In 2022, a special grant from the Danish Arts Foundation and the Ministry of Culture made it possible to move extra hard to get Danish music across in Germany. The success now continues for another year. Germany is one of the world’s largest markets for music, and there is growing interest south of the border in the Nordic distinctiveness in all genre areas. 

The genre organisations JazzDanmark, Art Music Denmark, Tempi, and ROSA have worked closely with Music Export Denmark and the Danish Embassy in Berlin in 2022 in a coordinated effort to strengthen Danish music exports to the large German market. At the same time, the effort has linked Danish artists and players more closely with the German music industry. Once again this year, Danish composers will be placed in the right residencies, export-ready musicians will be showcased at the right festivals, and young talents will be connected. 

“It’s totally necessary for us to be here. It’s a kickstart. The industry simply needs to have some success stories again to work on after the long corona break. So our partners can see that we have plans and that we are evolving and staying relevant”

– said Mik Christensen, label boss at Mermaid Records, when he joined Lydmor in the summer of 2022 for a large-scale Danish Night in Berlin curated by MXD, ROSA and Tempi, where names like Saveus, Dopha and Goss played alongside AySay, Mekdes and D-Troit for a carefully selected crowd of a few hundred people from the top of the German music industry plus their Danish counterparts. In addition, Lydmor got a Berlin radio show out of the visit – just one of several benefits to the NEUSTART activities in 2022.

The financial boost to focus on Germany totals just under 200.000€ from the Danish Arts Foundation and residual funds from 2022 from the Ministry of Culture. In addition, all participating organisations prioritise a substantial part of their own project finances for the cooperation. This places demands on the work of the six organisations to be innovative and united to get the full benefit from the funds.

A mantra of NEUSTART is to connect artists, audiences, and stakeholders at the root of the creative process. 

“The days when you could bring in a box of CDs from the North and the Germans would buy in big are over – as are the days when cultural branding of a country could be achieved with classic press work. Today, the focus is on relationships, continuous co-creation and mutually binding cooperation” – says Mathias Schønberg, project manager for Neustart.   

In 2023, the cooperation is now being further developed with the aim of forging partnerships with the many German actors involved, so that the effort can continue independently after another year with an extra financial boost. In 2023, the initiative will also contribute even more knowledge to Danish actors on how to best assert themselves in Germany. 

You can read more about the Danish NEUSTART-initiative at www.neustartmusik.org.