A new sector brand for chilean music industry abroad

This initiative, whose first target markets will be Spain, Mexico and Peru aims at strengthening knowledge on the national music industry by promoting its export.

Chilemúsica appears at a key moment for the music industry. Every year, national artists perform over 1,500 concerts abroad, making it essential to develop this brand so it can work together with the sector and open the doors to new markets. It also generates links between the local and global industry, it promotes new business with foreign agents, creates new commercial networks, and it helps with programming, distribution and diffusion. This also entails support for having a presence within delegations at festivals, fairs, markets and international instances.

This new sector brand was created thanks to the work of the Chilean Independent Music Industry Trade Association (IMICHILE – Asociación Gremial Industria Musical Independiente de Chile), ProChile, the Undersecretariat of Culture and Arts (Subsecretaría de las Culturas y las Artes), the Production Development Corporation (CORFO – Corporación de Fomento de la Producción – Chilecreativo) and the Chilean Collecting Society (SCD – Sociedad Chilena de Autores e Intérpretes Musicales) to focus on the work done with the export of national music, joining the existing sector brands of Chile’s creative industries: “CinemaChile” and “ChileDoc” for film and music, and “Sismica Chile” for visual arts.

Having an office specialized in expanding Chilean music abroad will directly benefit the national industry. According to Oliver Knust, director at Chilemúsica and IMICHILE: “we see an identity value for Chile in music that is exportable to other countries. We have a unique geography that has influenced our way of making music, with a great variety of music genres that allows us reaching different markets of creative industries. Our identity is rich in sounds, our musicians are rebellious and daring – we think this is an opportunity to strengthen relationships with other countries and improving the presence and the negotiation for Chilean music abroad.”

One of Chilemúsica’s first goals will be to position the Chilean industry on three important markets: Spain, Mexico and Peru.

“At ProChile, we consider Creative Industries as a priority, understanding the high added value they provide to our exports, representing around 2.2% of Chile’s GDP, and with a strong internationalization potential. Chilemúsica is the culmination of many years of work in cooperation with the private sector, and which will allow us to make our country and its authors’ talent, culture and identity in other markets more visible” added Jorge O’Ryan, Director at ProChile. 

Through the Undersecretariat of Culture and Arts, support for this initiative is also considered as a country mission of exercising an identity and having a Chilean hallmark abroad: “From the Undersecretariat of Culture and Arts, we have been pushing since the beginning the idea of a music sector brand, since we consider it will be an essential instrument to meet the objectives set out in the 2017-2022 National Music Policy, of positioning national music within the international context, in order to project the Chilean cultural profile and to broaden development possibilities of the sector. At times when we need to highlight the role of our artists, we believe that news like this one, and progress on the “Support Act Law” at the Congress will help reactivating the industry and will provide that our artists are at the creative and production level of the best international exponents,” says Undersecretary of Culture and Arts, Juan Carlos Silva.

From the Chilean Collecting Society (SCD – Sociedad Chilena de Autores e Intérpretes Musicales), they value this new way of exporting Chile’s great cultural capital to other territories: “Chilean music has a considerable presence around the world today. Chilean musicians stand out on stages in different parts of the world and at important festivals and award ceremonies. We believe that the creation of this new brand will help strengthening all that talent and it will value the work that our artists are doing, and also that it has an important export and internationalization potential” says Horacio Salinas, SCD President.

Meanwhile, for the Production Development Corporation – CORFO, through its program Chilecreativo, supporting this project is fundamental because “the music industry is an excellent export venture, for contributing to the diversification of our economy. Music shows and musical productions generate a wide variety of businesses and jobs, from music interpreters and technicians, to many legal and technological support services, among others. More importantly, it is based on an intangible value that comes from the artists’ talent, our culture and our heritage. Music is at the forefront of the technological revolution, but at the same time, it still holds elements typical of artisanal tradition. Chilemúsica will be an important platform for the promotion of our industry and music around the world – in the same way other sector brands have done so with great success and pride, such as CinemaChile, Shoot in Chile, Chiledoc, Sismica Chile, Arquitectura de Chile, and many others,” adds Felipe Mujica, Manager of Chile Creativo.

Chilemúsica will be presented in Mexico City between February 29 and March 1, and throughout 2020 it will offer launch campaigns, socialization and networking activities in Peru, Spain, Chile and other cities in Mexico.