Minimum Fee For Musicians Now Enshrined For NSW Grants

After years of campaigning by Musicians Australia – a national union body that represents all performing and recording artists – the NSW Government have officially begun recommending event bookers pay a minimum fee to performers in order to be eligible for grant funding.

It’s detailed in the Government’s new guidelines for organisations applying to the Arts and Cultural Funding Program, with the official copy reading as such: “It is recommended events implement a $250 minimum fee for musicians. This fee is based on a ‘3 hour call’ as set out in the Live Performance Award and endorsed by the Fair Work Ombudsman.”

In a statement shared on social media yesterday (March 5), Musicians Australia vouched that this new (recommended) stipulation comes as “the result of a campaign promise made by the NSW Labor Government to our members before the last election”. They also pointed out that “most state and territory governments are now endorsing the $250 minimum fee” for publicly funded gigs, and encouraged artists to join the union to ensure they actually receive that fee.

Musicians Australia have indeed spent years campaigning for the minimum fee, launching their endeavour to make it a reality after the entertainment industry was crushed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Early in 2021, the organisation “canvassed musicians and undertook research to establish a what a fair minimum fee would look like”, landing on $250 per musician when members “overwhelmingly endorsed and approved this amount”.