Berlin, one of the first cities of dance music, remains a honey-pot of musical activity.

From the glory years of Tresor through to the present day, Berlin has produced a stready stream of essential artists. Expats, meanwhile, flock in their thousands: Shackleton, Kuedo, and Objekt are among the British acts to have made the city their home. According to Skruff, Berlin’s status as an artistic nexus might now be under threat.

Proposed new tax laws will make it a legal requirement for self-employed workers in the city to play €350 a month pension contributions. Considered alongside mandatory health care payments, this means that residents will have to make contributions of approximately €600 per month. The law is part of Merkel’s ‘Rewarding Life’s Work’ package, designed to ameliorate Germany’s pension crisis.

According to columnist Seymour Gris, “Berlin is especially susceptible to this legislation, as it will kill off myriad microcosms of entrepreneurism in every imaginable field from culture to food to IT. Or else drive more small business people into the tax-free black market,”

The reforms are expected to enter into law on July 1 2013.