The organizations — from live event industry association BDV to the German music publishers association DMV, as well as collection society GEMA, have a clear incentive for banding together: quick, non-refundable help from the government is badly needed. Unsurprisingly, the live sector is seeing the biggest financial losses, due to the cancellation of ten thousands of events.
In a two-stage program, GEMA is providing financial assistance totaling around €40 million euros to its members. The"Schutzschirm LIVE" [protective shield LIVE] is primarily aimed at composers and lyricists who are also performers and who get into financial difficulties due to cancellations of events throughout the country. The"Corona Relief Fund" provides financial transitional aid for individual cases of hardship within the framework of social and cultural support.
BVMI also calls for additional governmental pandemic aid programs for medium-sized companies, including ones associated with music. Existing aid programs are appreciated, but often fail to meet the actual needs of many music entrepreneurs, he said."Fast, unbureaucratic emergency aid must take into account all sub-sectors of the fragmented, collaborative music industry," he said.
The effects of the global recession are also expected to hit the area of licensing of copyrights for, among other things, cinema and TV productions. Since no new productions are being created in the current situation, a 25% drop is expected in this area. GEMA said will host its planned live concerts on its Facebook account for up-and-coming artists in April. Kickoff will be on Tuesday, April 14 at 8.15pm CET with the Hamburg band Roast Apple. LiLA will also perform live for the online community on April 23 at 8.15pm CET, while Lendgold is compiling a video with contributions from each individual band member in their domestic quarantine.