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Music Export Growth Scheme FAQs from the BPI

By | Published on Monday 11 November 2013

BPI

The previously reported Music Export Growth Scheme, funded by UK Trade & Investment, managed by record label trade body the BPI, and providing support for UK independent music companies working with artists ready for global expansion and looking for financial backing to support international marketing, is approaching its first deadline. The BPI has published ten FAQs for music firm’s considering applying, and here they are…

Q1. Can I apply for the Scheme?
A. You are eligible to apply if you are a UK-based music company with a turnover of less than €50 million and fewer than 250 employees, as per the EU definition of an SME (small to medium enterprise).

Q2. What is the Music Export Growth Scheme for exactly?
A. The scheme has been set up to support emerging artists, bands, DJs, performers, etc that have had their first success in the UK and are ready to try and break into an overseas market. If you want funding for a service rather than an act, please get in touch with your local UK Trade & Investment International Trade Advisor who should be able to give you more advice on any opportunities that are available to you. Type your postcode into their website to find your local office.

Q3. Can I apply for more than one of my artists?
A. Yes. You must apply for one artist on each application form. However, your company can be awarded no more than two grants in any year of funding so you may wish to restrict your applications accordingly. It’s worth noting that if you have more than one artist on the same tour together you would probably still have different marketing plans for each of them, so hopefully any benefits that one act gets through the funding would have a beneficial effect on your other artists anyway.

Q4. How much can I get?
A. You can apply for between £5000 and £50,000. Companies must part-fund at least 30% of the proposed activity from their own resources, demonstrating their own commitment to the proposed plan.  The grants can cover up to 70% of your eligible costs.

Q5. What is an eligible cost?
A. That’s marketing costs, tour support, venue costs, international travel, visa costs, international promotion costs including hire of session musicians/singers etc for TV performances and other such things. Non-eligible costs are your normal day to day running costs, salaries, UK travel and items unrelated to the market you are applying for.

Q6. When will I find out if I’ve been successful or not?
A. If you get your application in by the deadline of 18 Nov and are entered into this first round of funding you will have a decision on whether you have been successful or not in December.

Q7. And if my application is successful, when will I receive the grant?
A. You will need to undertake your planned activity before you will receive any funding. The grant will only be distributed on the presentation of invoices for eligible spend. If the amount requested is a large amount this may be awarded in two parts.

Q8. Is anything expected of me in return?
A. We need to make sure there is a return on investment so you will need to comply with any requests for information and provide updates at regular intervals detailing the impact the funding has had on your artist. We do not intend for such requests to be onerous, but we do need to evaluate the success of the scheme and the awards. BPI and UKTI may also call upon you to do some marketing on behalf of the scheme or use your company name in promotional material, case studies and press releases.

Q9. When will the next deadline be?
A. The scheme is a rolling one so you can make your application at any time but you will need to adhere to the strict deadlines if you want your application to be judged in a certain time scale. We don’t have a firm date for the second phase yet but it will be early next year, possibly February or March so projects for the first quarter of next year will have to apply now.

Q10. So I understand it all now, how do I apply?
A. You will find the application form on the BPI website here.  The form is a downloadable, editable pdf.  You need to fill it in electronically in order for us to accept your application so if you are unable to edit it, you may need to update your adobe software. Complete the form in as much detail as you can so that we have all the information that we need available to us and then return your form, along with any supporting documentation, via email to musicexportscheme@bpi.co.uk.



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