About BELEM

The BELEM project (Boosting European Lyrics and their Entrepreneurial Monetisation) supports the licensing, aggregation, distribution, promotion and translation of song lyrics. It significantly increases the monetisation of European song lyrics and their translations. It fosters the sustainable development and export of music in European languages for music publishers and songwriters (labels and artists) and benefits audiences, leading to greater linguistic diversity and understanding worldwide. Thanks to song translations, we are crossing borders in digital and virtual formats, as well as live at concerts.

A fundamental step towards achieving this goal is overcoming the language barrier for music written in languages other than the globally dominant English and, increasingly, Spanish. From an EU perspective, languages such as German, French and Italian can still be considered ‘major’. At the same time, all other European languages and ‘dialects’ remain, to a greater or lesser extent, in the ‘minority’ in the context of music production. BELEM focuses in particular on creating opportunities for the latter group of languages.

Song lyrics and their translations will be distributed worldwide. Both virtual and live concerts, as well as music videos featuring song lyrics and their translations (so-called ‘Lyrics Videos’), performed by European artists, will be sung in the artists’ native language or in several different languages. The songs will be accessible to audiences in many countries.

Over 20 seminars organised during industry conferences and the regular presence of BELEM members at over 50 international music events during the first two years of the project have contributed to increasing its visibility. We estimate that we reached over 400 industry stakeholders through direct discussions, and thanks to our numerous activities, we have raised awareness of the potential of lyrics in over 25 countries.

Our communication has helped to increase interest in song lyrics among publishers and songwriters. Many of them have contacted the project partners to seek support in monetising their lyrics. We have noted that this area of activity was previously unknown to many, but is now rapidly gaining popularity. At the same time, thanks to the partners’ commitment, specific knowledge on how to proceed in this matter is being disseminated.

The BELEM consortium intends to function as a knowledge hub for the European music sector. We strive to explain the complexities of such an important topic as copyright relating to the use of song lyrics, whilst ensuring respect for their authors. At the same time, we highlight the potential offered by the dissemination of lyrics on the European market. We aim to provide guidance on best practices and facilitate the creation of useful tools and services for the industry community.