Ambitious Industry Growth

As musicians we live in interesting times. The digital revolution has changed the way we work significantly and has broken down geographical boarders. As an Australian musician, and especially a Western Australian musician, I have been told more times than I can remember how hard it is to make it as a musician in Perth and how you need to travel over East or overseas to make any kind of living as a musician. There have been many big acts that have done just that though – AC/DC, INXS and Tame Impala just to name a few. Still, week after week, I see local musicians and bands that clearly deserve more recognition than they are receiving (like these guys) play to underwhelming crowds and become lost in the sea of local acts, all clambering over each other to be seen.

Recent developments may be set to change these circumstances. The Industry Observer reports that the Australian music industry have met with the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts to talk about growing its market share in the global music industry, approximately $17.4bn, from 1% to 5% by 2030. This is huge news for Australian musicians and exciting times for young up and comers. As the digital age has changed the way we work, giving us access to technology and audiences for little to no cost, this has greatly impacted industry growth. In fact the paperwork was submitted “In the wake of ARIA figures that the local music industry posted the best revenue growth in twenty years…” (themusicnetwork).

So what does this all mean? Jobs. Opportunities are few and fiercely competitive in our scene, but with growth at this capacity we should expect to see more opportunities to work in our field. The paperwork lists the areas of focus that will help Australia grow its share which include creators’ rights, investment, export, local content, music cities and live music, and music education. That’s a lot to sink your teeth into. As musicians we know that compromise of having to take on a day job in order to pay the bills. At the very least this development will increase the chance of those day jobs being in our field of choice. At best, it will increase our opportunities to showcase our talent, our unique take on the music as Australians, to the world with the backing of steady growth by the Government.

What does this mean to you? Let me know in the comments.

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