Featured Image: Tijs van Leur on Unsplash
The future of Australia’s live music industry depends on a globally-focused, commercially engaged and collaborative approach; at least this is what Live Performance Australia’s chief executive Evelyn Richardson told a House of Representatives Committee in Melbourne earlier today (Tuesday).
An inquiry into the future of Australia’s live music industry has been ongoing, following the cancellation of a number of festivals and swathes of venue closures over the last year.
Richardson set out a three-pronged plan that would help the industry to not only survive, but thrive going forward.
A global export strategy is required to leverage global footprints and expertise, which means pulling the music industry together: live, record labels, publishers and streaming companies. Richardson said this should be a first priority for Music Australia, a new body established last year within Creative Australia to support and invest in Australian contemporary music.
Additionally, Richardson said there needed to be an investment in, and an understanding of, the pathways an artist now has to navigate to grow and sustain a music career. She asked: “What does that career matrix look like in 2025 and beyond and where does the government invest valuable public funds to support local artists succeed in a global market?”
Finally, Richardson told the committee that options needed to be identified for cutting through on streaming services. This may be through having a percentage of local content requirement on locally curated playlists in Australia’s market, and that the bigger challenge was how to get Australian artists onto global playlists.
Additionally, Richardson denounced some of the previous claims put before the Committee in previous hearings around the role of music promoters in the live music industry.
“Our major promoters play a very important role in the Australian market. They employ 1,500 people directly across the country, 100,000 plus people indirectly (crew, service providers, marketing people etc) and all of them invest strongly in Australian artists through touring, festival plays, artists development and media spend on promoting local artists,” Richardson told the Committee.
“They collectively generate around 85% of total ticketing revenue, attendance and GST revenue to the government. They invest in people. They invest in artists. They invest in infrastructure. They invest in technology and innovation.
“The fact that the world’s leading companies want to invest or partner with Australian companies brings capital and expertise to our local industry. It also helps connect Australian artists to the global industry through international networks and relationships.”
Richardson added: “In a globally competitive, capital intensive and high-risk industry, we should be embracing the opportunities presented by our largest promoters to take Australian music to audiences at home and internationally.”
Share this