Average Australian spends just over $20 per year on music

Australia has some of the most valued music fans in the world and is in the top 10 global spenders on music, with the average Australian having spent $22.80 a year on music last year.

Figures assessed by Music Business Worldwide (MBW), which looked at a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) analysing the strength of the world's music markets called the Recording Industry In Numbers.

The assessment identified the top 10 markets per capita

Norway: $US23.58
UK: $US20.81 
Japan: $US20.64 
Sweden: $US19.75 
Germany: $US17.42 
Australia: $US16.26 
USA: $US15.36 
Austria: $US13.56 
Switzerland: $US13.39
France: $US12.76 

From their calculations, MBW figured out that Australia lands sixth on a list of countries that spent the most money, per person, on music in 2014 - covering record sales, sync, and performance rights.

If Australia's $22 a year average number seems quite low, an assessment by music radio station triple j stated “it is worth remembering that not every single person in our nation's population, of over 23 million, is a dedicated music lover.

“For every fan who regularly buys records, grabs paid downloads, or subscribes to a monthly streaming service, there might be five more people that do just one - or none - of those things.

“Australians might be showing their music fandom in other ways too, like on gigs and concerts.

“After all, last year the live music industry pumped to the tune of a whopping $15.7 billion.

“Of course there are other factors at work that these figures do not reflect: like how often people might be getting their music for free, through ad-supported streaming services or even illegal downloads.

“That is worth considering given Australia's love for TV, movie, and music piracy.”

Music piracy is such an issue in Australia that the Federal Government has intervened to combat it with legislation blocking pirating sites.

Triple j added “the good news is that we are still pulling our weight for the record industry compared to the 10 countries with the lowest per person spend on music in 2014, which MBW also measured.

“They found that China and India - two countries with populations of around 1.3 billion people - were the worst in that field, both spending less than 15 cents on music per year.

Markets spending the least on music per capita

China: $US0.07 
India: $US0.08 
Mexico: $US1.07 
Brazil: $US1.23 
Spain: $US3.87 
Italy: $US3.93 
South Korea: $US5.29 
Canada: $US9.74 
Belgium: $US9.93 
Netherlands: $US12.19 

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