NZ On Air Reveal Changes To New Music Single Funding Criteria
In a welcome announcement to wrap up NZ Music Month, NZ On Air have revealed a significant expansion of the criteria for artists to apply for New Music Single funding, opening up increased support for artists throughout Aotearoa with the first "wholesale changes to this criteria list since the launch of the previous MakingTracks funding scheme in 2010." This means more rising stars who are connecting with audiences online and / or at live events will now qualify for support, at a time when our community needs it the most. Reflecting the ever-changing field of the online streaming era, benchmark criteria options have been increased from 22 to 30, with artists required at meet at least 10 out of the 30 options available, before their works can be considered by a panel of music industry figures for funding of up to $8000 "available for a single song." The changes take effect when the next funding round opens up at midday on Tuesday 2nd June, we encourage artists to scope out the full details right here.
UPDATE: NZ On Air's announcement comes along with today's breaking news of a funding boost of 7.1 million dollars towards NZ On Air's New Music programmes, as part of the government's New Zealand Music Recovery Fund.
June/July 2020 New Music Single dates:
Round opens: midday, Tuesday 2nd June
Round closes: 4pm, Thursday 25th June
Decisions announced: midday, Thursday 23rd July
newmusicsingles.nzonair.govt.nz
More highly relevant resources available for Aotearoa artists during turbulent times include The Independent NZ Artist Fund, a collaboration with Spotify which provides "5 x $2,000 NZD contributions towards studio and recording gear available for independent / unsigned New Zealand artists" – head over here for details (closes at midnight on Sunday 31st May).
Press release:
Today we reveal the new criteria list for New Music Single funding applications, which comes into effect from the opening of the next New Music Single round at midday on Tuesday 2 June. We haven’t made wholesale changes to this criteria list since the launch of the previous MakingTracks funding scheme in 2010, so some updates were well overdue! In these changes we have expanded the criteria options from 22 to 30.
New Music Single application criteria are put in place to ensure that when you’re applying for public funding you have first made some positive inroads into audience engagement and gaining a genuine interest in and following for your music. There is huge demand for NZ On Air funding and it’s important that artists submitting songs that go through to our expert assessment panels have made some audience impacts already.
For NZ On Air to invest public funding into an artist Single, we want to be assured that you have achieved various early music career benchmarks off your own bat. This updated list of Criteria is designed to reflect a broad selection of those benchmarks across the areas of Online audience, Broadcast track record, Other platform/editorial features, Live performance track record, Business credentials, and Awards and other recognition.
NZ On Air’s mandate is to support a range of quality New Zealand music to be made available and discoverable across multiple online and broadcast platforms where a variety of New Zealand audiences listen to, discover and enjoy music. Your online following, streams, radio play, views and other broadcast engagement are core focuses of the work that we do and the music that we support.
To be eligible to apply for New Music Single funding we ask that you have reached at least 10 out of these 30 criteria benchmarks for your music to date. If you can reach at least 10 out of these 30 benchmarks then your song and application can be submitted to be assessed by our expert funding panels.
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