As the Australian Government seeks to develop a new National Cultural Policy with which to shape the future direction of the creative and cultural sector, APRA AMCOS has unveiled their submission.
Dubbed Made Here. Heard Everywhere., the submission encompasses myriad topics, including that of Australia’s creative intellectual property, live music, streaming discoverability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music infrastructure, screen music, education, export, and more.
Alongside the numerous proposals, the submission focuses on the likes of a refundable tax incentive scheme for live music venues, festivals and touring artists; a national investment strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music built on the model that transformed Indigenous visual arts communities; a Green Paper on the algorithmic barriers preventing Australian music from being found on streaming services; a National Songbook to permanently recognise Australia’s greatest songs, and much more.
“Australian music is extraordinary, and the opportunity in front of us matches it,” stated APRA AMCOS CEO, Dean Ormston. “We are living through a moment of profound change and that is precisely why this matters.
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“Music teaches children to think, to collaborate, to make something from nothing. It holds communities together. It carries Australian culture to every corner of the world. It earns for this nation long after it is first made. Contemporary music can be the foundation of Australia’s creative century. This submission is the blueprint."
The Australian Government opened submissions for the National Cultural Policy in March, before submissions closed in late May.
The new Policy seeks to "address gaps, respond to emerging priorities, and provide a clear framework to support a vibrant and sustainable cultural future," while being structured around the five pillars set out in their 2023 policy, Revive, including First Nations first; a place for every story; centrality of the artist; strong cultural infrastructure; and engaging the audience.
Noting how APRA Chair (and nascent ARIA Hall of Famer) Jenny Morris made a call in 2020 for the industry to imagine the future potential of Australia’s music industry, APRA AMCOS points out how the Revive policy has been complemented by the country setting a global standard rejecting a copyright exception for AI training, a live music tax offset became the first recommendation of a House of Representatives inquiry, and the national industry now generating almost $11 billion to the economy and supports more than 40,000 workers.
“Jenny Morris’s vision is no longer aspirational; it is a credible vision,” adds Ormston. “We now have the opportunity to finish the job. This submission is our answer. Every recommendation passes a single test: does it serve the artist, and does it serve the audience?
“The songwriter who needs to know her work will be protected. The kid who needs to hear a live show. The First Nations musician whose songs carry his community’s lore across generations. The teenager in a regional town who has never had a music lesson but can hear something in herself that needs to come out.”
APRA AMCOS’ full National Cultural Policy submission can be viewed via the organisation’s website.
