Australia’s Bill Shorten-led Labor party has promised to invest around AUS$30 million in the country’s music business over the next three years.
But that’s only if it wins in the upcoming election.
According to a report published by the Labor party, it has been ‘consulting for months’ with musicians, promoters, managers, and music fans ahead of the policy announcement.
The policy has been backed by Australian artists such as Jimmy Barnes and Birds of Tokyo (pictured), reports The Guardian.
In what is described as “the most comprehensive music policy of any Australian Government”, the report aims to provide support across various aspects of the country’s music industry.
These include initiatives such as “encouraging more Australian children to learn and play music”, to “assisting young bands reach overseas markets”, “more support for live music”, to “committing to protect copyright”, and to ensure that fans ‘aren’t being ripped off when they buy tickets”.
“The policies we are announcing today are aimed at boosting every aspect of Australian music,” states the report.
“We want our music to be heard, artists to stay in the industry and the next generation to be inspired.
“And we want to make it easier for music fans to buy tickets to the bands they love.”
“The policies we are announcing today are aimed at boosting every aspect of Australian music.”
Labor
Labour states that of the money pledged, AUS$10m will be spent on local live music and global music exports.
Music organisations that would benefit include Australian Music export agency Sounds Australia (which is celebrating its tenth anniversary of exporting music to the UK next year at UK music conference The Great Escape).
“Sounds Australia have showcased over 1,500 Australian groups at international events across 66 cities and 23 countries,” adds the report.
“Increasing funding for this work will mean Australian artists are being exported overseas and introduced to established markets like the US and EU but also emerging markets for Australian music like South America and Asia.”
Elsewhere in the policy report, Labor promises to give AUS$5m to “community centres, schools or local government to refurbish existing spaces to be sound proof music hubs”.
It will also set aside AUS$7.6m for youth music schemes such as APRA’s SongMakers program, while AUS$4.2m will go to music charities Nordoff Robbins and Support Act.
On copyright, it vows to “consult on any changes to copyright reform,” while on the secondary ticketing sector it promises to cap ticket prices at 110% of the cost price, in addition to banning bot software “so professional ticket scalpers can’t rapidly purchase all the best tickets when an event goes on sale online”.
Meanwhile, AUS$250,000 will be made available for the Association of Artists Managers to train new and emerging managers and AUS$100,000 will be allocated to helping emerging artists to record their music via the New Recordings Program run by the Australia Council.
The program has helped artists such as Courtney Barnett and Alex the Astronaut.Music Business Worldwide
