Pop Music Production Scholarship

Course description

Each year, the City of Munich awards five pop music production grants totalling 8,000 euros each for the production of music albums or formats of comparable artistic relevance and similar scope. In addition, four further production grants of 2,000 euros each are awarded for the production of smaller projects. It is not possible to apply for both grants at the same time.

The Department of Culture wants to help musicians of all genders to shape the Munich pop music scene. So far, men have been significantly overrepresented. This call for applications is therefore explicitly aimed at people of all genders.

These scholarships are intended to support sophisticated and elaborate music productions from all genres of pop music that are intended for publication. This includes not only traditional formats such as CDs but also digital albums or videos, for example. Grants can be awarded to individual musicians as well as bands/ensembles/groups and others. The scholarships are primarily intended to support musicians who are not yet established. The awarding of scholarships for projects within the framework of a course of study or for projects accompanying lessons is excluded.

A jury appointed by the City Council of Munich, consisting of honorary members of the Munich City Council and experts, draws up the award proposals for the City Council on the basis of the applications received. After completing the work made possible by the grant, the grant recipients submit a written report and proof of production to the Department of Culture (e.g. by submitting the sound carrier made possible or the download link to the recording).

Objective: This call for applications is based on a broad understanding of pop music - this includes all genres of pop music such as rock, hip-hop, metal, reggae, techno, blues and all their sub-genres in any form (as well as abstract or experimental approaches).

Prerequisites

• Musicians and music ensembles from the field of pop music who are resident in the MVV area (in the case of a band/group/ensemble/and others, at least half of its members) and whose work is focussed in Munich are eligible to apply.
• All costs incurred in connection with the production, e.g. rehearsal room rental costs, fees for musicians, the actual (audio) production process (e.g. studio recording, studio mixing, mastering) and fees for personnel services directly related to the production (provided they are in reasonable proportion to the rest of the production) can be funded; direct follow-up costs of a production, such as costs for promotion and marketing, the organisation of release concerts, special pressings, etc., can also be the subject of the application. Costs that have already been incurred up to the time of funding approval cannot be funded retrospectively.applications can only be submitted by the musicians themselves, not by third parties such as a label. Proof of authorisation to represent must be provided in a suitable form upon request.
• Other funding received for the production - such as from the Initiative Musik - must be presented transparently and taken into account as income within the calculation.

Required documents

• fully completed application form
• Project description (a concrete description of the project in as much detail as possible, approximately one DIN A4 page)
• a rough calculation of the project (all expenses and income planned in connection with the production. If the pop production grant does not cover the costs, please explain how the remaining costs are to be covered)
• biographical and bibliographical details of the musicians or band/ensemble/group (maximum one A4 page)
• Audio samples (ideally in the form of links, for example from YouTube, SoundCloud or similar services - in the case of links to Dropbox, WeTransfer or similar, please ensure that these links remain valid until 31 August 2026 and that appropriate access rights have been granted. MP3 or MP4 as attachments are also possible, but the total size of the application e-mail should not exceed 5 MB. CDs are possible for postal applications).
• specialist references (e.g. reviews) if applicable

All documents must be summarised in one PDF and received by the closing date of 11.59 pm by e-mail to pop-produktion@muenchen.de in the Cultural Department. The PDF must not exceed a total size of 5 MB and must be named as follows: Surname_Project title or Surname_Artist namePlease write "Application Pop Music Production Scholarship 2026 Name Applicant" in the subject line of your email.

After sending your e-mail, you will receive an automatic reply from us. This email does not confirm whether the application has been submitted in full. If you do not receive this automatic reply email within 30 minutes, please contact us (tanja.mottl@muenchen.de or heike.lies@muenchen.de).If it is not possible for you to send the application by email as a PDF, in exceptional cases you can send your documents by post in a single copy by the closing date (the postmark will apply).Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt MünchenDepartment 1, Popmusik-ProduktionsstipendienBurgstraße 480331 MünchenPlease note: If you send your application by post, the date of receipt and not the postmark will apply. Unfortunately, applications that are not submitted by the deadline cannot be considered

As the documents cannot be returned, we ask that only copies of scores or sound recordings be submitted by post.

Legal basis

By submitting their application, applicants agree to the terms and conditions of the competition and confirm that they live in Munich (MVV area). Applications that do not comply with the conditions of the call for applications cannot be considered. Applicants will be informed of the result once the City Council has made its decision.
 Processing time

A jury appointed by the City Council of Munich, consisting of honorary members of the Munich City Council and experts, prepares the award proposals for the City Council based on the applications received.

The scholarships are expected to be announced in July or August.

Please send any queries to:
Tanja Mottl, tanja.mottl@muenchen.de or 089 233 28531