High Costs, Social Media, Lack Of Healthy Food: The Biggest Challenges BIGSOUND Artists Face Today

What do you think are some of the biggest challenges artists face in 2024?

Keli Holiday:

No money for the arts, and it costs too much money to release art.

Kahlia from JUNO:

I think the financial aspect of being in a band is the biggest challenge by far! Being a duo, Sam and myself have to pay for everything out of our own pocket - flights, accommodation, session musicians, PR campaigns, digital marketing and more. Not that we're complaining; it's absolutely what we signed up for! We make it work, but the lack of funds at times can be super debilitating.

I think another challenge is figuring out what this new era of the music industry looks like, where everything is going and how to get there. Everything moves so quickly now, and things are always evolving and changing, sometimes on a day-by-day to week-by-week basis. Keeping up with algorithms, social media platforms, and releases has its challenges, but this is the world we live in, and we're determined to make it work for us!

tiffi (Tiffany):

I think the biggest challenge artists face in 2024 is exposure on social media. Because of how oversaturated things are, it’s very difficult to stand out. 

breathe. (joint response):

Touring is strange—we have had two consecutive Sydney venues and lined up shows for close-down before we could even announce the show. So we haven’t done a headline Australian show yet, but we are playing four shows in Turkey in October. But it’s exciting to be building something from the ground up.

PEPTALK:

A massive challenge most artists we know (including ourselves) face is socials. You have to spend so much time building your audience that sometimes you’re left with hardly enough time to make the music for that audience you’ve just built up. It can begin to feel like a fine line between influencer and artist when you’re trying to promote your work. 

On the flip side, socials are also such a beautiful way to build community and connect with new people. Especially when you consider that, as an independent artist, you have access to the same tools as major label artists (at least when it comes to authentically finding your community).

Bean Magazine:

Financial security would be a big one. Another, specifically in Australia, would be the fact that a heap of our beloved festivals seem to be dropping like flies. What was once an avenue to bigger and better shows seems to be dwindling by the day.

Zion Garcia:

Having to adapt to the speed of how fast the world moves and consumes things, as well as adapting your natural self to something like TikTok, is just objectively not my thing.

When I get told, “Just be yourself, and it’ll work”, it’s like “, Man, trust me, I am myself.” Sometimes it makes me overthink and feel like there’s something I’m not doing right. But at the end of the day, these things are tools and aren’t supposed to be THE most important part. I just wanna make something that lasts. Something undeniable to me. Something that is bigger than myself. We all just wanna connect and find our people. It’s just doing that in a way that feels natural and organic that’s the biggest hurdle. 

J-MILLA:

For me, [the biggest challenge has been] breaking into the mainstream festival circuit during a really challenging time in the industry. Getting my music heard by a wider audience is also hard when you don’t get support from the usual outlets. However, I’ve seemed to find my own way, and things are looking good. When I read about discussions in the works about DSPs having to add a certain percentage of local content to their services, I thought that was a sound idea. 

Yung Milla:

There’s this trend happening at the moment, especially on TikTok, where everyone’s hating on each other. Like it’s a joke to hate, but I think that’s not good for mental health and stuff. There’s this thing that goes like ‘who has the funniest hate joke’ and I reckon that’s baad.

Darwin is so far from everywhere, so it’s a challenge to get out and go ‘down south’ to record and perform. It was great to see that Music Australia has a Regional Touring pathway that I can tap into, so it’s good to see the industry can help. 

Medhanit:

The cost-of-living crisis has made it even more difficult for artists to stay afloat, and it can be a push to find balance in the intense uncertainty. Sometimes, there are costs other than financial that come with creating and sharing our art, which is why platforms like Big Sound are so vital. 

Noah Dillon:

Making any money. At all. Hahaha. Being a touring artist in Australia feels really tough right now; it is rare to get the opportunity to tour. Once you get that opportunity, it is rare to have the $10k lying around to fund the tour; once you have the $10k to tour nationally, it's really rare to sell tickets because a lot of the population has less disposable income than in previous times. We just finished a European tour, which was amazing! Travelling through countries in less time than it takes us to get to the next town in WA highlighted the sheer disadvantage we are faced with being a touring band in Australia.

Our population is relatively small, AND it's spread across such a large area. I mean, the UK has nearly three times the amount of people, and the area of the UK could fit into Australia 32 times! Australia would take up 76% of the whole of Europe! I mean, it's no surprise that smaller indie bands face a near-impossible financial feat in Australia. I personally feel like we have the same percentage of the population that loves the differing genres of music. For instance, I think the same percentage of Australians love metal, or alt-folk, or slow-core as people from Britain. However, due to our population size and density, achieving sustainable success is really, really hard.

I love being an Australian artist, I love the Australian music scene, I just feel that if we don’t address these issues and find more sustainable ways to allow artists to flourish, we will watch the demise of festivals, the alternative scenes and what could be Australia’s next amazing artists.

Being a musician involves so much more than making music. You are a performer, manager, screenwriter, actor, accountant, and now, with the rise of social media, you have to be completely in charge of your own PR. If creativity is a fire that burns within an artist these pressures act as a fire blanket, the weight of having to consistently sell and promote yourself is huge and time consuming. Let alone the fact that to exist as a content creator online means constantly engaging with content online and seeing what's happening and trending.

For me personally, I feel very depressed if I get addicted to my phone. Again, it is the antidote to creativity. We are pacified by the endless entertainment on our devices, and we have almost eradicated boredom. To truly look inwards, I think it takes being present, still, and bored. It’s a strange time. We are more globally connected than ever, and yet it feels harder to connect than ever. 

Luca (Neptune):

I’ve found that dealing with digital saturation is a big challenge for me in 2024. I really enjoy creating content that builds a world around my music, but it often feels like I’m taking on a whole second art form. In such a crowded digital space, it’s not enough just to make great music. Sometimes, it’s tricky to nail down exactly what that content should look like to best represent my artistic vision. It’s a balancing act that some days I love and others I struggle with, but I'm up for the challenge.

Beddy Rays:

One of the biggest challenges we believe artists face in this day and age is staying current on social media. Knowing what resonates with your fanbase while catering to an ever-developing algorithm presents a big challenge to old fellas like us. Nevertheless, we love creating content for our fans! If it makes one person piss themselves laughing, our job is done!

Dear Sunday:

The industry is definitely in a weird position. Most major festivals have been cancelled, which, a lot of the time, is a huge opportunity for smaller artists to break out. You love your music and want to spread it with as many people as possible, and the best way to do that is by playing shows, but touring definitely isn’t the cheapest of things to do, and having to do it off your own backs alongside where the industry is at today isn’t the easiest of tasks. But hey, we do it because we love it.

dust / Gabriel Stove (Guitarist) 

In the last year or so, we’ve seen lower attendance at live music across the board. The cost of living is having a widespread effect on the community, which in turn impacts venues and festivals.

alayna

I think the ability to just persevere. I'm a big believer in that we all have an audience, we just have to find them and that there's a path and career that's unique to us. There are countless walls that you hit along the way, and I think being able to move through those times of doubt or failures can bring you to your next best work or opportunity just around the corner. It's a tough industry though, so needing the right support around you is also important to navigate through those moments.  

Reuben - Y.O.G.A.

Festivals shutting down is a bite that undoubtedly stings all artists in the country. But the culture of being stoked to see Australian acts has changed a great deal also. I remember only a few years ago, the whole country was excited to go to festivals and see emerging Aussie acts… festivals like Groovin The Moo were able to have an almost all-Aussie line-up and that in itself was exciting. It seems like the appetite has shifted slightly toward massive international acts.

One of the hardest things however, is that writing great music and playing great shows was the most important thing, now creating content is just as important. We have entered an entirely new era. For the camera-shy artists, it’s even harder. Let’s face it: the greats of the last decade, like Tame Impala and Flume, are definitely camera-shy; their music and shows did the talking. I wonder if we have new geniuses of that calibre if they would get noticed now.

Brae - Dear Seattle

The never-ending need to create content. The struggling festival scene limiting audience exposure. The imbalance of contractual “industry standards”. The culture of competition bred from streaming services. The cost of living in general. The expectation of parents. The lack of healthy food options on the road. But nothing we can’t overcome!!

BIGSOUND 2024 will run from Tuesday, 3 to Friday, 6 September, at Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. You can find all the details about this year’s event here.