Q & A – The Music Must Go On

The following FAQ is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs), and answers or to provide information on frequent questions or concerns on the Application process to the Music Must Go On Scheme (the “Scheme”).

Is there a limit to the number of applications by a record label?

No limit is imposed, the applicant is free to nominate up to the limit of its artiste numbers, but for practical purpose, please refer to the following.

As the object of the Organizer is to encourage as many labels and labels to participate the Scheme, subject to quota available and valid applications to be approved on a rolling base, each Qualified Applicant is limited to just 1 approved project during the Application period.

If quota remains available after the close of application period, valid applications of lower priority will be allocated according to time stamp recorded up to the available quota.

Therefore, the label should indicate the artiste priority in the application form.

Is there a limit to the number of songs per artiste?

Yes, the record label may apply up to 3 titles per artiste

Following the logic under section 1 above, the label shall name the priority level of the 3 songs in each of the Application form.

Is the funding advance available?

It is a project-based funding Scheme, and the approved subsidy will only be reimbursed to the Qualified Applicant after the completion of the production of a master recording of a selected song (from the list as posted on our website) that the Applicant has has completed the project in full compliance with the terms and conditions and its undertaking of the Scheme.

Could the named Studio Practitioner(s) under the duly completed application form be replaced?

It is permissible that the initially named Studio Practitioner in the Application Form be replaced for a good cause. However, there is an aggregate total amount of HK$80,000 capped limit for each Studio Practitioner under the entire Music Must Go On 2020 Scheme. Any payment over and above the restricted limit of HK$80,000 shall be borne by the Qualified Applicant.

Studio Practitioner includes a natural person and/or the same natural person operating via a Hong Kong incorporated company as his/her service company. Prior approval by the Organiser is required for the change.

Could a partially completed project be eligible for full or partial reimbursement?

It is a project-based funding Scheme, any incomplete project or project made not according to the funding rules, regulations and undertakings by the Qualified Applicant shall not be entitled to nor eligible for any of the reimbursement.

However, if the project is forced to terminate prematurely due to a Force Majeure, the Organiser may review the situation but shall have the final say or decision on partial reimbursement or extension of the deadline.

Could the Label Applicant choose a song outside of the Selected Pool of Songs?

No, Applicant must select the song from such pool as collected by the Organiser from local sales award winning Chinese song releases from the past.

Before applying for funding support, an Applicant must secure a mechanical reproduction license for the making of cover version with the relevant music publishers or composers and lyricists and also the artiste’s re-recording right as there may be restraint clause imposed on that artiste to perform the same song that he/she has previously recorded for other record companies.

If an Applicant has difficulty securing a relevant licence from Music Publishers or the composer and lyricist for its selected son, it should consider using another song from the list.

There shall be no song replacement once after the Application has been submitted to the Organizer.

Is there any policy on the selection of song for the Music Must Go On Scheme?

There is one selected song for one project policy under the Scheme. It means that once a song has been selected by an Applicant, that particular song will not be available for other applicants.

Would a non-member Label Applicant be eligible to apply for funding Scheme?

Yes, it is eligible to apply if it has secured written recommendations from 2 Full Members of the Organiser. Mere licensee of music recordings is not eligible for application.

Would the production house and production house staff Studio Practitioners be eligible for reimbursement under the Scheme?

One of the objects of the Scheme is to support the engagement of at least 6 Studio Practitioners per song. Both Production house employee Studio Practitioner(s) and individual self-employed qualified Studio Practitioner engaged or employed by a Qualified Applicant will equally be eligible for direct reimbursement.

For illustration, when a record label engages a production house to provide services for the production of a master recording of a selected song, the Studio Practitioners including employee Studio Practitioner engaged directly with the production of a master recording of the selected song shall be counted as a qualified Studio Practitioner, and listed in the Application form for reimbursement. An invoice issued by the production house covering the cost of its employee Studio Practitioner may be used to support reimbursement claim under the Scheme, subject to authorization from the staff Studio Practitioners.

Every claim for the engagement of Studio Practitioner for each project shall be limited or capped at HK$68,000, and the qualified Applicant shall bear any costs over and above that limit for that project.

Under no circumstances shall a Studio Practitioner be allowed to claim reimbursement under the Scheme for an aggregate sum over and above of HK$80,000. Each Studio Practitioner is only allowed to claim up to HK$80,000.00 no matter how many projects he/she has been engaged under the Scheme.

10.

How to calculate reimbursement?

Only Allowable costs are considered for re-imbursement but not Non-Allowable costs. They are listed under the Rules and Regulations. To repeat here, based on a HK$68,000 nominal production cost, the maximum subsidy receivable by the Applicant is HK$61,200 or 90% of the Allowable production cost whichever lower. Whether a completed project is eligible for reimbursement, one of the key factor is at least 80% of the resultant subsidy has been used in the employment/engagement of 6 or more Studio Practitioners for the production of the song.

11.

Is there a rule the limit of appearances by an artiste, a singing group and/or a music band?

As the number of titles for funding is limited, any Artiste shall be restricted to perform no more than 3 titles, whether as solo, group, joint or as guest Artiste.

12.

The Scheme accepts each artiste to nominate 3 songs, with priority level set for song 1, 2 and 3. What if the song 1 is found to be rejected due to whatever reason; what is the next step for the Qualified Applicant?

The grant of subsidy project respects the Qualified Applicant’s chosen priorities set for its Artistes and Songs. Suppose the 1st priority artiste has more than 1 song applied. When the Artiste’s Song #1 is rejected, the Applicant should immediately submit a revised application, if interest remains. According to the Rules and Regulation, the revision is a new application and will be given a new time stamp for processing. It is the Applicants’ choice to follow through with the 1st song or switch to the 2nd song of the Artiste as the revised application, or if the Artiste is found not qualified for application, the Applicant may elect its 2nd Artiste’s 1st song as the revised application, so on so forth. All this is subject to quota remain open within the Artist Group.

The Organizer does not offer assistance to verify data before receiving the formal application , to be fair to all applicants.

13.

What is the data size limit of each email application for the project?

Firstly, it is essential for the Qualify Applicant to submit a full application in a single package for proper administration. This can easily be met with the hardcopy submission, However, whether it is possible to include everything on a single email depends on the numbers of pages and the compression ratio of the files.

A typical scanned page in pdf at 200 DPI in black and white is around 500K each.
The Application Form softcopy is 1.5 MB.

The Organizer reserves as high as 10MB for each email application.

This supports up to 16 pages of PDF including (assuming from a non-member):

– The signed copy of the Application x1
– The lyrics x1
– The music publisher consent x2
– Full member recommendation for non-members x2
– Artiste credential declaration x1
– Studio Practitioner credential declaration x6
– The last page of the signed Rules and Regulation x1

Sub.total 8 MB

Including the electronic Application soft copy, the total file size in 9.5MB. Therefore the Organiser only requires the inclusion of the mp3 sample files in the hardcopy submission.

In such event the 10MB per email is found insufficient:

– Preferred Method: The Applicant should find ways to reduce the file size of each PDF, or recompress to HEIC file, or
– Submit the Application Electronic softcopy and provide a link for the Organizer to download other files from a file transfer service.

*Apple computers OSX 14+ and devices including iPhone (iOS 11+) provide native support.

14.

What is the purpose of the Email Application on top of the hardcopy application?

Firstly, these are the same copies of the application containing the same data. Yet they serve different purposes. The request in the guide to submit both at the same time is to avoid the 2 copies are not the same, with subsequent amendment done to either one.

The Email application has 2 key functions:

– It sets the timestamp for the cue in processing and validation.
– It can easily contain electronic files. The specially designed Acrobat Application Form is an electronic data tool that enables quick data processing in computer. So the applicant needs to send both the scanned signed copy and the electronic application in the same email.

Also, the applicant is asked to send to 2 different email boxes to lessen the chance of email communication break-down.

The hardcopy submission by postal means carries these functions
– Inclusion of files that are too large in the email, such as the mp3 samples.
– As a final backup in case no email was received by the Organizer from the Applicant.
– To provide for contract signing purpose.

To reduce the traffic of original documents due to revision, the Organizer accepts the postal package to be submitted by the Applicant promptly on the recommendation of acceptance by the Liaison Manager, based on the email application.

Such permitted delivery of the hardcopy at a deferred time does not affect the timestamp for the 1st round and the 2nd round project approvals. Of course, the simultaneous submission is not ruled out.

15.

About reference to ISRC

The International Standard Recording Code is the industry unique identifier for recording copyright globally.

All record companies conducting commercial release of own recordings in Hong Kong would have had applied for an ISRC Registrant Code from the Organiser as it is free of charge. The ISRC continues to be mandatory for manufacturing and distribution.

The use of ISRC is also a reference for whether the artiste has performed in commercial releases. However, the Organiser also accept:

– The proof of Artiste credentials for all original recording artistes in the Selected Pool of songs is not required.
– Proof or release by an artiste could also be supported by photo of either record cover, advertisement or pop chart listing for at least one title, attached with the email application when the ISRC for the song is not available.

16.

About seeking recommendation letters from Full Members of the IFPI (Hong Kong Group)

Background

Non-members of the Organiser who wish to apply for the Scheme is required to produce 2 recommendation letters from Full Members of the Organiser. A Full Member list is published under www.the-music-must-go-on.com, as well as the blank recommendation letter.

Prepare to send these as part of the request:

The completed letter
Your company profile, including the current Business Registration copy
Sample recordings such as via web-links, the bio and photo of your exclusive contracted artiste intended for the application.

Chances are the Full Members do not know you. Any support information such as what song you wish to use for the Scheme would increase your chance of winning their support.

The Organizer does not recommend who from the list you should approach first.

17.

What is the purpose of the Certificate of Incorporate (CI) and the Business Registration (BR) form?

The CI certifies a company being established in Hong Kong setting out the date of establishment. The BR indicates it is a Hong Kong company currently registered.

Unlimited company duly registered in Hong Kong is also a registered company with a BR. It is understood and acceptable that these applicants may not produce the CI copy. The CI field may be entered as”NA” under the application forms.

18.

Would recording studio cost be reimbursed under the Scheme?

Recording Studio cost at its usual rate may be included in the final Reimbursement process, but the amount allowed shall be subject to the maximum subsidy of HK$68,000.00 for each project. For example, if you have incurred other allowable expenses to HKD 61,000.00; you may only be entitled to claim HKD 7,000.00 for the Recording Studio cost even though the actual cost (that you have actually paid to Recording Studio) is well above that limit. For the Government’s auditing purpose, you may ask for the evidence of actual payment of the cost of Recording Studio before this item may be approved for payment.

Disclaimer:

Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.

Legal Disclaimer

IFPI (Hong Kong Group) Limited is an organiser for making necessary arrangement for running the Create Hong Kong funding Scheme for Hong Kong recording industry; we provide the potential Applicants the platform and management services that allow you to apply for the funding support of making and commercial releasing of a cover version of s selected song under the Scheme including processing the application, approval of an application, auditing the claims for disbursement and other administrative support for the Scheme; therefore, under no circumstances shall the Organiser be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims damages expenses costs or liabilities whatsoever resulting in or arising directly or indirectly from your participation of the Scheme.