Music Australia invests $2 million into Contemporary Music Sector

An investment of $2 million by Music Australia will support 17 organisations to strengthen core operations and staffing, administrative and running costs, and professional skills development for artists and arts workers.

Music Australia was established in 2023 within Creative Australia as a new dedicated body to support and invest in Australian contemporary music.

The recipients of Music Australia’s inaugural Core Contribution Fund -designed to support the core operations of Australian organisations providing services to the contemporary music industry – have been announced.

Among the organisations funded,16 out of 17 are national organisations, with a key focus on diversity, genre and industry sectors.

Electronic music, country, folk, jazz, improvised music, musical theatre, children's music and screen composers will all reap the benefits of enhanced collective representation with this core funding.

Peak bodies representing industry sectors including festivals, grass roots live music businesses, producers and engineers, music products, publishers and crew will increase their capacity to advocate and provide targeted services and activities for their members.

The funding will support organisations to expand their impact by facilitating sector development initiatives and engaging in market development activities.

This two-year investment will have a significant and important impact for the organisations supported and the broader music sector. The recipients join a strong ecology of contemporary music industry organisations already funded by Music Australia through Delivery Partnerships, including the Association of Artist Managers (AAM), Australian Independent Record Label Association (AIR), Live Music Office (Live and Local Program), Sounds Australia and The Push.

Music Australia has also committed to funding the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN) with their renewed focus on supporting grass roots industry and delivering strategic programs and industry development. AMIN represents the coalition of eight state and territory peak music industry bodies including Music ACT, Music NSW, Music NT, Music SA, Music Tasmania, QMusic and West Australian Music (WAM).

Director of Music Australia Millie Millgate notes "It is imperative that Music Australia invests in the entire contemporary music ecosystem, which requires a strategic balance of support for individual artists, commercial companies and not-for-profit organisations.

‘To date, Music Australia funding has been awarded to more than 400 artist projects (including bands, solo artists, producers and songwriters) and it's great to be able to kick off 2025 with core funding being allocated for the first time, to a range of nationally representative organisations, that collectively provide enormous support to Australian artists and industry professionals alike."

The recipients include:

• Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN)

• Australasian Music Publishers' Associated limited (AMPAL)

• Australian Festival Association (AFA)

• Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC)

• Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC)

• Australian Music Association (AMA)

• Australian Women in Music

• Black Music Alliance Australia (BMAA)

• Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA)

• CrewCare

• Electronic Music Conference (EMC)

• Folk Alliance Australia (FAA)

• Home Grown Musicals Aus

• Major Minor Music Australia (MMMA)

• Music Producer and Engineers' Guild (MPEG)

• One of One

• Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA)

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