MOBO Help Musicians Fund

Who is Help Musicians?

Help Musicians is a charity that loves music and for 100 years has been working hard to make a meaningful difference to the lives of musicians across the UK. We want to create a world where musicians thrive.

Who is MOBO?

The MOBO Trust is the charitable division of the MOBO organisation and was established in 2016 to provide life-changing opportunities and support talent in music and beyond plus those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

What Can the MOBO Help Musicians Fund Do for you?

• Music creators really benefit from support which enables them to focus on three key areas of their career at the same time: making music, business development and health & wellbeing.
• Which is why our support covers each of these areas.
• Financial Support to Help You Create Music

To help you create and release your music, you can apply for up to £3,000 to assist with the cost of creating a new body of work and getting it out to the world.

This could cover your costs for:

• Time to create (writing, composition, rehearsal)
• Session musician fees
• Recording (studio hire, engineering, mixing, mastering)
• Content creation (video, audio, promotional photography, artwork and design etc)
• Manufacture and distribution
• PR & Marketing
• Musical equipment, production and composition software/hardware*
• New technology including enhanced digital or remote collaboration tools*
• Software to enable digital distribution and live streaming*
• Equipment costs should not make up any more than 50% of your budget. Please note we are unable to fund the purchase of musical instruments, including laptops.

To apply you must:

• Deliver your supported activities within 12 months of accepting the grant – please note, your activity should not start any earlier than three-months from the submission of your application
• Be aged over 18
• Be in financial need and without significant backing (by this we mean not receiving significant financial backing from a record label, publisher or private investor and not having over £16,000 in savings
• Have control over one or more aspects of your career (e.g. self-managing, self-releasing or self-producing)
• Already have an active career and be able to clearly demonstrate your work to date
• Be a UK resident*
• We refer to the UK residency rules noting that you are eligible for our support:
• If you are a UK National living in the UK you automatically qualify
• If you are a non-UK National, you have been living in the UK for at least 183 days and have the legal right to live in the UK