Since 2021, the genre organisations Art Music Denmark, Jazz Danmark, ROSA, and TEMPI have been responsible for data collection and documentation as one of four core tasks carried out on behalf of the Danish Arts Foundation. This work has resulted in a wide range of publications available at musikdata.dk, as well as concrete changes that have benefited the music sector.

With a four-year grant of DKK 5 million from the Augustinus Foundation, we will be ready from 2026 to significantly scale up our efforts and elevate data and analytical work to a new level, in collaboration with other knowledge actors across the music ecosystem.

Capacity building and a stronger focus on communication

The grant enables a substantial expansion of the genre organisations’ existing data work. The funding will be used to increase capacity and create greater coherence, accessibility, and quality in the knowledge base that informs the development of the music sector. This includes, among other initiatives:

• developing musikdata.dk into a professional platform that brings analyses and insights together in one place

• creating an overview of existing knowledge through a continuously updated database and formats that summarise and communicate key insights from across the music sector

• conducting new studies to address areas where data and documentation are currently lacking

• strengthening analytical and communications staffing to ensure sufficient resources for both production and dissemination

• expanding the reach of analyses through newsletters, publications such as the annual Danish Music Life in Numbers, and professional dialogues that put knowledge into active use

Knowledge strengthens music and cultural life

When the genre organisations originally received the mandate from the Danish Arts Foundation’s Project Support Committee for Music, it was based on a recognition that the cultural sector lacked evidence-based authority during the pandemic—particularly in discussions around compensation schemes. This realisation created momentum for a more data-driven practice which, in addition to the mandate given to the genre organisations, also led to the establishment of the Danish Institute for Cultural Analysis in 2023 and the formal anchoring of Applaus as an independent institution in December 2021.

This data momentum is also evident across several other organisations within the music sector. In a mapping of knowledge production conducted by the genre organisations, we can see that knowledge production across the Danish music ecosystem as a whole has increased significantly over the past five years.

The effects are beginning to show

Reports and analyses do not create change on their own. Their value only emerges when they are translated into action, which requires time, attention, and sustained collaboration across the music sector. Even so, we can already see clear impacts from the analytical work carried out in recent years—both in public debate and in political decision-making processes. A few examples:

• The report Why Are There So Few Women in Music?, initiated by the genre organisations in collaboration with Koda and Dansk Live, has—together with several other reports—helped sustain and deepen discussions about women’s access to and rights within the music industry. The report formed part of the empirical basis for the DR documentary Sexism in the Music Industry and subsequent studies on parental leave rights in the music sector, which in late 2025 led a broad alliance of organisations to present four concrete proposals and a demand for political action.

• The genre organisations’ ongoing analysis of artist mobility in Denmark and abroad—primarily published in the annual report Danish Music Life in Numbers—contributed to a permanent increase of DKK 800,000 per year to the International Transport Support fund from 2026. The national transport support scheme was also strengthened in the most recent Music Action Plan on the basis of the genre organisations’ analyses.

• In-depth follow-up research on a number of the genre organisations’ own culture and health projects has documented their impact and created a foundation for additional funding, including for the projects Fod på Gulv and Musical Visiting Friends. This has strengthened a field that both opens new employment opportunities for musicians and harnesses music’s potential to improve health and wellbeing among citizens.

The next major step forward

The grant from the Augustinus Foundation represents a significant recognition of the genre organisations’ data work, which is built on strong collaborations with other knowledge actors in the music sector and within academia. Our ambition is to build on this foundation and further strengthen partnerships so that knowledge can be shared more widely and achieve greater impact.

Together with the Augustinus Foundation and other knowledge actors in the music sector, we look forward to spending the next four years creating stronger connections between analysis and practice—for the benefit of the entire music ecosystem.