources is subject to the availability of the budgeted funds as well as any management measures and blocks.

Within the framework of the triad of ‘work - interpretation - event / mediation’ mentioned in the penultimate paragraph of these funding principles, the production of sound and image carriers can be a partial component of funding, especially in the case of innovative forms of documentation.

These funding principles are supplemented by funding regulations that contain information for applicants and relevant funding regulations. The funding regulations are adopted by the Board of Trustees of Musikfonds e.V. in agreement with the General Assembly.

General project funding is at the centre of the Musikfonds. Special application conditions and objectives can be formulated for applications in specific areas.

The triad ‘work - interpretation - event/mediation’ is at the centre of project funding. However, applications can also be submitted for sub-areas.

Two funding rounds are planned per year. There is no entitlement to funding.

1. The Musikfonds programmes are aimed at outstanding projects/applicants from all areas of contemporary music that meet the requirements of the funding principles.
2. Natural and legal persons are eligible to apply. Applicants must be active in the field of professional contemporary music. This does not exclude the inclusion of amateurs in funded projects; however, purely amateur music projects are excluded from application.
3. Applicants must be based or resident in Germany. International collaborations are possible and welcome. However, funded projects must be realised with a focus on Germany and have a clearly recognisable connection to musical life in Germany.
4. Applications for the Musikfonds Large Project Funding Programme must be submitted by 31 March and 30 September. Projects for which funding is requested must not have begun at the time of the funding decision (approx. two months after the application deadline), i.e. no expenditure must have been incurred or contracts concluded. The application deadlines for additional funding programmes (e.g. scholarships or special programmes) will be announced as part of the respective calls for proposals.
5. Applications must be submitted via the online application system at www.musikfonds.de. Applications must be submitted online only.
6. An application is considered to have been submitted on time if it has been submitted online by the end of the day of the application deadline (no later than 18:00 CET). Late or incomplete applications cannot be considered.
7. There is no entitlement to funding. Payments will only be made after a funding agreement has been concluded.
8. A prerequisite for project funding is the existence of a balanced cost and financing plan. Funding generally requires co-financing of at least 10 per cent of the total expenditure. Co-financing may include complementary funds from other public funding bodies (e.g. federal states, local authorities), own funds, earmarked grants from third parties (public bodies, foundations, sponsoring, donations) as well as ticket sales and participation fees.
9. The Musikfonds funding programme provides a maximum of 50,000 euros in funding. The Musikfonds does not support projects that receive funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) or from an organisation permanently funded by the BKM (e.g. Federal Cultural Foundation, Capital City Cultural Fund, German Music Council, Initiative Musik, Fonds Darstellende Künste, Fonds Soziokultur).
10. In particular, the following are eligible for funding Artistic fees, taking into account the mandatory requirements for lower fee limits applicable since 1 July 2024, project-related personnel costs, travel and accommodation costs in accordance with the Federal Travel Expenses Act (BRKG) and production costs. In all other respects, the General Auxiliary Provisions for Project Funding (ANBest-P) apply. 
11. In particular, the following are not eligible for funding: Charity events, competitions and acquisition measures (e.g. instruments, electronic devices, furniture). 
12. It must be ensured that the funded projects are carried out within the framework of free democratic fundamental rights and that no inhuman, anti-constitutional or criminal content is disseminated in the course of project implementation. In the event of non-compliance, funding may be subsequently cancelled and reclaimed. 
13. Permanent funding (regular or institutional funding) is excluded. In exceptional cases or as part of special programmes, funding for projects lasting several years is possible. In these cases, funding must be strictly limited to a period of three consecutive years, whereby funding may not exceed EUR 50,000 per year.

These four texts must make the artistic concept and formal structure of your project as easy to understand as possible.

• Short description of the project (max. 1000 characters)
  Please describe the core of your project as specifically and briefly as possible. You are welcome to use the typical ‘W questions’ as a guide: What? Who? When? Where?
• Project goals (max. 750 characters)
  What is the intended impact of the project? W-question: Why? Why?
• Target group and publicity measures (max. 500 characters) 
  What audience do you want to reach and what publicity measures are you aiming for?
• Reasons for funding (max. 300 characters) 
  What is particularly worthy of funding in your project? What is the innovation potential? What is the unique selling point?

You have the option of uploading music samples in the form of web links in the application form (max. 5 links, ad-free, preferably bandcamp/soundcloud or dropbox/google drive). Please do not present drive folders with multiple files, but only 1 music sample per link.

Please briefly describe the music samples and their relation to the project in the application form (e.g. names of the musicians involved, year of recording, title of the work). Even if there are no music samples for the project applied for, there should be a clear reference to it (participating artists). 

The application must be accompanied by 3 documents in the form of uploads (PDF, max. 5 MB/file):

• detailed project description (max. 5 pages)
• Venue certificate(s) or letter(s) of intent from the venue(s)
  Each specified event date should be documented with a letter of intent. Only one file can be uploaded, please combine several certificates into one PDF document.
• Short biographies of the participating artists
  The short biographies of all participating artists/ensembles/bands should not be longer than one paragraph each. Here you have the option of providing links to the personal websites of the participating artists/ensembles/bands.

The use of the financing plan provided by the Musikfonds in the application tool is mandatory.

To prepare your application, we recommend using the example (see Downloads). It has the same structure as the financing plan in the application tool.
Please ensure that the financing plan is consistent/plausible. A comprehensible and transparent breakdown of income and expenditure makes it easier to assess the application.