Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts, I present the committee's report entitled Am I ever gonna see you live again? Yes way! You bet! Oh yeah! together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—In March 2024, the Minister for the Arts asked the House Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts to inquire into the challenges and opportunities within the Australian live music industry. The inquiry's terms of reference included examining the industry's sustainability, barriers to growth and consumer behaviours. The committee received 130 written submissions from stakeholders and policymakers around the country. In those submissions and public hearings, we heard from musicians, representative organisations, educators, researchers, business owners, streaming services, broadcasters, First Nations groups and government agencies. We heard just how much live music means to communities across Australia. Ninety-one per cent of the New South Wales public who attend live music agree that live music contributes to the vibrancy of their cities and communities. A similar proportion of respondents who work in the live music industry agree that live music can be a powerful form of cultural expression, particularly for marginalised groups. Live music provides us with some of the most meaningful and memorable experiences of our lives. Tim Hollo put this beautifully in his submission, saying:

Music, as an artistic and cultural practice, has always been about sharing and borrowing; about free exchange; about something that appears and disappears; a gift of a brief moment of transcendence lifting out of the here and now into something bigger than ourselves.

In addition to the spiritual and cultural value of live music, it provides valuable employment opportunities for tens of thousands of people. It always bears repeating that arts jobs are real jobs. The live music industry provides employment to around 41,000 workers, a workforce similar in size to baristas, GPs, cooks, miners and university lecturers. In my state of New South Wales alone, the economic value of live music is estimated to be $5.5 billion. But we also heard that the sector is facing major headwinds. The effect of COVID continues to be felt, with audiences buying tickets in smaller numbers and leaving it later to buy them. Younger people today are less likely to go out to gigs and festivals than in previous decades, and cost-of-living pressures are affecting consumer behaviours.

Festivals and venues are facing similar increased costs, especially from insurance premiums, user-pays policing, travel costs and production expenses. These risks are causing festival cancellations in numbers never before seen. Those that do go ahead are facing major challenges to their viability. Around 35 per cent of festivals surveyed by Creative Australia lost money, and we've seen a dramatic decline in the number of venues offering live music right around the country. We heard concerns about anti-competitive practices within the music industry and a lack of transparency and stability in ticket prices.

While there is understandable concern about the viability of live music in Australia, we were heartened to hear so many constructive ideas about what the government can do to help turn things around. It's that pragmatic forward thinking that the committee's recommendations are based on. We believe that a tax offset for live performance could be a game changer for the music industry and we recommended that a concrete policy proposal be developed for the government to consider. We recommend that consumer laws be amended to better regulate ticket sales by improving the transparency of fees and charges within ticket pricing and limiting extreme variability in prices caused by dynamic pricing. We also recommended that the ACCC monitor the music industry for anti-competitive conduct and take enforcement action as required.

We love seeing the best global talent on Australian stages and we also love seeing the benefits flow through to our own music industry. The committee recommends enacting an obligation for major international acts to work with local support acts. While blockbuster arena shows are drawing huge crowds, grassroots live music in smaller venues is really struggling. So we've recommended that a small levy be charged on the largest, most profitable shows. The funds raised could be directed towards an expansion of the Revive Live program, which I was delighted to see was extended for another year in the budget handed down on Tuesday night. An expanded Revive Live could support smaller grassroots venues to present a series of performances. It could provide funding for capital improvements to venues and improve their functionality and accessibility, covering costs like sound-proofing equipment upgrades and disability access. It could provide funding for festivals that support the viability and diversity of live music in Australia, including regional festivals, all-ages events, First Nations festivals, community festivals and not-for-profit festivals.

We heard that special entertainment precincts can make a real difference to the viability of live music by providing a more supportive regulatory regime. This could include exemptions to trading-hour restrictions, concessional liquor excise rates and differentiated noise complaint processes. Our recommendations support the designation of more of these precincts.

Live music needs to be more accessible for young people, who are a smaller part of audiences than in past decades. So we recommend that the government assess the viability of a rebate or voucher system to make tickets more affordable.

Creativity is innate to all of us. All Australians should have the opportunity to create music, not just consume it. That has to begin in childhood. So we've recommended that the government partner with state and territory governments to improve the standard of music education in our primary schools. We could do that by supporting pilot projects to deliver quality music education in communities of socioeconomic disadvantage and then evaluate the benefits of that on student outcomes. I'm looking forward to pursuing that particular recommendation in our next parliament.

Insurance has become one of the biggest costs for music festivals and venues, so we encourage the government to undertake research into the viability of a self-insurance or mutual insurance model for the music industry and other initiatives that could result in lower premiums.

Another source of cost pressure on presenters is user-pays policing, so we've recommended that state and territory jurisdictions reduce or abolish these charges entirely.

There have been growing calls for governments to re-evaluate the need for large police presences at live music events as well as reconsideration of the use of sniffer dogs and strip searches. Our recommendations back those calls.

The music industry is rapidly evolving, and we want to help presenters to adapt. We've recommended that research be conducted into changes in audience behaviour and attitudes that have affected demand for live music. We also recommend research into business models for live music that don't depend on alcohol sales.

The way that audiences discover music has fundamentally changed. Radio still plays an important role, but, increasingly, music streaming services and the algorithms behind them are key to musicians' success.

That's why we've encouraged that the government work with music streaming services to increase the proportion of local content that algorithms promote to users and, if necessary, legislate to ensure that Australian music reaches Australian audiences.

Acknowledgements

In closing, I'd like to thank everyone who wrote a submission and presented evidence to this inquiry.

It's been a privilege for the committee to gain a deeper understanding of this vital industry from the people who give it life.

As sector members, your insights are at the heart of this report, and I'm hopeful that it will provide a pathway towards the recovery of an industry that we all value so profoundly.

I also want to acknowledge my fellow committee members for their contributions to this inquiry over the past year.

Thank you to the committee secretariat for your diligence, hard work, and for all your efforts in ensuring that this inquiry was rigorous and relevant.

Finally, I want to recognise the leadership of the member for Lyons, Brian Mitchell, in chairing this committee.

His training as a journalist was clear, throughout this inquiry, in his ability to drill down to the core issues at hand and interrogate the potential solutions.

This report is a fine legacy.

His choice for its title, Am I ever gonna to see you live again? has been described as 'possibly the most inspired in parliamentary history', and rightly so.

It's a reference to the Aussie rock classic 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' by The Angels.

The famous audience response to that line in the song is one that many members will be familiar with—including the member for Moreton—but parliamentary standards prevent me from repeating it. It's quite alright; the Left Right Out band makes sure that we give our audience the opportunity to engage in that!

The chair's foreword recalls that The Angels' Doc Neeson:

… wasn't initially thrilled with the fans' hijacking of his song, but the die was cast. Whenever and wherever it was sung, the chorus was taken up with gusto by the crowd and it soon became a staple.

That song's place in music history is the result of the magic that happens when performers and audiences share experiences together in real time. And I know, as a mum of a musician, there is nothing like being there at the gig watching that crowd react to the young people on stage.

We hope that this report will play a part in restoring that wonderful, intangible dynamism and return this vital part of our culture to good health.

I thank the House.