ECONOMY
A Pathway to a Sustainable Future for Live Music Organisations? The Case of Germany’s Live Music Fund
Live DMA
19 March 2025
The Live Music Fund is a German solidarity fund initiated to support live music organisations through voluntary ticket levies. Supported by the Bundesstiftung LiveKultur, it draws attention to the increased vulnerability of the live music ecosystem – particularly its smaller players, who are facing inflation and financial instability – and aims to address it through a solidarity-based scheme.
The creation of this scheme fuels an ongoing dialogue on redistribution mechanisms, particularly ticket levies, which are reportedly being discussed in several EU and non-EU countries. Do ticket levies represent a promising future for the live sector, and particularly for small organisations? What change could they bring about?
As the Live Music Fund launched on 1 January 2026, we caught up with Felix Grädler, board member of the Bundesstiftung LiveKultur and Project Manager of the Live Music Fund, to get a better understanding of the vision and the mechanisms behind this initiative.
Addressing the pressures faced by the live music sector
In the recent years, Live DMA has documented that European small and medium-sized music venues are faced with numerous challenges, notably related to the consequences of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Inflation and economic instability, rising operating costs, but also changing audience behaviours, reduction in public funding, or gentrification and real-estate pressures in urban contexts are some of the many pressures venues are faced with.
Likewise, Germany’s LiveKomm reported alarming results following a nationwide survey conducted in 2024: 43% of participating clubs expected their economic situation to worsen in the following year, and 16% were even considering ceasing operations in the following 12 months.
But as Grädler mentions, these were not the only issues affecting the live music sector. “For a long time, live music worked as a cycle. Artists started in small venues, grew step by step, and economic success eventually flowed back into the very structures that enabled those careers. Clubs and promoters could still generate margins from mid-sized shows and reinvest them into developing new artists and smaller events.”
So, what happened with the cycle? “Today, that cycle is broken. Costs are rising, risks remain local, while economic success is increasingly concentrated at the top. The grassroots carry the cultural, emotional and financial burden without participating in the overall growth of the market.”
In addition to the set of challenges that they face, it is true that, in the way in which the sector currently works, these organisations undoubtedly fail to capture part of the value they help create. This failure partly explains why smaller actors are struggling, while arenas and stadiums achieve unprecedented success. Once the artists move on to performing bigger shows, the venues that saw their first shows, or the promoters that first put their trust in them, have no means of benefiting from subsequent success – unless redistribution mechanisms are set up. This is where the Live Music Fund intervenes.
A fund from the industry, to the smaller players
The Live Music Fund aims to support emerging artists and the smaller organisations that make up the backbone of the live music sector. Small and medium-sized venues, festivals, and promoters are indeed the ones that support artists at the start of their careers. The artistic and financial risks they take by betting on newcomers are what enable some of them to later become headliners. Even more importantly, they provide support to all of the artists that spend the majority, or even the entirety of their careers, performing on smaller stages rather than reaching the arena, stadium or main stage level. As such, they are key actors of cultural diversity and freedom of artistic expression.
“If we don’t act now, we risk losing the diversity of tomorrow,” says Grädler. “The goal is to establish a permanent, structural source of funding for the places and people where live music is born: small clubs, independent promoters, festivals, emerging artists and new ideas.”
The project, launched in January, is now in its first phase. It is based on voluntary participation of ticketing services, promoters, events and venues who are partners of the Live Music Fund, and consent to financially contribute to the fund when establishing the partnership, as well as voluntary donations by concertgoers when purchasing tickets for affiliated events. Showcase festival Reeperbahn, among others, offers the option to support the Live Music Fund when buying a festival pass for its 2026 edition. Direct donations are also possible through the project’s website.
Subsequent project phases will involve a fixed €1 contribution per ticket priced at €35 or above, included in the ticket price, an integration of the contribution system directly into ticketing platforms, and enhanced involvement across all sides of the German live music market. The “Live Euro”, Grädler adds, is expected to be introduced in Q3 2026.
Another essential aspect of the Live Music Fund’s operations is the funding distribution. “In the first phase, funding will be distributed through three low-bureaucracy funding lines: clubs and small to mid-sized promoters, independent festivals and first tours by emerging artists,” says Grädler. “In later phases, this will expand to include cultural access, inclusion, sustainable investments, diversity and innovative live formats.” It must be noted that only project partners can apply for funding.
Furthermore, the Live Music Fund guidelines state that at least 50% of the funds will be redistributed in the region in which they were generated, therefore guaranteeing effective support of local music scenes and a decentralised approach to funding.
Asked about the funding decision process, Grädler mentions that it will be supported by independent expert panels. He insists that transparency and traceability are at the core of the Live Music Fund’s operations: funding guidelines, he says, will be publicly available on the website towards the end of the year, with the first funding calls expected to launch in 2027.
Towards alternative funding and operating models for the music sector
A distinctive trait of the Live Music Fund is the determination of its founding team to make it an industry-led solidarity scheme. This contrasts with well-established redistribution schemes in other countries, such as France or Denmark, where they are embedded in public cultural policy.
Grädler elaborates on this choice: “Public funding remains essential, but it is often temporary, politically dependent and reactive. The Live Music Fund is deliberately industry-led because resilience cannot be outsourced. Long-term stability only emerges when the sector itself takes responsibility. […] A key advantage is that allocation is not politically steered or bureaucratised, but can be directed efficiently to where the industry actually needs it.” Although he adds that public funding is still needed, as the Live Music Fund aims to complement rather than replace it.
Other examples of industry-led initiatives are the UK’s LIVE Trust, established by the national live industry trade body LIVE in 2025, or the Liveline Fund created by Music Venue Trust and Save Our Scene. Although recent, both have already gained widespread support and attention both at the UK and international level, and have largely contributed to what can be labelled as the current momentum around ticket levies. Early supporters of the Liveline Fund included arena superstars Sam Fender, Coldplay, and Katy Perry.
Another important element that Grädler brings to the table is how the Live Music Fund is about “more than survival” for smaller organisations. Indeed, he explains that the end goal of the initiative is to enhance their resilience, rather than merely keeping them afloat. “Clubs and promoters should be able to breathe again. They should be able to take risks, support emerging artists, improve working conditions and develop programmes without constantly operating on the edge of collapse.”
Beyond project funding, the Live Music Fund carries with it the hope of an alternative model for them; one where they can build a sustainable future and fulfil their mission without the constant worry of what the next months or years will bring for them. “If the Live Music Fund works, it will ensure that future generations don’t just consume live music, but have places where it can be created and where the stars of tomorrow can emerge.”
There is no answer yet as to whether ticket levies will be able to change the face of the live music sector. But in a context where the live music sector is increasingly structured around a small number of dominant operators at the top of the value chain, and a much larger number of smaller actors operating with very limited margins, this comes as an opportunity to address this imbalance and enhance our ecosystem’s resilience and sustainability. Industry players and policy makers alike are watching closely, and so are we.