Study to determine music’s contribution to South Australian economy

South Australia’s Music Development Office, set up by the state government to grow the local music industry, is currently assessing the economic industry of the sector to the state.

It has commissioned EconSearch to carry out the analysis. A public report will be produced.

Key partners of the research are the City of Adelaide, APRA AMCOS, Music SA and AHA|SA (Australian Hotels Association SA).

It is asking musicians and workers in the industry to fill a survey at https://www.research.net/r/SAMusic.

The Music Development Office stated, “Your valuable input will help ensure that Government programs and other support for the music industry aligns with the needs of artists, music businesses, and fans.”

Questions to venue operators ask them to estimate the number of live shows they put on a year, and to divide them into genres.

It wants to know how many of these are free, by SA acts, what their attendances, revenue and music spend are, how many people they employ and what their hours are.

Questions directed at musicians and DJs are how many gigs they attend, how much they spend on streaming, and what kind of incomes they get from music including tutoring and selling merchandise.

They’re asked to estimate how many hours go into their music activity, their income, and how much of it is generated in South Australia itself.

Those who run businesses are requested to reveal what proportion of their activities are related to music, the rate of paid and volunteer staff, hours worked and how many average weeks worked a year.

The study is also designed to work out the different revenue sources and what items and services make up part of their expenditure.

Previous studies have indicated that music plays a major role in South Australia.

In August 2015, a report by the University of Tasmania found that live music contributed $263.7 million to South Australia’s economy the year before. Nationally the contribution was put at $15.7 billion.

In 2014, South Australians spent approximately $59.7 million on ticket sales and the live sector employed 4,100 people.

At an average concert, the South Australian spends on food and drinks (29.3%), ticket purchase (19.2%), travel (17.6%) and accommodation (12.4%).

The AHA’s Economic Contribution of the Hotel Industry in South Australia, released in January 2016, did not break down which of the 600 hotels constituted music venues.

But the entire sector employed 26,250, of which 60% were in metro areas, and 24% in pubs.