Photo Credit: Ibrahim Boran
EU-funded BELEM consortium has €2 million of funding to explore lyric translation — now it’s calling for songwriters, lyricists, and publishers to join the effort.
BELEM, the European Union-funded consortium of 14 music industry players — including Deezer, LyricFind, and Unison — announced their €2 million funding received through the Creative Europe Programme (CREA) in December. The initiative has now issued an open call to lyricists, songwriters, publishers, and translators to apply for funding to create translated or adapted versions of songs.
Funding is available for up to 60% of the costs of the projects, with a maximum budget of €5,000. BELEM (Boostom European Lyrics and their Entrepreneurial Monetization) is particularly interested in supporting online and streaming lyric translations, funding individual songwriters, and helping publishers develop and build upon their translation capabilities.
“Through this grant and open call, we hope to further showcase the role of lyrics, translations, and adaptations in music,” says LyricFind Senior Vice President Robert Singerman.
As a significant partner in BELEM, Deezer has worked extensively with LyricFind to translate over 10,000 lyrics in four languages within the Deezer app. Many popular English songs now have available lyrics in French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
“In the digital age, it’s imperative for music to be localized, universal, and accessible. Lyrics hold a vital function in understanding music, but language barriers present a major obstacle,” says BELEM Lead Florian Von Hoyer, COO at MusicHUB.
“Through human-translated lyrics, we can help bridge the gap of understanding, expose artists to entirely new audiences, and help those artists to monetize their lyrics and the translations better. This project has a grand ambition–to empower artists and connect cultures to transform European music revenues and understanding.”
In addition to Deezer and LyricFind, BELEM’s partners include 14 EU music publishing, distribution, technology, labels, and academics, such as Zebralution, Baris, Independent Digital, Metatron, and Nord University.