In the dispute over the share of German-language music on radio, 1LIVE has rejected a fixed quota. Such a requirement could disadvantage musicians who perform in other languages but are nevertheless part of Germany’s music scene, the broadcaster of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk said on 13 November 2026. The producer team KitschKrieg had previously accused the station of failing to support German-language artists and suggested introducing a quota modelled on France.
The dispute also centred on the 1LIVE Krone. KitschKrieg has been nominated for the audience award but, according to its own statement, intends neither to accept the prize nor to attend the ceremony. The team published its criticism on Instagram on 12 November. It accuses the broadcaster of using the reach of German artists to promote the event, while giving them too little airtime in its regular programming.
As an example, KitschKrieg cited the schedule for 10 November, according to a report by the music magazine DIFFUS. Of 363 tracks played, only 34 were in German, and about half of those were played at night. These figures are based on the producer team’s account; on their own, they do not establish the share of German-language music over a longer period.
1LIVE rejected the accusation that it was failing to support artists. From the broadcaster’s perspective, what matters is not just the language of a song, but its significance to Germany’s music scene. KitschKrieg’s work has been played on 1LIVE more than 1,000 times since 2018, the broadcaster said. It cited the 1LIVE Heimatkult format and the joint initiative ARD New Music.
The dispute also involved promotional material for the nominated track “Gut genug”, which features KitschKrieg, the duo Blumengarten and musician Shirin David . The producer team criticised the fact that David did not appear in an image sent to them. 1LIVE said that the broadcaster had initially been provided with photos without her. It ultimately published only images received later that showed her. Use of the promotional materials provided was voluntary for all nominees and had no bearing on the award decision.
KitschKrieg also criticised the collection of email addresses during voting. According to 1LIVE, the addresses are used to prevent multiple votes; they are used for the administration of the vote and deleted when the prize draw ends.
The debate therefore concerns two different questions: how often German-language tracks are played and how a broadcaster defines the diversity of music from Germany. A quota would be based on language, whereas 1LIVE also counts contributions in other languages as part of Germany’s music scene. The ceremony is scheduled to take place on 3 December 2026 in Bielefeld . KitschKrieg remains among the nominees, according to the German Press Agency.
Editor: Celestina Fuentes (Article created with AI assistance).