Electronic Music Award in association with DJ Mag: application guidance

To apply you must:

• Have a track record of making 40% of your income from music for the past two years or longer. Exceptions apply for musicians with a long-term health condition and/​or disability that impacts your ability to earn.
• Be aged 18 or over, living in the UK, with the right to live and work in the UK and with a UK bank account
• Not have more than £10,000 savings or access to other capital that could fund your planned activity

This support is categorised as Band 4. Full eligibility criteria and details on the threshold can be found here. We strongly recommend you read these before making an application.

Beyond this, to receive this award you have to:

• Be making music in a electronic genre (see below)
• Be willing to commit to the activities and key dates within the programme 
• Be able to deliver your supported activities within 12 months of the programme start
• Have control over one or more aspects of your career, i.e., self-managing, self-releasing or self-producing

This award is open to all music in a electronic genre, which could include house, techno, drum and bass, UK garage, bass, amapiano, trance, grime, drill and ambient, as well as new and emerging sub genres in dance and electronic music.

This programme is to support individual musicians, DJs and music producers.

However, if multiple members of a group or collective meet the criteria you can each apply, though we will assess each application individually.

You can use the grant funding towards projects delivered in a group or collective, providing you can show the difference they’ll make to your personal career, so it’s important you focus on your own music history and goals and not your group’s when applying. 

If multiple members of a group are eligible you can apply as individuals but we will only fund the same project once. The applicant who is approved will need to be involved in all other aspects of the support and other band or group members will not be able to attend events or advice sessions. 

If multiple members of the same group are eligible we will consider funding different projects delivered by them, but we are highly unlikely to fund multiple projects from the same group within 12 months of each other. 

You are welcome to apply to us for physical health, mental health or financial welfare support at any time if you need.

However, you can only apply for, and take part in, one creative and career service at a time.

Applications will open on Tuesday 28 May 2024, closing on Friday 28 June 2024.

If you are eligible and have read the guidance on this page then the link to begin your application can be found at the bottom of this page once applications open.

Applications are made using our online portal. You will need to log in or create an account and a profile.

We want everyone to be able to access our services, so if you have access requirements then please find out more about how we can help here.

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If you are a musician with a disability, from the Global Majority, a woman or LGBTQ+ musician, then you can apply for Inclusive Selection when you make an application. Find out more

Competition for our support is very high, so it’s worth knowing what the panel who decide our awardees are looking for in an application to help give you the best chance.

The panel will prioritise applications based on:

• Timing and urgency: you’re at a critical moment in your career when our support could really help you move forward, rather than seeking support for a project you could do at any time
• Network building: you’re already working collaboratively and building the right connections for your career, and you have clear goals for the networks you want to build through this support
• Career focussed: you can tell us very clear music career goals and how joining this programme at this time will help you achieve them.
• Track record: you can show consistent dedication to your music over time

When you make an application, we will need you to provide us with details of a referee, as well as 3 months of your most recent bank statements from all your current and savings accounts.

We use these statements to verify that you are earning at least 40% of your income from music, that you are within our household income threshold and do not have any ineligible capital.

Full eligibility details here.

Your budget of up to £3,000 might go towards some of the following:

• Your own time, allowing you take the time you need to create, undertake planning, promotion and other key activities — this should not make up more than 50% of your total budget
• Expenses associated with your creative practice, e.g. contribution to per diems, travel, rehearsal space hire
• Session musician and crew fees (e.g. stage manager, sound engineer, tour manager or lighting technician)
• PR and marketing (including social media campaigns) where you have already had press coverage and platforming — this should not make up more than 50% of your total budget
• Content creation (e.g. video, audio, promotional photography, artwork and design)
• Recording (studio hire, engineering, mixing, mastering)
• Travel and accommodation for live and touring opportunities
• Costs of performance related technology, equipment* (e.g. speakers, amplifiers, headsets, microphones, projectors, breakables)
• Visas and carnets — this should not make up more than 50% of your total budget
• Merchandise design, production and distribution
• Musical equipment or software/​hardware to produce, collaborate or distribute*
• Event costs including venue, promotion etc.
• Courses, mentoring and coaching opportunities
• Registration fees for conferences relevant to your career progression

*Equipment costs should not make up any more than 50% of your budget. Please note we are unable to fund the purchase of musical instruments, including laptops.

Here is what we can’t currently support:

• Activities that take place within 12 weeks of a submitted application
• Formal courses of study, training or research (e.g. undergraduate or postgraduate study)
• Attendance as a performer at showcases already supported by funds like the International Showcase Fund (e.g. SXSW, CMJ, A3C, Womex, Reeperbahn, Folk Alliance International, Canadian Music Week)
• Ongoing overheads, e.g., rent, utilities and insurance
• Buying or insuring vehicles
• Costs associated with entering competitions
• Activities that have already occurred 
• Equipment and instrument costs that make up more than 50% of your total request to us
• Contribution to a larger project where the financial support we provide is less than 20% of the total project cost, and where you have been unable to show why taking part in the project will benefit your personal career in music

You will have 10 months to spend the financial support once you have received it.

Please note, the first two months of the award will be focused on goal setting, group learning, business advice and peer engagement opportunities, so you will not receive your financial support immediately (see below).

Applications close at 5pm on 28 June 2024 and we will share our decisions with applicants by mid-August 2024.

We cannot fast track applications or provide updates on when you will hear whether you have been successful.

Please note, if you don’t provide all required information for us to assess your eligibility or application we will pause your application while we wait for more information from you and this will slow down the process.

This support is for your long-term career development and the grant is only one part of it.

We have found that accessing some guidance before starting a project enables musicians to make best use of their financial support, so we aim to release funding once you have undertaken at least one and a half hours of our business advice sessions. This is approximately 8 weeks from when we have approved your support.

You will need to show progress of your project and engage with the rest of the online sessions to access the second part of your grant.