Virgin responds to Qantas’ inflight music removal: “We’re proud to support the Australian music industry”

In the wake of Qantas’ announcement that it will be removing music from its in-flight services, a spokesperson from Virgin Australia informed TMN that the airline continues in various ways to help local musicians.

“Virgin Australia is proud to support the Australian music industry and we are delighted to offer a platform for new and emerging artists on our In-Flight Entertainment to showcase their talent to the 24 million passengers we transport each year,” the spokesperson said.

Virgin’s supportive initiatives include:

• Offering musicians to host a two-hour feature playlist onboard every month, “demonstrating our commitment to giving new talent the opportunity to expand their audience reach.” Vance Joy, Jimmy Barnes, Garbage, Diesel, Troy Casser-Daley and The Rubens are among those who’ve recorded their playlists.
• Being the only Australian airline to offer individual artists 64 kilograms of checked baggage when artists are travelling domestically.
• Featuring the NIDA and triple j Unearthed music video competition winners on-board since 2014.
• Being a major sponsor of BIGSOUND, and featuring a highlights video on-board in the lead up to each year’s festival.
• Offering its guests a vast array of curated music playlists that appeal to all types of musical tastes.

The Virgin Australia spokesperson added, “In addition to this, we have also been shortlisted for the Best Original Audio Award for ‘The Voices of Australia’ collection of hosted playlists at the 2019 Airline Passenger Experience Awards.

“We are proud to be the Australian airline of choice for the Australian music industry and we will continue to find ways to ensure that Australian music is an integral part of our in-flight entertainment service.”