Music industry wants direct aid from the Canary Islands Government
The Association of the Canarian Music Industry (AIMCA) has sent an official document to the president of the regional government, Ángel Víctor Torres, requesting that the sector be included among the beneficiaries of the regional plan of extraordinary aid measures, which has a value of 400 million euros, to support the activities most affected by the consequences of Covid-19.
The association, that represents 70 companies that are either event production, staging, artist representatives, lighting, and audiovisuals, have said to Torres: "the situation of our associates is desperate, due to 10 months of almost the absolute collapse of our economic activity, which has been blocked or very slowed down by health measures; which although clearly necessary, they have plunged our productive fabric into ostracism and melancholy due to the material impossibility of carrying out our work normally”.
AIMCA says that such direct aid "is essential, given the fear that company closures and job destruction will begin in the near future." In this regard, the association details that the sector it represents has 5,544 companies, which generate 31,600 jobs in the Archipelago (3.5% of the active population).
Similarly, it points out that it generates 38 million euros per year in IGIC and "moves" an annual cultural consumption of 500 million euros. However, at present the group is "on the verge of bankruptcy", since in 2020 it suffered a 70% decrease in its annual turnover, with direct losses of 50 million euros and 300 million euros indirectly.
AIMCA proposes to the Canary Islands Government that a transversal economic allocation be approved, through the departments of Industry, Economy, Tourism and Employment, "as the effort of the Culture area of the Canarian Executive is insufficient to inject economic muscle for the music industry” in the Islands, with the aim of avoiding “a cascade of company closures and the destruction of thousands of jobs”.
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“For the distribution of these direct aids, in a fair and equitable way, it is suggested to create, in relation to the possible beneficiaries, two blocks, production companies and service companies, and establish scales based on the age of the company, annual turnover and the number of workers in the workforce in the last three years before the pandemic.”
The association also requests that they be included in the distribution of the 630 million euros that will reach the Islands between 2021 and 2022 from the European React-EU Fund, and the creation of a monitoring commission between the public administration and the industry to agree on the development and execution of this plan of direct aid and tax credits to safeguard the sector in the face of the Covid-19 crisis.
TAX CREDITS:
As complementary measures, AIMCA proposes soft credits and tax credits, which include a reduction of the IGIC of up to 3%, to contribute to the liquidity of the companies and guarantee the income of the workers. Likewise, it believes it necessary to maintain the ERTE, with the maximum level of Social Security bonus, until at least the month of June. The creation of consumer bonds, subsidized by the regional government and linked to trade, is another measure, of a palliative type, that they propose to stimulate the acquisition of tickets subsidized with public money.