78% Of Aussies Support Loud Or Offensive Music Banned At The Beach

Research conducted by Spotify and provided by Censuswide has found that 78% of Australians surveyed would support a ban on loud or offensive music being played at their local beach.

The sentiment isn’t a new one, with Portugal already imposing a fine of 36,000 euros for playing loud music on a beach – it’s surprising to see Australia’s beach-loving, larrikin culture instead wanting quiet and censoring local communities.

48% of the 1001 Aussies surveyed also believe it’s rude to blast music too loud, while 57% of participants claim there should be fines or penalties for people who violate beach music etiquette rules. 51% think there should be loud and quiet zones on the beach.

In addition to those statistics, 62% of Aussies are okay with music played at the beach as long as it remains at a reasonable volume and reasonable genre (more on that soon).

Queensland has proven to be the most relaxed state – 65% of Queenslanders are happy to listen to communal music at the beach. It’s not all that simple, though: some genres of music are unwelcome if you play them by the water.

Bad news for people with heavy metal, electronic, and reggae music on their summer playlists: your fellow beachgoers don’t support those genres being played in the sun. Instead, the top three music genres for acceptable beach music are pop, rock and country.

According to the study, these are Australia’s top 10 beach songs with the words ‘beach’ or ‘summer’ in the title or lyrics:

Declan McKenna - Brazil

Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer

Bakar - Hell N Back

Frank Ocean - Lost

Spacey Jane - Booster Seat

Empire Of The Sun, Mac Miller - The Spins

Empire Of The Sun, Wiz Khalifa - The Thrill

Vance Joy - Riptide

SZA - Kill Bill

OneRepublic - I Ain't Worried

The Spotify and Censuswide survey on your beach beats, Should Australia ban playing music at the beach?, questioned 1001 participants over the age of 16 between 22-28 November 2023.

Other interesting findings include 57% of participants getting annoyed about litter on the beach and 26% about music being too loud in public.