Senate Enquiry Told Australian Streaming Services Need To Increase Support Of Local Music

Music industry body APRA AMCOS is leading the fight to increase Australian music across broadcast, radio and streaming services, appearing at a Senate enquiry in Sydney today.

APRA CEO Dean Ormston said the enquiry comes at a "critical" time for the Australian music industry. 

"It comes at a time when Australian music is more popular than ever before, both domestically and internationally," Ormston said.

"It comes at a time when jurisdictions around the world are reviewing the copyright and regulatory frameworks that support the creation of local content. And it comes at a time when the economic models that support industries like music are shifting dramatically."

Addressing radio quotas, Ormston said APRA are calling for the current content requirements to "neither be moved nor decreased", which he claims are already low when compared to international standards.

"In fact, given the talent we see, [radio quotas] should be easily achieved," he said.

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"However, compliance with radio quotas needs to be considered very carefully to ensure the code remains relevant. APRA AMCOS' key concern is that under the existing code, radio broadcasters are able to self-categorise which... Australian music applies to their service."

In regards to music streaming services, Ormston has suggested that all music-focused services be subject to the full 25% music quota. 

"In the streaming space, we need to take a more creative approach as it is not a linear medium like radio," Ormston proposed.

"Music streaming services have local curation teams in Australia and have already demonstrated some very good support for Australian artists. We're in conversations with music streaming services around the concept of benchmarking locally-curated playlists to ensure there is always an opportunity for Australian music to be heard and discovered by local audiences and mitigate the risk of foreign artists unfairly dominating local charts.

"In fact, promoting playlists featuring increased levels of Australian music to Australian consumers in an on-demand environment may even prove to make good business sense. Our stats show that local works are streamed at least twice as much as foreign works."

The Senate enquiry continues. Keep an eye on theMusic.com.au for more updates.