UK record labels association, the BPI, is pleased to announce further financial support for the artist and live music communities as they continue to fight the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Donations totalling nearly £270,000, co-ordinated by the BPI, will go to a range of causes from this second round of funding that will help to sustain artists and musicians, artist managers and grassroots music venues that are most in need.
Close to £60,000 will go to each of Help Musicians, music therapy charity, Nordoff Robbins, and the Music Venue Trust, while mental wellbeing and addictions charity, Music Support, will receive nearly £30,000 to help fund its NHS-approved Thrive app.
The monies are drawn from funds previously provided by major record labels Sony Music Entertainment UK, Universal Music UK, Warner Music UK, and independents Cherry Red and Demon Music Group, as well as by The BRIT Awards, Amazon Music and PPL, and which have since been added to with a significant contribution by YouTube Music. Separately, just under £60,000 funded directly by The BRIT Awards will go to the Music Managers Forum (MMF) Rebuild Project.
This package of contributions follow a major £1.25 million donation made by the recorded music sector, again co-ordinated by the BPI, in April earlier this year to the Help Musicians Coronavirus Hardship Fund (details here: https://www.bpi.co.uk/news-analysis/recorded-music-community-comes-together-to-provide-additional-support-to-artists) along with a previously unannounced £100,000 donation, made possible by Amazon Music, that went to the Music Venues Trust.
The total value of overall donations made by the recorded sector and its music partners to date now stands at around £1,620,000 – with further residual funds still to be apportioned.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive BPI and BRIT Awards, said: “Record labels and music companies have been individually helping those across the music community most affected by the Covid-19 emergency, but they also recognise the value of working collectively.
“These further donations aimed at helping artists, managers and venues, which come on top of substantial donations already made to Help Musicians and the Music Venues Trust, underline the sector’s solidarity with all those affected and will hopefully help to make a difference as we work together to bring the industry through this crisis. We thank the organisations that have donated, including a generous new contribution from YouTube Music.”
ENDS
Enquiries
Gennaro Castaldo
gennaro.castaldo@bpi.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7803 1326
Toby Leveson
Toby.Leveson@bpi.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7803 1300
Notes for editors:
About Help Musicians
Help Musicians is an independent charity, with an extraordinary history. For nearly 100 years, it has provided a broad spectrum of help, support and opportunities to empower musicians aged 18+, at any stage of their career, from times of great need to times of opportunity, providing a lifetime of support when it is needed most.
The charity is uniquely placed to take a personalised approach with each individual supported, through its integrated programme that offers creative development and health and welfare services. Help Musicians aims to make a meaningful difference to the lives of even more musicians by growing reach across the UK in the coming years.
The charity is passionate about a world where musicians thrive. Help Musicians Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund (https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/news/latest-news/advice-relating-to-coronavirus-covid-19).
The fund wasset up by Help Musicians to help reduce the worry that many musicians have been experiencing about their mounting household expenses. In the first round of funding nearly 16,700 musicians received immediate financial relief from one-off grants of £500, at a total cost of £8.33m.
Phase two of Financial Hardship Funding, to which this BPI donation will go, supports musicians ineligible for government emergency safety nets or unable to survive on what they receive.
Help Musicians has put £7m of its own reserves into the Hardship Fund and donations have contributed a further £4.2m (including the initial £1.25m donation from BPI).
Much more is needed to support musicians until the live sector is fully open again. To support Help Musicians click here: https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/support-our-work, email fundraising@helpmusicians.org.uk or call 0207 239 9100.
As one of the UK’s largest independent music therapy charities, Nordoff Robbins uses music to enrich the lives of people with life-limiting illnesses, disabilities and feelings of isolation. It relies heavily on fundraiser events, many of which have been cancelled, and this donation will go to support provision of an online service.
Music Managers Forum Rebuild Project
The MMF Rebuild project aims to prevent talented managers, who are under financial pressure, from having to leave the business as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
This will enable the addictions and mental health music charity to extend the reach of its Thrive app among musicians and those working in the industry who are dealing with addictions and mental health issues. A further donation to the charity is being made by The BRIT Trust.
The donation will support the Trust as it works to prevent the permanent closure of hundreds of grassroots music venues across the UK.
About the BPI (British Phonographic Industry)
BPI champions the UK’s recorded music industry, safeguarding the rights of its members and of the artists, performers and label members of collecting body PPL. Its membership consists of well over 450 independent labels and the UK’s three ‘majors’, which together account for 85 per cent of legitimate domestic music consumption and one in nine albums sold around the world. BPI promotes British music
overseas through its trade missions and the Music Exports Growth Scheme.
It provides insights, training and networking with its free masterclasses, Innovation Hub, Insight Sessions, WidsomWednesdays events, and reports. The BPI administers The BRIT Certified Awards, co-owns The Official Charts, organises The BRIT Awards and BRITs Week, and is also home to The Mercury Prize.
MEDIA RELEASE issued by BPI. You too can share your stories (aka press or media releases), on this site. Email here for more information.
Check out twitter.com/scotsbulletin for your very own media releases feed…
Check out too twitter.com/allMusicPR and twitter.com/allCharitiesPR.
Stay connected with our various twitter feeds: Charities, Drink, Education, Energy, Fashion, Film, Food, Gardens, Legal, Motors, Music, Outdoors, Property, Science and Sports. And not forgetting Finance, Theatre, Travel, Festivals, Visual Arts, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling.
BPI contact details…
Contact: BPI
Email: gennaro.castaldo@bpi.co.uk
