A RETORT TO A REPORT

Good ideas or poli-waffle?

The Angels’ “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?” lives on as an icon in the Australian cultural psyche. It also represents the days when touring pub rock was a viable and vital business for many people. It is most recently (mis)quoted in a recent federal government report looking into the very environment that allowed this song to come to life in the first place.

On 25 March 2024, the Australian Minister for the Arts (Tony Burke) asked the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts to inquire into the challenges and opportunities within the Australian live music industry.

They took 129 submissions from the public and interested bodies and held in-person sessions across all the capital cities. The “Am I Ever Going To See You Live Again?” report is a result of discussion following these inputs.

Overview

The Committee digested the submissions and came up with a list of recommendations. After a slightly cringy intro, their recommendations are listed. More on that later.

A couple of case studies are then included for context. Triple J’s One Night Stand concerts highlighted and young up-n-comers, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, discussed how hard it is to make a consistent living as an emerging artist. Recently closed Brisbane venue, The Zoo, outlined the zero-sum game as a venue operator, particularly regarding increased costs and lower revenues.

While COVID was a temporary blip in time, its fallout has seen the live music sector fundamentally changed. Before then, the industry was employing 41,000 people across Australia. The 2019 to 2020 drop on promoted events reached 80%! Just how many of those 41k made it through and are still with us?

To those inside the industry, the issues raised seem pretty obvious – we’ve been living them for years. We’ve been saying the same thing all along. This report represents the federal government finally realizing that a. the industry is large, talented and deserving, and b. it has been decimated since the pandemic and desperately needs help. Is this ‘too little too late’ or will it genuinely assist?

Responses

One of the most powerful responses came from Kicks Entertainment, who said:

“A collapsed live music industry will result in billions of dollars in lost economic benefit, tens of thousands of jobs lost and unmeasurable hurt to the ecosystem.”

The type and scope of responses reflect the diverse nature of the live industry.

From solo operators to large international corporations, most were concerned with the issues right in front of them. This is natural. As a trend, the more helpful of suggestions seemed to come from the smaller players and bigger entities came across as more arrogant.

Dr Lachlan Goold, from the University of the Sunshine Coast, said:

“…streaming doesn’t pay artists; it pays the rights holders and aggregators. … The record companies are making more money out of Queen than they are out of emerging artists. There’s not a lot of incentive for them to support emerging artists.”

Challenges

The challenges identified can be broadly reduced to the following: ensuring fair competition; increased costs and risks (especially insurance costs); audiences buying tickets late and spending less; fewer suitable places to perform live music; workplace conditions and culture; and, accessing music education and skills. Any one of these problems could warrant an entire discussion.

Venues have closed, crowds are down at those that are open, people are drinking less and committing late or not showing up.

Concerns that the market is dominated by a few companies (Live Nation, TEG Live and AEG reportedly control 85% of the Australian live market) are downplayed in this document. Callously, Live Nation put forward:

“‘every artist has potential bargaining power: That’s the nature of a commercial, capitalist industry. The more appeal you have, the higher your price.”

Good luck to all those just starting out then … best get your ‘appeal-meters’ tuned up.

Large international entities also featured in the way that audiences now consume music, particularly with streaming and social media. The report points out that:

“This, in turn, has changed the way music generates revenue and who shares in that revenue.”

Poignantly, they add:

“The way Australians listen to music has changed. Songs used to be played on radio or television, albums were sold at retail stores and magazines published stories about artists and bands. While this still occurs to some extent, music is now kept in your pocket on mobile devices.”

Strategies

The first thing to do is accept that the model has changed and it’s not going back. Shane Chidgzey, owner of two venues that recently closed (The Zoo and Stranded) submitted:

“People shouldn’t have to get drunk to keep a music industry alive, and that’s what it is; it’s a food and beverage model.”

The second is to lobby to get at least some of the recommendations into action. Some of these are legacies of ‘Revive: Australia’s Cultural Policy’ and are being progressed. Others are new and will require industry champions to pressure MPs to do something about them.

Recommendations

At the top of the list are ‘tax offsets’ and everyone agreed that a tax break for their own niche in the industry would be beneficial. A ‘cultural voucher scheme’ is an interesting concept, but I don’t see how this would work in practice. A ‘grassroots ticket levy’ on large international tours seems to have merit but concerns were raised about how that would be administered and distributed. Paul Mason correctly pointed out that:

“There are multiple music communities and multiple music economies.”

Accessing ‘cost effective insurance’ is a major problem. There are no easy fixes here, but both the Australian Festival Association and Live Performance Australia recommended ‘government-backed underwriting of public liability and cancellation insurance’.

‘Minimum pay for musicians’ will help working musos but it will make many small venues financially unviable, killing the goose before the egg hatches. Suggestion that government funded events could enforce this might be a good start.

‘Local content quotas’ for media providers is a complex topic and enforcement is difficult in our international environment. A no-brainer for me is ‘Michael’s Rule’: ‘any international artist playing a venue larger than a thousand seats in Australia needs an Australian support.’ Legislate this one ASAP please!

Finding ‘more and safer spaces to perform’, getting more ‘audiences aware of local artists’, and ‘developing grassroots music communities’ were all recommended. The Push discussed a Victorian program called FReeZA, which offers grants for events aimed at young people aged 12 to 25 – I’ll be working with them only next week to promote some local young artists and techs!

Educating youngsters on music in general was explored but the tech side less represented. Dr Benjamin Green, from Griffith University, pointed out:

“…there are known skills shortages in the live music industry. It’s perhaps not musicians but in crew, production and technical sectors. They have been a real problem since COVID, where there were mass departures from those occupations.”

Counter Arguments

The bigger the player, seemingly the more self-importance. Will might equals right have its sway here as elsewhere in the world? There is a certain swagger from the established big players in our industry and it shows in their responses to the committee.

Cost of living is likely the biggest problem overarching all others. Music Press nailed it by asking:

“…how you convince an 18-year-old to go to a live music venue and pay $15 for a beer when they can’t afford their rent?”

Enforcement, definitions, complacency, cynicism – these are all impediments to getting something useful from this review. Further, the outcome of this discovery process is but a list of suggestions yet to be implemented, legislated or followed through. We in the industry know these concerns all too well, but at least our federal government now has some (basic) idea too. What they do with that understanding is yet to be seen.

Wrap from Backstage

As ever, the world keeps continually evolving. Technology is doing so rapidly but society is not far behind in pace. The music industry sits at the intersect of technology and culture, documenting society yet relying upon that junction to live.

The optimist in me has hopes that some of these recommendations can be implemented and followed through. They won’t solve every problem but may save a few businesses going under and keep our industry, if not vibrant, at least ticking over. Hopefully, the ‘next big thing’ gets the opportunity to take their chance on the stage.

The cynic in me says that any gain will go to the fat cats who need it least and artists, technicians and production houses are left to fend for themselves, more so than ever.

The realist will accept that there is no perfect solution to the whole dilemma. We may see improvement in some areas yet lose out on other fronts. Given the pace of change and depth of challenges now faced, I have to wonder what, if any, government initiatives will make a substantive difference.

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_ Business/Committees/House/ Communications/Livemusicindustry/Report