WE ARE POP! Wie För­de­rung Musik, Szenen und Zukunft möglich macht

WE ARE POP! is the first comprehensive book on pop music support in Germany, making it a survey of the field, a practical toolkit, and a vision for the future—for everyone interested in music, music funding and support, policymakers, the music industry, and students. Rothaug combines analysis with practical knowledge and concrete models for the future. She asks who receives support, who makes the decisions, and according to which criteria—and what kind of musical life these decisions make possible. Because pop music support is not a repair shop for a challenging music market; rather, it is a form of infrastructure policy that creates the conditions in which artistic development, economic independence, cultural diversity, and social participation can flourish.

Andrea Rothaug has known the system from the inside for more than four decades of practical experience: as Managing Director of RockCity Hamburg, as a founder and co-founder of networks and institutions, as a cultural policy strategist, coach, and developer of new funding instruments. She traces how pop music support emerged, where it is reaching its limits today, and what structures musicians, scenes, clubs, and the music industry will actually need in the future. The book is about much more than funding. It addresses power and participation, urban development and spaces, gender equality and diversity, fair working conditions and social security, digital transformation and AI, networks, new funding models, and the question of what a sustainable music infrastructure for the future could look like.