Music Industry Contributes $2.82 Billion to Economy: Music Australia Drops the ‘Bass Line’

Australia’s music community and the professional network that supports it is a multi-billion-dollar machine, roughly 90% of us listen to homegrown music, and most domestic artists remain desperately skint.

Those are some of the takeaways from The Bass Line, Music Australia’s first-of-its kind analysis of the nation’s music industry, its true value and its economic contribution.

Presented Thursday morning, June 12th, the document is said to be a starting point for action.

For the year 2023-24, the industry generated $8.78 billion revenue, of which $975 million came from exports, its authors find.

From that figure, the music industry, through all activities in its ecosystem, created an economic contribution to the GDP of $2.82 billion.

Live music was the single largest component, earning $4.83 billion in revenue. The direct economic contribution from live performance in Australia is estimated at $1.44 billion, about 30 cents in the dollar.

Without the ability to perform live, however, artists are screwed.

All told, Australian artists earned $860 million in 2023-24, royalties and live accounting for roughly 70% of that sum. Collectively, an estimated $425 million (or 47%) in net income is raked in from live music performance, after fees.

The impressive numbers tell only a part of the story. Artists are, mostly, struggling. The median annual artist income is just $14,700.

Also, the value chain is heavily skewed, with a large proportion of artists in a lower-income bracket and a much smaller proportion earning top dollar. The top 25% of artists by income, the report finds, earns 82% of all that cash.

The Bass Line captures the value of recorded music, music retail, compositions and songwriter, artist management, venues and more.

Music exports came in at nearly $1 billion. Almost half the total figure ($975 million) is attributed to music recording, production label services and distribution. It’s a surprise number, for some involved in the document, but there’s two sides of this coin. One billion dollars, or thereabouts, is something for the sector to be proud of, but doesn’t diminish the challenges for doing business and the tyranny of distance.

At the same time, music retail was valued at $2.73 billion in revenue, including instruments, with $310 million contributed from exports.

The field of recording, production and distribution was valued at $790 million, more than half of that ($485 million) coming from overseas, export revenue.

In the reporting period, 13.6 million estimated attendees at live contemporary music events, not including bars and pubs, with $2.25 billion estimated from ticket sales.

The music community’s struggles with “discoverability” are well reported, and the challenges are laid bare once more in The Bass Line.

Some 100,000 recordings were uploaded on average each day, an almost deafening din. On the flip side, nine in 10 Australians listened to homegrown music in 2023.

“These results are quite literally the bass line,” explained Millie Millgate, director of Music Australia. “We were agnostic to the outcome. And had no perceived idea of where they might land.”

With The Bass Line, notes Millgate, the industry gains a useful benchmark to measure its health, and check how it’s tracking.

“We now have a robust and repeatable foundation to measure our future impact, a methodology to capture trends, patterns within the subsectors and the ability to determine and support those who are missing,” she commented at the top of the presentation. “And an instrument to calculate year-on-year growth.”

The document is the first in a series of reports, which, in time, should offer a like-for-like data set and “present our worth” to government.

“This is just the beginning for the Australian music industry,” Millgate said at the top. “We’re only getting started.”

• The Australian music industry generated revenues of $8.78 billion and contributed $2.82 billion in direct gross value added, or GVA, to the Australian economy in 2023-24
• Live music performance dominates the landscape, contributing $4.83 billion in revenue and $1.44 billion in direct GVA, and supporting 12 million attendees in 2023
• Australian artists earned $860 million from their work across the music industry, with 48% derived from live performance
• Music exports of $975 million highlight the global appetite for Australian music, with streaming accounting for significant international revenue
• Composition, songwriting and music publishing contributed $470 million in revenue and $155 million in direct GVA, with approximately 20% earned from overseas markets
• Music recording, production, label services and distribution contributed $790 million in revenue and $350 million in direct GVA
• Artist Management contributed $195 million in revenue and $92 million in direct GVA
• Music retail contributed $2.73 billion in revenue and $515 million in direct GVA

The two-hour presentation was capped-off with a panel debate, led by Chris Carey, head of FastForward Group, and featuring input from AMA’s Alex Masso, AMPAL’s Damian Rinaldi, APRA/AMCOS’s Dean Ormston, EMC’s Jane Slingo and Wonderlick’s Jess Keeley.

The numbers are essential for complete the industry’s vision,” says Ormston. “It’s such a critical piece of work.”

“The evidence in this report is game-changing for how we advocate for our members and the broader music ecology,” Ormston adds in a statement.

“When we can demonstrate concrete figures, that music exports generate nearly $1 billion annually, that Australian creators earn substantial international royalties, and that our industry creates meaningful employment across the creative economy, we’re presenting compelling arguments that resonate with decision-makers and the public.

“The international success stories throughout this report, from our electronic music renaissance to the global reach of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, demonstrate we’re creating music that connects with audiences worldwide.”

Speaking from the audience, Michael Chugg, the legendary concert promoter and founding member of the Music Australia Council, remarked: “For 30 years I’ve been trying to get the government to give us a gross export number. And they never fucking would. And to see in today’s report that you were surprised about the huge amount of export money that’s coming in, I wasn’t. It’s great that we’ll now be able to now bandy that around Canberra when we go down to kick their arse again. Not that we have to kick Albo’s arse that much.”

Initiated in early 2024, the report gathers hundreds of thousands of data points from industry, government and elsewhere, and over 1,000 individuals and businesses working across the music industry.

Read the report in full here.