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CMMC Music Student Wage Subsidy Program

Program Summary

The Canadian Music Management Collective is launching a new initiative for a limited time, designed to help gigging music students turn their music earnings into formal, professional employment income. Successful applicants for this program are rewarded with a 50% top-up match on all music-related revenue, generated until November 30, 2026. We pay you these earnings through our payroll, resulting in official T4 employment income, and access to employer contributions such as Employment Insurance (EI) and Canadian Pension Plan (CPP).

How it works

1. You make the money: You bring in music revenue from your live performances, session works, commissions, or any other generated music earnings. 2. We record the numbers: You route your revenue, up to a maximum of $5,900, through the CMMC so we can officially hire you as an employee under our Student Work Placement program. You can do this retroactively for any gig income you have not yet reported, and/or that you will not get a T4A for. 3. The government partially subsidizes your earnings: With help from the Federal Government and Culture Works Canada, we will add a 50% top-up bonus to all your gig earnings routed through us, pay you an additional 4% for vacation, and contribute our share towards your EI and CPP, all adding up to around 70% of added value. At the end of the year, we issue you a clean T4 tax slip. 4. You take more home: After all tax deductions, you will still walk away with a net cash bonus compared to your original earnings, plus a legitimate, verifiable track record for your music career income.

To put it simply

For every $100 in gig revenue you route through the program, you get an additional net $15-$20 of extra cash in your pocket, after all taxes and deductions are settled.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this program, you must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or a person granted refugee protection under the law (Social Insurance Number does not begin with 9), who is currently registered as a student at a recognized Canadian post-secondary institution, and actively making money from any number of music-related activities.

We will be considering submissions on a rolling basis, and as such, highly recommend applying sooner rather than later. We thank all applicants for their interest, but due to funding and operational constraints, only a select number of artists will be chosen for this program. We will do our best to respond to everyone, regardless of the outcome.

This initiative is officially supported by CWC’s Student Work Placement program, funded in part by the Government of Canada.