There is no specific strategy to promote the music industry in Croatia but there are several policy instruments oriented towards developing music creativity and music production in general. These instruments are present through the yearly calls for public needs in culture published by the Ministry of Culture and Media where the support for production and distribution of (primarily) classical music is offered, while additional minor support for rock music is available as well. In the last couple of years, a number of initiatives have been active that advocated for more support to be given to the new types of popular musical offer (e.g. the initiatives of the Association of Concert Promoters), while a number of public discussions have stressed the importance of recognising the music industry as a cultural industry within public policy as well (e.g. during the MAKK conference and similar events).
It can be said that the music sector in Croatia has a good organisational backbone through the work of several professional associations, notably Croatian Composer’s Society and its’ Service for the Protection of Authors Rights’ (HDS ZAMP) (see chapter 4.1.6). This has been especially evident in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the music sector very hard through the cancellation of a number of concerts and events, closing down of cafes and bars that impact on the collecting rights measures and thus authors’ themselves. As the report by the Institute of Economics (2022) showed the music sector (together with performing arts) showed to be the most affected by the pandemic with the drop in the revenue of 40.8% (see chapter 3.5). However, this resulted in a number of coordinated efforts between different authors associations that have issued appeals for help for the music industry (from the Croatian Composer’s Society, the Croatian Musicians’ Union, the Croatian Association of Featured Musicians, the Croatian Association of Orchestral and Chamber Musicians, and the Croatian Performers’ Rights Collecting Society). Recent changes have included the increase of the percentage of Croatian music that the radio broadcasters have to emote during the total emitting time.
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