Exports, Artists, Streaming: LPA’s Evelyn Richardson Proposes Three-Step Plan at Music Inquiry

Develop a global export strategy, invest in the “artists career matrix,” and identify ways to rise above the noise on streaming music platforms.

Those three objectives are critical to the prosperity of domestic music community currently struggling to be seen and heard, Live Performance Australia CEO Evelyn Richardson told a federal government inquiry this morning, Aug. 6.

Richardson proposed a trilogy of solutions when she spoke at the House of Representatives committee inquiry into the live music industry in Melbourne, one of two full-day sessions this week in the Victorian capital.

First, she suggested, Music Australia must prioritise a global export strategy which harnesses and engages the commercial sector, leveraging their national and global footprints and expertise.

The various pieces of the machine that is the music industry, including live, record labels, publishers and streaming businesses, should pull together on the strategy.

Also, Richardson added, the complicated pathway for an artist to navigate must be mapped out, to identify where government can invest public funds for maximum success.

Finally, the industry must solve the discovery problem for homegrown artists on Spotify, Apple Music and the various streamers. Local content quotas on locally-curated playlists could play a role. The bigger challenge right now, however, is how we get our Australian artists onto global playlists.

Evelyn Richardson

Richardson, who will step down as leader of the trade body by year’s end, also pushed back on earlier statements to the inquiry on the role of concert promoters.

“Our major promoters play a very important role in the Australian market. They employ 1,500 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,” she explained.

Collectively, they generate “around 85% of total ticketing revenue, attendance and GST revenue to government. They invest in people. They invest in artists. They invest in infrastructure. They invest in technology and innovation.”

In a “globally competitive, capital intensive and high-risk industry,” she continued, “we should be embracing the opportunities presented by our largest promoters to take Australian music to audiences at home and internationally.”

As previously reported, the inquiry heard proposals for a fund that would help Australian talent, paid-for by a levy on major tours.

The inquiry was established to explore the country’s live space, which has absorbed a barrage of blows in recent months, punctuated by multiple, high-profile festival cancelations and venue closures.

Music industry stakeholders, including state and local organisations, peak bodies, and event organisers, have presented evidence, along with several roundtables with musicians and venues.

Following sessions in Sydney, Brisbane and, more recently Melbourne (Aug. 5 and 6), the Committee holds its final round of interstate public hearings tomorrow (Aug. 7) in Adelaide) and Thursday (Aug. 8) in Perth.

Audio from the hearings will be broadcast live via the Parliament’s YouTube channel.