No Line on Horizon for musicians as €6m funding strikes bum note
TRAVELLING abroad as an Irish person is one of those wonderful things in life we take for granted. To be Irish is to be welcome everywhere we go. You mention you’re Irish and you get an instant smile back and maybe a ‘U2’ if the country you happen to find yourself in is not of the English speaking variety.
Travel itself has been on my mind a lot lately. In those halcyon days of my twenties and early thirties I got to travel a lot and everywhere I went, from San Sebastian to Salvador, Brazil, my travel partner and I were greeted with friendliness and warmth. Music is ingrained in our DNA. Whether it is traditional, hip hop or rock, we, as a nation, have punched well above our weight on the international scene.
Much of my travel was in America and as soon as you clarified that you’re Irish and not English, among the first topics of conversation was either The Cranberries, U2, Riverdance or Enya.
Music is a transcending art; one which unites people across oceans and seas. It is an art form and sector which has lifted people out of their anxiety during Covid-19 as artists have taken to Facebook and Youtube to perform for free, borne of their passion for song.
Minister for Culture, Arts, Media, Tourism, Sport and the Gaeltacht, Catherine Martin, announced a package of €6m to support the promotion of live music events, songwriting, album releases and music PR last week.
€6m!
The bank bailout has cost the Irish taxpayer more than €60 billion. Under the new Live Performance Support Scheme, €5m is being made available to commercial venues, promoters and producers who do
not ordinarily receive public funding. Promoters can apply for grants from €10,000 to a maximum of €800,000 which can be used to fund 75 per cent of eligible costs. The aim is to assist live performances to go ahead where capacity is restricted and to offset costs that may be caused by the pandemic.
The minister has also announced €1m for a Music Industry Stimulus Package that is being managed by the music organisation First Music Contact. The initiative includes three schemes – Songwriting Stimulus, Recording Stimulus, and Album Release Stimulus – which are aimed towards the popular and commercial music sector across all music genres, including rock, pop, hip hop, indie, jazz, country and western, traditional and folk. Under the songwriting scheme, €6,000 is available for ‘Songwriting Camps’, defined as two or more IMRO-registered songwriters engaging with a studio
or producers to collaborate on new works; the Recording Stimulus scheme provides grants of €1,200 for a single, €4,000 for an EP, and €6,000 for an album; while the Album Release Stimulus scheme provides a grant to the value of €5,000 to cover the cost of hiring an Irish-based PR Company, credit with the music distribution company Yangaroo, and a contribution towards the costs of the production of the recording.
Is this tokenism the value we place on our musicians?
Some musicians rely entirely on performing to make a living. In Germany, they would get €1,000 per month. German venues have received massive funding to offset their losses due to Covid-19.
While virtually all other sectors have been given generous supports, €6m strikes a bum note leaving artists stuck in a moment they can’t get out of.