# Is Portugal a good place to be a creative self-employed?



## Johnnas (Sep 4, 2021)

Would be grateful for your experience and advices.

I am a filmmaker and musician and thinking to move to Lisbon and start business as a self-employed from scratch here (new connections, new clients, etc).

Is Portugal a good place for creative people to be a self-employed and succeed, in general? To be more specific, I’m more interested in filming live events and touring as a musician.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi and Welcome,
This is just my own thoughts.

Portugal is a person centered place so making connections people to people is the way to go. Oporto or Porto has a vibrant music "scene" and a slightly "alternative" vibe (vis my expericnce of London and Berlin) but am unsure how anyone makes money. The small bands consistently touring do not seem to exist compared to places like London. There are (pre Covid) some brilliant festivals like Boom but I'd expect it takes a period of time to integrate into whatever local organisations are putting on events. If you are looking to make money then maybe try somewhere with a higher average income BUT it is such a friendly and welcoming place that I'd suggest you give it a few months of your life to see what you can achieve. Speaking some Portuguese may also help.


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## Johnnas (Sep 4, 2021)

@Strontium thanks for the response. In your opinion, music career is better to start in Berlin or London as these cities have more opportunities than in Portugal overall?


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi,
*Pre Covid*
London without a doubt as live music is so inportant so "Talent Scouts" are constantly looking and obviously the population of London is about the same as the whole of Portugal but just looking at listings of live music London had more then Berlin, Lisbon, Amsterdam and Paris combined. There's small venues - room in a Pub The Half Moon Putney - Tickets & Events - all over plus small festivals in or near by London (Line-up ) even Pizza Restaurants doing stuff like music Wednesday - Then big stuff like Springsteen at Wembley or Led Zep at the O2, If you look you'll find buskers, string quartets, military bands, steel bands, rock, punk, folk, psychobilly, However it's very nice living in Portugal. Berlin was interesting as the Wall made it an alternative place and it had a Free University but this has changed to being expensive up market and more money orientated than the wonderful art/music it used to have (also see Lou Reed).


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