Brussels, 23rd September 2019

Dear Member of the European Parliament,  

We are writing to you as a group of 26 organisations from across the music sector to ask you to support the Preparatory Action “Music Moves Europe: boosting European music diversity and talent” by adopting the corresponding amendment (CULT 5962) to the EU 2020 EU budget, and the proposed budget of €3 million. 

The proposal, which was tabled by a cross-party group of Members of the European Parliament – MEPs Frankowski (EPP), Verheyen (EPP), Ward (S&D), Magid (Greens), Ehler (EPP), Melbãrde (ECR), Nienaß (Greens), Winkler (EPP) and Pollák (EPP) – was marked “A” by the Commission,  has the full support of its Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC), and was adopted by the Culture and Education committee on 4 September.

Now that the proposed amendments to the 2020 general budget are heading to the Budget committee for consideration, we are writing to reaffirm the support of the European music sector for this Preparatory Action.

The idea of Music Moves Europe is to pave the way towards sectorial support for music in the future Creative Europe programme 2021-2027, in line with the European Commission’s Creative Europe 2021-2027 proposal and the European Parliament’s Creative Europe Resolution which both highlight the need to increase the focus of the future programme on music.

With only around 3,5% of the current Creative Europe budget going to music-related projects, music is one of the most underrepresented sectors in Creative Europe, which itself only represents 0,16% of the overall EU budget. 

The ‘Music Moves Europe’ Preparatory Action helps test projects that could be replicated on a larger scale in the next Creative Europe programme. You will find attached the 2019 brochure with an overview of all the calls planned under this year’s edition. 

We are very grateful for the support of the European Parliament for the first two editions of Music Moves Europe (with budgets of respectively €1.5m in 2018 and €3m in 2019), and we hope we can count on you to support the Culture committee’s proposed amendment and budget for the third edition of the Preparatory Action.

Kind regards,

The undersigned organisations:

AEC (Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen)
DME (Digital Music Europe)
EJN (Europe Jazz Network)
ECA-EC (European Choral Association – Europa Cantat)
ECSA (European Composer and Songwriter Alliance)
ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation)
EMMA (European Music Managers Alliance)
EMC (European Music Council)
EMEE (European Music Exporters Exchange)
EMU (European Music School Union)
Europavox
Eurosonic Noorderslag
GESAC (European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers)
IAO (International Artist Organisation)
ICMP (The Global Voice of Music Publishing)
IMPALA (Independent Music Companies Association)
IMPF (Independent Music Publishers International Forum)
IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)
IMMF (International Music Manager Forum)
INES (Innovation Network of European Showcases)
JMI (Jeunesses Musicales International)
Live DMA (European network for music venues and festivals)
Liveurope (The live music platform for new European talent)
REMA (Early Music in Europe)
SHAPE (Sound Heterogeneous Art and Performance in Europe)
Yourope 

About IMPALA

IMPALA was established in April 2000 to represent independent music companies. 99% of Europe’s music companies are SMEs. Known as the “independents”, they are world leaders in terms of innovation and discovering new music and artists – they produce more than 80% of all new releases and account for 80% of the sector’s jobs (for more information, see the features of independents). IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector, return more value to artists, promote cultural diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political access and modernise perceptions of the music sector. IMPALA has its own award schemes which highlight the artistic contribution of independent music. IMPALA award winning artists include Viagra Boys who was voted winner of the last Album of the Year Award, Caribou, Agnes Obel, José González, Guadalupe Plata, The xx, Armin van Buuren, Adele, Mogwai, Metronomy, Orelsan and Andrea Bocelli.