Appendix 6 - International Music Council

increasing on cultural projects. The cultural industry is seen as a factor of growth in times
of economical decline. There are governmental efforts to promote the private cultural
industry not only by tax relief or
similar privileges, but also directly e.g. through the
subsidy/support of a music export office "German Sounds" (http://www.germansounds.de),
though compared with the French Music Export Office, its extension (2,5 employees) and
the financial support by the government (that is supposed to be cancelled soon) seems to be
quite humble, considering that Germany is one of the biggest music markets in Europe. At
the moment, there are efforts being made on the part of the Beauftragte der
Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery and
Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs) Bernd Neumann to support the German
cinema. Inquiries and claims to install something similar for the German music industry
were not yet taken into consideration and seem to stay unheard. There are as well ongoing
discussions about the importance
of the cultural sector for the job market but with no result
and no sustained practical impact.
GREECE
In summer there are lots of festivals in smaller and bigger towns as well as in some villages
that are funded by the Greek government. For a list see http://dir.forthnet.gr/512- 0-en.htm.
These festivals address Greek and foreign audiences and are employed to promote tourism
in the areas.
IRELAND
There seem to be no special governmental actions or measures to promote the Irish music
industry, though the Business Expansion Scheme for Music gives tax relief to investors in
new and emerging musical acts or groups.
http://www.arts.gov.ie/arts/music/bes_guidelines.html
Music festivals in Ireland are actively marketed by the national and regional tourist boards.
And the Irish Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism also funds the Culture Ireland
program which aims to promote all forms of Irish culture and cultural expression to an
international audience. http://www.arts.gov.ie/arts/Culture_ireland.html
NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands have several programs and actions to support the Dutch musical industry,
and music is seen as an important economical factor. We would like to present some Dutch
examples a little more extensively here.
In the Netherlands, the music genre "Dance" is regarded as internationally viable genre and
international Dutch success; it is said, that the government is very generous in the
permission of licences to venues and events, because supposedly Dance creates about
11.000 jobs and produces a turnover of about 0.5 billion € every year. The minister of
finance even speaks about "feest als exportproduct" - the party or event as an export
product. The "Belangenvereniging Dance" (http://www.b-v-d.nl/) founded in 2003 is the
first association of Dance-organizers in Europe
and brings together those organizers
working in the
Netherlands. The association aims particularly on the issues of security,
health and professionalization of the sector.
The Fonds voor Podiumprogrammering en Marketing (Fund for programming and
marketing of venues)– FPPM – subsidizes since 2001, Dutch venues for theatre, cabaret,
jazz, chamber music and pop music. It is a relatively new fund that developed by the
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