Live Performance Australia Shares Global, Commercial & Collaborative Priorities

Live Performance Australia has set out three new priorities to assist the Australian live music industry in surviving, highlighting “a globally focused, commercially engaged and collaborative approach.”

The peak body of Australia’s live performance industry introduced the new framework at a House of Representatives committee inquiry into the live music industry in Melbourne today (6 August). The Live Performance Australia Chief Executive, Evelyn Richardson, laid out the plans.

The LPA believes that for the Australian live music industry to survive, we must develop a global export strategy. What she means by that is harnessing and engaging with the commercial sector and “leveraging their national and global footprints and expertise.”

With record labels, the live music sector, publishers, and streaming companies on the same side, Richardson states that the Australian music industry could be truly formidable, saying that the strategy should be a “first-order priority” for Music Australia.

The second priority mentioned by the LPA is an investment into the “Artists Career Matrix.” This includes gaining an understanding of the pathways available to artists and painting a picture of what the career matrix would look like in 2025 and beyond.

Lastly, the LPA suggested identifying options for being heard on streaming services. Acknowledging that one option is having a local content requirement on locally curated playlists, the “bigger challenge” is getting Australian music heard on global playlists,

Addressing the House of Representatives committee inquiry into the live music industry of Australia, Richardson said:

Our major promoters play a very important role in the Australian market. They employ 1500 people directly across the country, 100,000 plus people indirectly (crew, service providers, marketing people etc) and all of them invest strongly in Australian artists through touring, festival plays, artists development and media spend on promoting local artists.

Adding that Australia’s major promoters collectively generate approximately “85% of total ticketing revenue, attendance and GST revenue to government,” Richardson continued, “They invest in people. They invest in artists. They invest in infrastructure. They invest in technology and innovation.

“The fact that the world’s leading companies want to invest or partner with Australian companies brings capital and expertise to our local industry. It also helps connect Australian artists to the global industry through international networks and relationships.”

Richardson said that in a “globally competitive, capital intensive and high-risk industry,” workers within the Australian music industry “should be embracing the opportunities presented by our largest promoters to take Australian music to audiences at home and internationally.”

Two weeks ago, Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers’ Scarlett McKahey and Jaida Stephenson spoke during an inquiry into the Australian live music industry in Sydney, stating that they “don’t make a sustainable income” from music.

To read more revelations from the band, check out The Music’s report here.