FAQs: Writing an application

There is no age limit. As long as you are over 18 and you have the right to live and work in the UK, you can apply for support from Help Musicians.

You can apply at any point in your career, applications are not assessed on the size of your fan base. 

As long as you can demonstrate an active career, where you are creating and releasing new music, or touring, you can be at any stage in your career to apply. 

All of our support is deadline free. You can apply when you need it, but make sure you’re applying three months in advance of when you want your activity to start. 

You don’t need to attend a Get Set Session to write a successful application, but we’d recommend that you do. 

It’s a free online event that aims to set you up to make the best possible application. We run through the types of supports that you can apply for, we talk about how to complete the application, and we also run a Q&A. It is really helpful for any quick questions that you have or that you think of during that session.

Get Set Sessions are a great way to introduce you to what we can offer and it’s a good starting point to accessing our support. 

If you’ve been to a Get Set Session and have more of an idea of the support you’d like to apply for, then you can always book a 1‑to‑1 call.

On a 1‑to1 call we can help you to focus on your activity and the support you’re applying for, talk to you about the eligibility and answer any additional questions you might have. 

As long as you are based in the UK, you can travel or collaborate remotely with people from overseas.

You can apply for ​‘time to create’. To do this you will need to to demonstrate that you’re having to step away from other areas of paid work in order to deliver this project. 

Yes, you can apply for financial support for equipment, but it can only be to a maximum of 50% of the total amount you’re asking us to fund.

Yes, you can apply for financial support to finish a project that has already started.

For example, if you were applying to Record and Release and you have already finished the recording, you could apply to mix and master that recording. Just make sure that it is three months in advance of your submission.

In the application when we ask for your milestones, we mean the key project milestones you hope to achieve during the project that you are applying to us for. 

By that we mean be anything that’s going to happen as a result of the application you’re submitting.

Combined support allows musicians to apply for different elements of support as part of one larger application up to a maximum total of £5,000.

For example, you might want to use combined support to take a production course, and then use what you’ve learned on the course to release your own music.

If you are submitting a combined application, you will need to tell us how much you’re applying for from each part of support you would like (for example £2,500 for Record and Release and £1,00 for Skills Development) 

Once you have done this you will need to allocate each piece of the expenditure to the necessary part of the support. 

You will need to submit two examples of your music as part of the application, but there’s space for you to submit other links.

You will need to tell us about any other support that you are applying for or have already confirmed for this activity. 

In the application there is a section for funding sources. Here you can tell us whether the support is confirmed, unconfirmed or coming from a personal source. 

There is high demand for this support, and in 2022 the charity was able to support around one in five applications from the funds available. We do understand that this process can be challenging, and we are here to support you, but due to the volume of applications our guidance cannot guarantee a successful outcome. 

If your application has been unsuccessful, you can re-apply as soon as you have received confirmation of the outcome. All that we ask is that you take on board any feedback that you may get and make changes to refine your application before you resubmit. 

You can apply for support from Help Musicians more than once, even if you’ve received support from us in the past. 

If you want to reapply for the same type of support, then you will need to wait 12 months after you receiving your previous application outcome before you can apply again. 

If you would like to apply for different support, you can do so straightaway.