The industry wants us to 'show up'. But can we afford Aussie music anymore?

SBS Australia

4 days ago

Triple J's Saturday debut of its Hottest 100 of Australian songs has prompted many to reflect on the state of the local music industry — and the sobering reality that perhaps the biggest hurdle is cost. An April report from Creative Australia found 62 per cent of Australians say music is really important to them — but cost is the main barrier to attending live shows. While 66 per cent said they want to hear more local music, many still prioritise saving up their dollars to see international acts — simply because they're rarer. FBi Radio's Tyson Koh says people tightening their hip pockets are having a direct flow-on effect on the industry, especially community radio, which has long been considered a cornerstone of the Australian music scene.
FBi Radio — where Koh is managing director — has been an institution in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern since 2003, bolstered mostly by community memberships.
But in June, it had to cut half its permanent staff after entering a period of "extreme financial distress". It still isn't out of the woods. "We found that in this brave new world of digital streaming and social media, a few people had taken our service for granted," Koh said.
"They were still listening to the station — but because they already had several other subscription-based services to keep up with, we'd gotten lost in the mix."
Tyson Koh says the cost of living crisis and growth of algorithmic music streaming is affecting community radio stations such as FBi, which could close its doors if not enough funding is secured. Source: Supplied / John Feder As cost-of-living pressures linger, Koh says discretionary spending — such as going to live gigs or subscribing to community radio stations — is becoming harder to justify. "We really need our listeners to show up for us if we are to survive."
"I think we have to decide as a society whether music is important … if we can agree on that, then the question comes down to support and participation."
Less disposable income, fewer ticket sales Joe Draffen, bassist for Melbourne band Floodlights, says the rising cost of living is also affecting artists. "The current economic climate has made it harder to sell tickets, as many people just don't have as much disposable income right now due to the rising cost of living," Draffen said.
"On top of that, our own expenses have gone up, which meant ticket prices had to increase too."
Melbourne-based band Floodlights say the cost of living crisis has put pressure on musicians, leading to slower ticket sales and higher touring costs. Source: Supplied / Matt Shaw "Touring's gotten a lot more expensive — flights, accommodation, gear hire, crew — it all adds up." The band has also been impacted by the closure of several music festivals across the country, which would typically bring more exposure and broaden their fan base.
More than 25 music festivals across Australia have been cancelled since 2022, according to data from the Australian Festival Association.
Community-led efforts still not enough Caitlin Welsh and Joe Hardy run SydneyMusic.net, a manually curated gig guide born from the loss of local music press and the lingering effects of Sydney's lockout laws. The guide briefly shut down in June due to a lack of funds, before a flurry of one-off donations and sponsorships allowed Welsh and Hardy to keep going — for now. "People hugely underestimate the amount of time and human labour it takes to manually research and compile the gig guide, as well as put together playlists and post daily lists to socials," Welsh told SBS News.
"It's made by a small team of humans — including musicians and creatives who work with us as researchers — who need to be compensated for the amount of labour we're all doing in order to continue living in one of the most expensive cities in the world."
Caitlin Welsh and Joe Hardy founded gig guide SydneyMusic.net after frustrations with the diminishing Sydney music scene. But the cost of living is making it difficult for them to continue operating. Source: Supplied / Caitlin Welsh But live music spaces are becoming increasingly rare as venues face even more pressure to keep the doors open. India Wallis is a Brisbane-based musician and head of youth-focused record label Starving Kids, which runs a dedicated 150-capacity all-ages venue in Brisbane, serving musicians who are often booking their first show. "The gap between local acts and established acts seems to be getting wider," she told SBS News.
"Brisbane is home to some great large-scale venues, but with more and more small venues closing, there are noticeably less opportunities for artists to cut their teeth."
More than 1,300 live music venues and stages across Australia have been lost since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2023 report from music rights management organisation APRA AMCOS. Welsh added: "Venues are being bled by insurance premiums and rent and the alcohol excise, and they can't afford to run all-ages shows because they rely on bar sales to support putting on music at all, and punters can't afford to buy as many drinks as they used to because their rent is too damn high."
"The narrowing of music participation to people who can afford to treat it as a hobby, or who are forced to accept poverty to keep doing it, is just as creatively flattening as the algorithm."
Algorithms placing pressure on industry At the same time, streaming platforms such as Spotify are continuing to grow, with over nine million users in Australia. Date from market research firm Roy Morgan found Spotify had doubled its Australian user base between 2017 and 2020. Since 2017, the platform has moved towards algorithmically creating personalised music recommendations, informed by a user's listening history and preferences.
Koh says this means that people are more likely to value platforms like these instead of community radio, which was traditionally a hub for music discoverability.
"People lead such busy lives, so the amount of time that people can devote to going on their own musical journey and discovering new artists is getting more and more limited," he said. Koh says this convenience is creating a "giant homogenous culture". "One thing that social media and algorithms can't replace is the experience and joy of seeing a band. That's often where artists find their audiences and the people who they can take on the journey with them throughout their careers." Despite coming off their largest Australian tour so far, Floodlights say it's become harder to be discovered organically — even in the midst of a breakout moment.
"There's so much music coming out every day, and unless you're backed by major playlists or algorithms, it's easy to get lost in the noise," Draffen said.
Should Triple J be doing more? In the face of so many obstacles, musicians such as Ben Lee — who is expected to chart in Saturday's countdown for his hits Cigarettes Will Kill You and Catch My Disease — have called for the ABC's Triple J to do more to support Australian music, including restricting all Hottest 100 countdowns to only spotlight Australian songs. "At a time when there are so many platforms for international music discovery, I just don't see the logic in a taxpayer-funded station using their platform to promote international acts, many on major labels," Lee told SBS News. He said it was being run like a "commercial station that's constantly bending over backwards to increase listenership", primarily through bigger international artists. Lee added that it should move to play only Australian music across the board. "They could single-handedly lead the way to revitalising the Australian music industry if they wanted to. But it would mean stopping thinking of themselves as a commercial radio station, but rather as a mission-driven government utility," he said. The station has a mandated quota of 40 per cent for Australian music, but typically plays closer to the 50 per cent mark. Last week, Lee made similar remarks on both social media and to The Sydney Morning Herald. Head of Triple J Lachlan Macara told the Herald seeing local artists next to international names was what made the Hottest 100 " so special".
He said the program "would love to see even more people and platforms supporting and prioritising Australian artists".
Australian musician Ben Lee has called for Triple J to do more to support Australian music. Source: Getty / Martin Philbey But members of the industry are still conflicted over the best path forward. While Floodlights recently played their biggest headline shows across the country, Draffen said it's still difficult to cut through without support from Triple J.
"We've really had to double down on staying connected with our audience and finding new ways to reach people but it's hard as Triple J doesn't really play us, which obviously makes it tougher to reach a wider audience in Australia," he said.
Wallis said that while artists at her record label have seen "great support" from Triple J Unearthed, which features unsigned local acts, she wanted to see more. "I strongly believe Triple J should be focusing more on a diverse range of homegrown acts, rather than commercial, international acts that already have a platform." Welsh agrees the Hottest 100 should be all-Australian each year, but stopped short of supporting that across the board. "Nobody does more for Australian music than Triple J," she said. "The ones who are letting down Australian music are the commercial stations … There has been zero accountability for commercial radio formats to meet their local music quotas." Koh agreed: "We know that we're doing our bit, and I think Triple J does as well." FBi Radio also operates under a 50 per cent Australian music mandate, with half of that coming from Sydney. "I think it's important to see Australian music in a global context and that local artists just don't exist in a silo."