October 09, 2008

By By Wolfgang Spahr, Berlin

The German government and music industry are launching a joint effort via funding agency Initiative Musik to showcase German repertoire in China.

Under the motto "The changing music market -- the music market of the future," German music will be presented in Guangzhou on Nov. 14 and Beijing on Nov. 17.

Initiative Musik will coordinate the participation of German companies and arrange for participants to visit Chinese companies. Dieter Gorny, chairman of the German Federal Music Industry Assn., says the mission will "establish preliminary business contacts between music companies in China and Germany."

Since the establishment of Initiative Musik by the German federal government and the local music industry earlier this year, 40 artists have received funding, with most using the funds to produce albums, promote CDs or to finance tours in German-speaking countries, the rest of Europe and Asia.

Each year, the German federal government provides a sum of ?1 million, with authors' society GEMA and the German Collecting Society for Performance Rights (GVL) each contributing a further ?150,000 per year.

Speaking at Popkomm in Berlin on Wednesday, Bernd Neumann, German minister for culture and the media said: "The quality and diversity of the music and the number of applications received show that our commitment is being welcomed throughout the music industry."

Subscribe to Billboard magazine today!