ACTIVITES

European Border Breaker Award 2006

Border Breaker Winners

Breakthrough Award

Name	Album	Label	Country
Heaven Street Seven	Szállj ki és gyalogolj	Warner Music	Hungary

The European Music Platform

The European music sector benefits from a particularly rich diversity and is a very important sector in cultural, economic and social terms.
In order to promote the cultural diversity of the European music sector, the national and European public authorities are being asked to support this sector and to implement a specific support programme for music, as they do with other cultural industries, namely the film industry.

The main objective of such a programme is the development of the music activities and thereby a higher level of competitiveness on the international market for the music sector.

EMO supports the idea that there is a need to gather together all music industry actors so that they jointly propose sets of actions in line with the EU policy and fruitful to the whole chain of the music industry. This is the concept of the European Music Platform gathering the national promotion organisations in the EU Members States.

Pilots actions

For EMO, the idea of the music industry being united in its request for a support programme, as well as for the concept of a music platform, must already be reflected in the pilot actions, even at such a small scale. It will help the EU and all the involved partners from the industry to figure out how a support programme could work in the future.

That is why, EMO has proposed to the European Commission to present one global project that includes several actions, each action reflecting one of the priorities listed for the future music programme. Moreover, this pilot project will be proposed under the aegis of and will be co-ordinated by a first pre-figuration of platform.

A grant agreement between EMO and the European Commission has been signed on 19 December 2003 and the implementation of the projects began straight forward. A second agreement has been signed in 2004.

EMO proposal

The actions reflect the main wishes of the professional organisations on the way they believe the music sector should be supported. It has the aim to demonstrate at a smaller scale how a European Community music industry support tool could work with efficiency, and to be an example to follow when proposing support to music industry within the new EU cultural programme.

It must be noted that in the current market situation, music industry means mainly the popular music genre, without excluding the classic sector. A platform for all genres of music would therefore in the future be composed by a larger variety of members.

Leader, co-organisers and partners (to date)

Leader: EMO

Co-organisers:

• TEOSTO, the Finnish Composers collecting Society (FI) – It also represents a range of Finnish bodies and institutions among others : Ministry for Education, FINPRO (Ministerial trade body), GRAMEX (Artists and Producers Copyright Society),
• The Noorderslag Foundation (NL), organising EuroSonic, Noorderslag, Noorderslag Seminar and ETEP. Partners are EBU (European Broadcast Union), Yourope (European Festival Organisation), Network Europe (European Agents and promoters), Conamus, IMMF. Noorderslag Foundation is supported by Buma/Stemra, Ministry of Culture (OC&W), City and Province of Groningen, NPI (Dutch Pop and Rock Institute) NVPI (Dutch IFPI), Fonds voor podiumkunsten, (Fund for performing arts) EVD (Ministy of Economic Affairs),
• Fundacion Autor (SP), an institution part of SGAE group, the Spanish collecting society, supporting the development of Spanish-speaking creation,
• MICA (A) – It represents 3 Austrian organisations: MICA/Music Information Centre Austria, IMZ (International Music Centre), SKE Austro Mechana (the social and cultural projects fund of the Austrian Mechanical Copyright Collecting Society,
• French Music Export Office (FR), representing trade organisations for authors, producers, live music organisations, with the support of the Ministry for Culture, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry for External Trade;
• German Sounds (DE), the German Music Export Office, a joint venture between the German Music Council and the music industry, founded by
• BPW(producers), VUT (independents), DMV (publishers), IDKV (live music), IMUC (managers), MMF (managers), MPAG, (producers) CLASS (classic indies), Womex and Popokomm tradeshows, with the support of GEMA and GVL collecting societies and the Federal Ministry of Culture and Media.
• Fundazione Arezzo Wave Italia, The Fondazione Arezzo Wave Italia (IT), is organizer of the Arezzo Wave Love Festival, one of the biggest festivals in contemporary music. (http://www.arezzowave.com/)
• Music Export Hungary, Created in 2005, Music Export Hungary promotes Hungarian music at the international level. (http://www.mxh.hu/)
• Music Export Norway, Music Export Norway A/S is a new organization established in 2000 by the Norwegian music industry. It provides access to information on Norwegian artists and companies. In addition, it assists the Norwegian music industry by organising international trade show participation and presentations designed to increase the worldwide awareness of Norwegian music. (http://www.musicexportnorway.no/)

Partners

• STIM/Svensk Musik-Swedish Music Information Centre (SW),
• Conamus (NL),
• Muziekcentrum Vlaanderen (BE),
• With the support of the French Ministry for Culture (FR,
• Wallonie-Bruxelles Musiques (BE),

The leader and co-organisers are the founders of the pilot platform. As the platform has the objective to respond to the needs of all the European music professionals, additional organisations are welcome to join the platform².

2. National promotion organisations in the current and future EU Member States : EU export offices, MIC, … possibly supported by their public authorities (Ministry for Culture, Industry, Trade, Foreign Affairs, etc..)

Activities

European Music Platform:
European Commission approves new pilot projects for 2005-2006

Following the success of the first ever music industry pilot projects launched in December 2003, the European Commission has approved new proposals for a second round of projects running from December 2004 to November 2006.

The pilot projects continue to be managed and coordinated by the European Music Office (EMO), which leads the European Music Platform (members of the Platform are : Conamus, The French Music Export Office, Fundacion Autor, German Sounds, MICA, Muziekcentrum Vlaanderen,The Noorderslag Foundation, STIM/Svensk Musik – Swedish Music Information Centre, TEOSTO, Wallonie-Bruxelles Musiques).

The general objectives of the new pilot projects aim to increase the competitiveness of the European music industry and to maintain and develop cultural diversity. In practical terms the objectives aim to facilitate the mobility of artists and the circulation of their works.

For increased competitiveness, it is essential that music professionals are provided with relevant information on European markets; this has already begun in earnest with the publication of the first round of Export Handbooks. Networking opportunities are also key and a specific objective is to facilitate the exchange of experience between professionals and to encourage project co-operation between them, the European Institutions and the EU Member States. This can only enhance the promotion of European music in the EU and at international level. Outside of Europe, two important markets are identified as crucial for the presence of European music: the lead market of the USA and the developing market of China.

EMO welcomes the opportunity to develop existing and new pilot projects in support of the European music industry. Here follows a summary of the pilot projects, some of which are new, as well as others that develop the original round of initiatives.

Exchange of Information

The Export Handbooks produced in 2004 (France, Germany, UK, USA, Japan and Brazil) will be updated in the future to keep them relevant and topical. Export Handbooks for new countries will also be produced over time.

In terms of networking, we now have the opportunity to develop real networks for composers and also the concept of a Think Tank to give context to European art music. Workshops will be organised bringing together creators and representatives from European authors’ organisations.

International promotion

The pre-development of a New York office began in December 2003 and has already achieved significant success. New initiatives in New York now include: updating of the key contact list, development of the consultant pool, development of market monitoring, analysis of the possibilities of concrete support by a European office in the field of promotion, with possible experimental test-cases and the preparation of a detailed business plan for a fully working European office in New York in 2007.

The Chinese market will probably be one of most important future music markets in the world, with high potential for European companies. A new Pilot Project will:

• prepare a presentation document on the Chinese music market
• organise a trip to China with European Music Platform representatives to meet with Chinese professionals and institutions
• prepare a project/business plan for a future office in China in 2007.

Live music

A project supporting European tours is essential for the circulation of artists in Europe. Small businesses and young, aspiring talent encounter almost unsurpassable barriers when trying to work internationally, even within the EU.

We are pleased to announce that the ETEP initiative, promoting new talents through festivals and European media support will be extended for two years, along with new developments:

new partner festivals
the possibility of music export offices and Platform Members to participate in the selection of artists
the organisation of workshops for the exchange of information on different European markets, notably for managers and agents.
The Noorderslag Foundation will continue to be the main organiser for all ETEP activities. It is estimated that there will be at least 65 live shows a year for European artists in the main European festivals.

European Tour Support (ETS) will be awarded to projects presenting artists’ tours in Europe, according to defined criteria. Support will be targeted at EU-based artists working and touring in any of the EU countries. It is estimated that support will be given to an average of 30 tours in two years, with an average of 8 concerts per tour: approximately 240 concerts in total!

Platform of co-operation

The European Music Platform activities work at political level:

• Enhancing the cultural co-operation opportunities with the European institutions and the EU Member States, especially the ten new Members
• Acting as a consultation forum favouring the place of music within the European culture policy.

And at management level:

• Managing and co-ordinating the Platform activities, communicating and distributing the results of the actions.
• Developing the informal communication and synergies between the different professional organisations involved

Target groups

The Platform Members are the first direct targets of this project. As a consequence, all music professionals that the national promotion organisations are representing and working for will be the final beneficiaries of the activities.
Special attention will be paid to the national promotion organisations and music professionals of the ten new EU Member States.
In terms of music creation, the target group is the authors and composers through their representing organisations at national or interregional level.
In the field of live music, the target group is the audience in all EU countries, who will have the opportunity to discover and better understand the European repertoire.

Brussels
January 2005

For more information, please contact:

European Music Office
51 rue du Trône
B-1050 Brussels – Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 213 14 00
[email protected]
www.musicineurope.net

with the support of the European Union – Directorate General Education and Culture