‘This May Unravel It All’: Australian Music’s Global Reputation Is At Risk

With the US reigniting its live music scene in a big way following a successful and unexpected fast vaccine roll-out, Australian artists with a global presence are scrambling to make arrangements to get over there but it’s not an easy task.

As The Music reported yesterday, local acts are needing to navigate “frustrating” barriers in order to get to the States, with three main issues at play.

Managers and artists are hesitant to venture to the US without having had the COVID-19 vaccine, the current exemption process doesn’t allow enough time for planning major tours and festival runs, and there’s a wealth of financial risk evolved that easily could ‘cripple’ a small-medium sized band.

Outside of the immediate problems artists face in leaving and returning to the country, there are larger issues at play, both in regard to the career of individual acts and Australia’s reputation globally.

SHORT-TERM ISSUES

Sounds Australia Executive Producer Millie Millgate told The Music that “we’re probably looking at 80-100 Australians that would look to go this year”, and among those is Sydney rapper Masked Wolf.

For Masked Wolf and his management, Lucky Ent, time is of the essence in order to build on the huge global success of his hit single Astronaut In The Ocean, a track that’s currently sitting at #7 on the US Billboard chart.

Masked Wolf’s manager Jae Butt said it was “frustrating” not being able to get him over to the US to capitalise on that success and had Australia not bungled the vaccine roll-out, “he’d probably be overseas right now doing shows”.

“I, unfortunately, feel like 2021 is going to be another wipeout year."

Speaking with The Music on the importance of Australian acts touring overseas, Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) Executive General Manager Craig Spann said “the only way anyone is going to crack a market overseas is through consistent presence”.

And for those who already have a market overseas - like Sydney's Middle Kids, who are currently trying to get over to the US in support of their latest album, Today We're The Greatest - the risk is that they'll lose momentum on all the hard work they've put in so far.

“Those bands that have [already] made headway are in some ways going to be back to square one,” Spann emphasised.

“I, unfortunately, feel like 2021 is going to be another wipeout year for a lot of people; they won’t be able to achieve what they want to, either domestically or internationally.”

Look Out Kid Co-owner & Director Nick O'Byrne, who manages Middle Kids and Courtney Barnett, said that “not all Australian artists have their biggest markets in Australia”.

According to O'Byrne the demand is “definitely there” right now.

“Promoters, agents and venues all want them there, but we have to tell them all that we just don’t know if we can get them there,” he said.

"You miss out on putting your best foot forward for key career moments."

It’s that uncertainty that’s going to become an increasing issue and might see Aussie acts start to disappear from US festival line-ups and more.

“When you’re planning a tour or if you’ve just released a record, you’re thinking forward to the northern hemisphere summer of 2022, a time when we’d want a band like Middle Kids or Courtney - or anyone that’s at an export level - to be playing festivals around the US,” O'Byrne said.

“A way that you can prove your value to a festival booker is to show that you can sell hard tickets to headline shows [in the US]. Right now, any American artist who has released a record in the past year can prove to festival buyers that they can do this, but [Australian acts] can’t.

“Every single tour you do, you’re proving a point to the people that are going to book you on their next festival or their next show, and we’re not getting that opportunity. It’s not just that we miss out on one tour, it’s that you miss out on putting your best foot forward for key career moments in 2022 and beyond.”

LONG-TERM ISSUES

The consequences for individual acts at this stage is heartbreaking enough, but the real issue here is that without confidence in the Australian market, US labels, bookers, venues and more might start to look elsewhere for talent.

“If you pull out of a festival, what does it look like for Australia’s reputation?” Millgate said. 

“We’ve spent a decade trying to convince everyone that Australians are great to do business with and touring at a distance isn't an issue, you know, ‘We work hard, we’ll get over there.’ 

“And this just may unravel it all.”

The main issue at the moment is every act around the world has been hibernating since the pandemic began, and now, all of a sudden, as venues begin to open and festivals return in the US, everyone is going to want to get out there, and so the competition is going to be insane.

“It’s not even on an album cycle anymore,” Millgate said. 

“They all are going to be competing for the same venues, for the same dates, for the same audience – at some point, it’s going to get saturated, and if our lot can’t get out there and be part of that opening, I think we’re going to miss some serious opportunities.

“That’s on a broader scale, for the individual acts it is massive; it’s really big in terms of the financial losses for some of them, but for other acts, it’s about milestone and career turning points. 

“For some of these acts, they’ve done a couple of hundred shows in the US and it’s this next run that will push them over into profit, will push them over to hard ticket sales, therefore they’ll then be considered for bigger festivals, so that’s a huge reason for them to go ahead with it.”

"Why would anyone sign an Australian band in the future?"

Outside of touring and festival slots, there’s a concern with label relations too.

“Our artists are signed to record labels over there, they’re signed to US agents, so there’s pressure from them to get over there too,” O'Byrne said.

“They want the band there, they’re working with us and investing in us and if you turn around and say, ‘Look, we just can’t do it,’ it’s incredibly frustrating for them. 

“It’s not so hard for an Australian band to get signed to an international label anymore, but maybe 5-10 years ago it was a lot harder, and that’s because a lot of people have been doing great work internationally to prove that the investment in an Australian artist is worthwhile. 

“If, all of a sudden, an investment in an Australian band can’t be returned because they don’t have faith that you can actually get over there, then why would anyone sign an Australian band in the future?"

Artist manager Catherine Haridy, who is the Executive Director at the Association of Artist Managers (AAM), also believes there’s a risk that the US might start to feel “that tyranny of distance is actually prohibitive again like it used to be years ago” and that all the good work that’s been done "could be damaged in some”.

But she also hopes those relationships are strong enough to weather the storm.

“This is all outside of our control to a great degree," Haridy said. "Would there be a level of understanding in those institutions overseas to realise this is an unprecedented situation that requires a different approach and a different point of view?

“It’s complicated, but I really do think that we, as an industry, and through our wonderful trailblazing artists, have done an incredible job in developing a really robust international network that allows us to overcome the tyranny of distance, and that, in some ways, is threatened.”

“It’s not about making money at this exact point.”

Spann said that he’s seeing a lot of artists put the venture into the ‘too hard’ basket.

“I just think it’s really getting to the point where it’s too hard, and there’s a lot of financial risk,” he said.

But, as O'Byrne pointed out, for some artists, the short-term risks, losses and headaches are a necessary battle to undertake.

“It’s not about making money at this exact point,” he said. “It’s about being part of and in the conversation and staying relevant – that’s really what it’s about.”

While there are no immediate solutions to the current issues facing Aussie acts trying to get overseas, organisations like Sounds Australia are working closely with Government to try and streamline the process.

“The message from Canberra and the people I’ve spoken with [at Office of the Arts] is that there’s definitely an appetite to try and help these artists,” she said.

“They’re definitely listening to us and they agree that there’s a compelling case, they’re just sort of working with us to navigate that.”

Haridy believes what will help Aus artists, and the music scene as a whole, the most right now is if the Federal Government fixes the vaccination roll-out, which will show overseas markets that, yes it might be difficult now, but there's an end in sight.

“We want as many people to be vaccinated as possible so we’re in a position where we can have a renewed sense of normality within our international touring network,” she said.

“For me, at the heart of all of this, is mass vaccination; that factor influences all of the others – quarantine, costs, flights, exemptions. Everything falls off that one big thing.”

READ MORE: Part one of The Music’s special report on Australian artists trying to get to the US looks in detail at the ‘frustrating’ barriers faced by local talent.