Spanish music festivals get funding from large international ticketing companies instead of Spanish banks. And, in fact, some of these big festivals have ended up being acquired in recent years by large investment funds. Now the Government hopes to achieve a turning point for the Spanish audio sector, which brings together the music industry, the audiobook industry or the increasingly ubiquitous podcasts, through the creation of the new Espacio Audio, which seeks to promote, internationalize and allow better financing of the sector. And that it will have 160 million euros in credits from European recovery funds to achieve this and definitively change the old dynamics of local financing.
“Creative industries have a huge impact on society, but we have very little tradition of financing, both from financial institutions and from private investment in the cultural sector. On the other hand, Anglo-Saxon countries have a great tradition of financing these industries. And in fact what we see now is that part of the local industry is changing hands with international funding. These new funds from the Audio Space will help change this tradition and visualize that it is possible to finance cultural industries that use audio for their growth, due to its projection”, sums up Jordi Herreruela, director of the Cruïlla festival and president of the Barcelona Music Lab Foundation, at the end of a presentation ceremony for Espacio Audio that he took yesterday afternoon to a small concert hall in Madrid, the Sala Tempo, the Vice President of the Government, Nadia Calviño, and the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta.
In an act organized by the State Coordinator of Private Live Music Venues attended by a large representation of the sector, the president of EsMúsica, the Spanish Music Federation, Kin Martínez, pointed out that the new Espacio Audio, which is part of in the strategic project of the New Language Economy led by Cristina Gallach, supposes the “acknowledgment by this Government that we are a strategic sector of the first order, we generate a very important transversal economy (of the money that moves a concert only one 30% go under the heading of musical economic activity, while 70% figure in logistics, tourism or transport) and the music industry deserves the same treatment as other disciplines such as cinema or audiovisuals in terms of tax benefits “.
“We need to train a whole generation of professionals in this sector. Also a regulatory adaptation in fiscal, labor, urban, industrial, educational matters. We have to abide by specific regulations. If general regulations apply to us, we are not going to produce the same”, concluded the president of EsMúsica.
And the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, spoke about digitization, artificial intelligence and the new Audio Space. “What do we want with this Audio Space? We want more industry, strengthening the media industries, supporting the sector, favoring its integration. Fostering the production of sound content, capturing cultural diversity. Contributing to mobilizing private investment. Mobilizing 160 millions of euros in loans in good conditions. A better regulatory framework. And the training, the training, the professionalization of this sector in which all of you are more or less self-taught”.
“We are talking about increasing and taking advantage of our linguistic, technological, cultural potential, getting Spanish on the train of the digital revolution, because frankly we are in a moment of change and we cannot let this absolutely extraordinary opportunity pass us by because this time, I believe that for the first “This time in our history, we are well positioned. Spain has the necessary assets to succeed in this digital revolution,” Calviño said.
And Miquel Iceta, who attacked the PP’s proposals with irony – “That they take away the Ministry from me, look, but that they take away the Ministry of Culture, no. There are six salaries the difference between having a minister and not having one, and what what is very different is having a voice that tries to represent the best of our culture where decisions are made”-, he pointed out that “there is no doubt that we are a cultural power worldwide, but we still do not have a cultural industry that take full advantage of that potential. All sectors of the audio world claim above all to be able to contribute the maximum power they already have and that is what we want to take advantage of, we want to take advantage of you, we can say it calmly”, he concluded.
The Espacio Audio project, in addition to the 160 million in loans, contemplates implementing improvements in the regulatory framework and in the good practices of the audio medium sectors in a digital environment, with special attention to the field of intellectual property rights, the creation of a register of voices in order to recognize ownership and copyright, as well as establish licenses for use. The Audio Space will have an inter-ministerial working group led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Culture and Sports, which, with the support of the Commissioner for the Part of the New Language Economy, will evaluate its development every six months .
And an Audio Space Forum will be created made up of representatives of audio companies and associations in Spain for the consolidation and structuring of the ecosystem actors. An Ibero-American Audio Forum will also be promoted to promote the co-production of sound content and strengthen networks between Ibero-American countries.
