Parliamentary inquiry looks at future Australia’s live music industry

A Federal Government inquiry into the current state of Australia’s live music industry has this week heard about the challenges facing emerging artists and small venues while also hearing calls for end “anti-competitive” practices.

Input from a range of stakeholders to the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts has heard the musicians’ arm of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) call for an end to the market dominance of Live Nation, the world’s biggest concert promoter and ticketing company.

With hearings being conducted across the major capital cities, in Brisbane, the inquiry heard that venues in the city are struggling to survive because of declining alcohol sales that underpinned their live music business model while barriers for regional musicians included distance, availability and cost.

Griffith University’s Dr Ben Green, who was speaking on behalf of the Regional Music Research Group, told the inquiry “there’s evidence that the benefits of live music - economic, cultural, and social, including for health and wellbeing - can be significant and keenly felt in regional and remote Australia.”

As reported by ABC News, Dr Green stated “however, despite the demand and benefits, regional Australia has lower rates of participation in cultural events, including live music. While I would stress the diversity of regional Australia, we see cost and availability, including distance, commonly cited as barriers.”

QMusic Chief Executive, Kris Stewart told the inquiry “when we go out and reach out to and speak to our venues in Queensland, (we’re) hearing almost the same challenges being repeated time and time again.”

Stewart went on to suggest that a levy on tickets be introduced, similar to a policy explored by the Music Venue Trust in the UK, to help sustain local music industries.

Live Nation’s dominance
USA-based Live Nation, which controls many of Australia’s music festivals and live music venues as well as ticketing platform Ticketmaster, which made a net profit of $US563 million ($860.7 million) last financial year, has, according to the Musicians Australia (one of the MEAA’s musicians sections), received $16 million in grants since 2020 as musicians’ incomes toppled during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Yesterday saw Musicians Australia President Kimberley Wheeler tell the inquiry that vertical integration of the live music industry, in which companies controlled venues and festivals, meant reduced bargaining power for artists and performers.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Wheeler advised “we’ve had some artists reporting exclusivity clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from playing other gigs around the time of a festival performance, for example.

“This has left several bands in the lurch where festivals have been cancelled, and we are calling for these anti-competitive clauses to be scrapped.

“We need the (Federal) Government to investigate the level of power and control of these large corporations and the competitiveness of the live music industry and start addressing the structural problems of the festival industry - not least the concentration of live music venues, agencies, and ticketing in the hands of large multinationals, and the systemic exploitation of Australian artists and performers.”

In a feature on the current state of Australia’s live music industry published by Michael West Media (MWM), Brian ‘Smash’ Chladil, founder and Managing Director of local ticketing company OzTix, explained how such dominance impacts the industry.

Chladil told MWM “if a promoter company owns the ticket company, they get all sorts of advantages. “Ticket companies have both a lot of data and a lot of cash. Both are usually protected by consumer law and privacy law. The promoter company is able to gain access to the cash and data.”

Advising of the value of small venues, Howard Adams, Chairman of the Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC), went on tell MWM “small venues are a crucial step in the ladder to success that is widespread enough to earn a living from having enough monthly listeners on Spotify and playing bigger venues.”

Live Nation is currently the subject of an anti-trust investigation in the USA and is also being investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

In April, the MEAA reported that half of Australia’s working musicians earned less than $6000 last year – a mere 15% of the national minimum wage – forcing the majority to look for work outside of the music industry to make ends meet.

Image: Emerging artist Ishan performs at the the inaugural Nando’s Chicken Shop Sessions in Melbourne last weekend.