WAM announces new board, 2016 a “strong” year despite “challenges”

WAM’s annual general meeting last week saw the arrival of two new faces, Chris Edmonson and Mark Spillane, on its 2017 board.

Edmonson is presenter and producer at ABC Local Radio – Albany and Great Southern and a lecturer in Music Industry Studies at South Regional TAFE.

Spillane is Director at Bespoke Touring and Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The executives on the WAM board remain. Al Taylor, Chairman of 303 Mullenlowe, is President. Noah Shilkin (Sonic Lolly) is Vice President.

Bel Skinner (RedRock Music) is Secretary and Steven McCabe (Director, KPMG’s Restructuring Services Team) remains Treasurer.

Others on the board are Anton Mazandarani (Marketing Manager, WAAPA; co-founder Death Disco); Jacob Snell (Head of Business Development, Monster Management; WA representative of Association of Artist Managers); Louise Scott (Executive Director Strategy, Brand and Marketing Services, Tourism WA); and Toby Browne-Cooper (Managing Director, Oryx Consolidated).

WAM’s economic impact research collaboration with Edith Cowan University revealed that the WA music industry is worth is almost $1 billion (specifically $985 million).

The scene had 400 venues hosting music, and over 350 music events per week through the state.

It also estimated that a $1 million in increased revenue generated $2.1 million in West Australia.

A $1 million output equalled to six new jobs created in the music industry and three in the broader economy.

WA’s contemporary music generates $111 million in ticket sales and draws a 1.1 million attendance each year.

In its report for 2016, CEO Mike Harris pointed out that it had been a strong year. These included:

• “Despite challenging funding and economic conditions”, it continued to build on its cash reserves, to $69,000. “Considering that reserves were previously depleted, this represents a turnaround of close to $80,000 in three years”.
• Attendance of 40,000 to WAM’s events through the year which totalled 4,752 performances, and 120,000 people to events it had a significant involvement in.
• An 11% rise in membership from 2015, with 503 memberships accounting for 872 individuals. 82% are from Perth metro, 16% regional and 2% outside of WA.
• 369 applications for Song Of The Year, representing 706 songwriters with 67 regional entries (equivalent to 144 songs), saw a 15% rise in entries revenue.
• The State of the Art (SOTA) Festival, in collaboration with Celebrate WA, drew an attendance of 45,000 which broke the record for any WAM-presented event.
• The delivery and launch of the Sounds Of The Goldfields project was a resounding success, including attracting a 700-strong crowd, the first show of any kind to sell out the Goldfields Arts Centre in almost a decade.
• The Wheatbelt Touring Circuit project took a step forward with the introduction of the Wheatbelt WAMbassadors program, with six artists chosen to promote music and road safety issues. A video produced with RAC saw 20,000+ views on Facebook alone.

14,000+ people attended the newly rebranded flagship WAMFest over the four days, representing a 30% increase in attendance from 2015. Altogether, 159 WA acts were showcased across 26 venues.

The conference had 73 speakers, its largest lineup, for 14 panels, and drew 205 attendees.

A study with Pracsys Economics and Culture Counts of WAMfest showed that every dollar invested generated a return of $6.77 (“$5 is considered very high”) and 65% of attendees would have stayed at home if they had not attended WAMFest events.

The association noted that “when arguing for greater investment in music, this kind of statistic is gold.”

A record-breaking 155 acts applied to be part of the touring circuit program, more than doubling the 70 applicants for the program in 2015.

This year, Harris said, WAM “will be less statistically focused”.

“We will continue to use this data extensively. However, WAM is looking towards a couple of new projects focussing more on the human side of music.”

These are “developing an approach to audience development, and addressing the issue of gender representation in the WA music industry.”