FAQ

BELEM is a European Union (EU) funded initiative that has been granted €2 million in funding through the Creative Europe Programme (CREA). It will drive new revenue streams to key players in the music industry by promoting European lyrics and the translations of these lyrics alongside their monetisation.

BELEM includes: .MUSIC, AMAEI, Bardis, Broma 16, Deezer, Fleepit, Independent Digital, Lusitanian Music Publishing, LyricFind, Mars Music, Metatron, Nord University, RUNDA, Unison Rights and Zebralution.

BELEM’s aim is to break down cultural barriers by making true translations of songs more accessible, and to increase the potential of monetisation for lyrics. The purpose of the calls is to assist with this goal, by finding and then funding 10 projects per year, in 2023 and again in 2024. These open calls are to ensure more European Songs can be translated from one language to other, increasing cross-border collaborations between songwriters and ensuring that the songs are better understood across Europe.

The purpose of the Open Call is to assist Artists and Labels by funding 10 projects per year, in 2024 and 2025, for the recording and cross-border release of translated works ensuring the songs are better understood across Europe.

Publishers can make suggestions for their works to be translated in Open Call 1. Publishers can propose projects for translations in Open Call 2. Both writers and translators can apply via Open Call 3 (i.e. this Open Call).

Songwriters can get paid to co-write or translate songs into different languages. They can also be hired by the publishers running the projects.

Every time a song is translated, publishers have a new work in their repertoire that is increasing their earning potential in another country and in another language — potentially leading to new placements and new recordings by artists recording in that different language. So it multiplies international earnings.

Our partners also provide additional opportunities for monetising translated works. Through LyricFind, we can ensure that  publishers receive their digital lyric royalties for this work. Through our partner Deezer, we can ensure playlist representation once the songs are released (recording will be run as part of a subsequent open call later this year.

Creative Europe, via BELEM, also contributes €3,000 towards the publisher and writer costs and participating publishers contribute €2,000 via pre-existing salaries for the staff running each project.

Yes, you can participate via this Open Call 3 and put your CV forward. Then, once a publisher is awarded a project that matches your languages of interest, you will be contacted by the Steering Committee and Jury members.

Once a project is selected by the BELEM Steering Committee Members, assisted by a third-party jury from AMAEI and RUNDA, successful applicants will:

• Receive €1,500 initial payment towards the project (no invoice is needed for project payments from the EU) upon signature of the Project Support Agreement;
• Undertake the project and record the new works
• Provide financial reporting on project execution and demonstrate up to €5,000 expenditures (this is made up of €3,000 of EU in addition to €2,000 of financing from the Artist or Record Label) according to the proposed project budget
• Provide technical reporting to AMAEI (Independent Music Trade Association of Portugal) and RUNDA (Independent Trade Association from the Balkans) who will supervise the recording, mixing and mastering of these new European singles.

Fill out the form(s) on the page https://belem.music/2024-open-calls/ and propose a project describing the work(s) you want to record and the parties involved.

All submissions meeting the technical eligibility criteria will be submitted to the BELEM Steering Committee, comprised of members of the Co-Production Jury, along with the third-party jury from AMAEI and RUNDA. The committees will carefully examine each submission and provide recommendations for the projects deserving funding. This assessment will consider various factors, including language and regional diversity, to ensure that the available funds are distributed in a geographically equitable manner.

Depending on the number of applications, we expect to notify successful participants under embargo before the public announcement at the Westway LAB Conference in Portugal on April 10-13, 2024.

Works must be from an EU Member state Artist or Label and must be translated to and from a European Language. Please check the list of Creative Europe countries for the full details.

Each project should be timelined with a maximum duration from 1 month to 9 months.

There is no limit on the number of works that can be translated, the only limiting factor is the budget.

They can be accepted if submitted by European artists or labels. However, the priority language-wise is for the EU and Creative Europe languages spoken in countries participating in the Creative Europe programme.

Absolutely! Multi-lingual songs are most welcome, as they are able to cross several linguistic borders. It’s even better if you can provide complete translations of full versions of your songs in each language.

BELEM will not only oversee the funding for co-production works but will also facilitate the registration of new works and lyrics. Additionally, we will manage the upload of the new works to LyricFind, to enable online lyric monetisation. Furthermore, during this phase, we will also be encouraging the recording of translated works from the last open call.

The projects will need to report to AMAEI and RUNDA on their implementation progress and keep BELEM informed of its outcomes, in the lead-up to the final report for each project’s conclusion.

The BELEM partners leading the Co-Production call are AMAEI (Independent Music Trade Association of Portugal) and RUNDA (Independent Trade Association from the Balkans).