A special Australian edition today.
STREAMING
The one thing I like about streaming services is how songs from the past can come back with a vengeance and dominate.
A lot of the times this happens when an artist passes away but it also happens in other ways.
“RipTide” from Vance Joy is over 10 years old and it’s dominating again on streaming and since the charts include streaming numbers it’s back at number 1.
Not a bad place to be especially when the artist doesn’t have anything new released.
LIVE VENUES
Once upon a time, an artist had to play as many places as they could to build a following.
That worked when those places had people there to watch live music. But when people stopped going out to venues to watch live music, it’s a bit hard to build a following when there is no one watching.
So it’s no surprise that venues in Australia are closing. While the headline alludes that these venues are closing due to the pandemic, the truth is, live music venues have been challenged for years.
The sad thing is that the government doesn’t care about the Arts in Australia. So without tax incentives and funding, the Arts will suffer.
LEAVING THE INDUSTRY
So it’s no surprise that at least 50% of artists currently working are thinking about leaving the industry in Australia.
The mass migration. And from that group, 55% are women. As the article states;
Commonly cited reasons within the survey include financial pressures, time constraints, mental health and burnout, a lack of opportunities and a lack of support.
And live gigs make up 60 percent of their incomes but when the venues get less and less, this will shrink as well, unless they are large enough to play clubs and theatres.
MONEY IN AUSTRALIAN MUSIC
APRA AMCOS collects royalties and licensing for Australian artists. For 2023, they collected $690.5m with $595.2m distributed to artists.
In total, 1,628,107 unique compositions earned money.
For a small market, it’s a lot of money. But it’s a good market. And if the Government showed interest, it could be a great market.
destroyerofharmony 
I know The Lazy’s from your homeland relocated to Canada as they have been through my town more than a few times. Crazy % that want to leave there own country but I get it .
I’m sorry to hear about the current state of the music industry in Austrailia, Pete! I feel so bad for those that quit the business because the lack of venues.
There’s been a huge crunch on live venues in the US too. Small independent places have been closing and the ones remaining are Livenation-owned in the venue monopoly network. Things don’t look good for live music.