Author Archives: Alex Masso

20th June 2025

Music Australia, the government agency for contemporary music, has released a landmark report on the value of the Australian music industry. Read more

The Bass Line establishes the first nationally consistent methodology and analysis of the direct economic contribution of Australia’s music industry. It provides:

  • a definition of Australia’s music industry suitable for the purpose of economic analysis
  • a credible methodology to estimate direct economic contribution now and over time
  • estimates of the direct economic contribution, direct employment, and value of export revenues of the Australian music industry

The study finds that 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.

It also shows strong international demand for Australian music with music exports contributing an estimated $975 million to the total Australian music industry revenue.

The Bass Line also estimates the economic contribution of music industry subsectors in 2023-24:

  • Live music performance contributed $4.83 billion in revenue and $1.44 billion in direct GVA
  • Music recording, production, label services and distribution contributed $790 million in revenue and $350 million in direct GVA
  • Composition, songwriting and music publishing contributed $470 million in revenue and $155 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 Australian Music Association provided data for the Music Retail section of the report, the second largest subsector after live music, with music products being the largest part of the ‘retail’ total alongside recorded music and artist merchandise.

The AMA now publishes its detailed Market Report for members, a publicly available Executive Summary, contributes the same data to the NAMM Global Report for a global comparison of the Australian market to other countries, and now contributes to The Bass Line for a comparison of different sectors within the Australian music industry. The Bass Line is on a fiscal year basis, with the recently published report being for the 2024 fiscal year.

AMA Continues Affiliation with Merged Australian Retail Council

29th May 2025

In 2024 the two major retail employer organisations, National Retail Association and Australian Retail Association, announced a merger. Both organisations currently perform a similar function with a similar purpose to support and represent retailers in Australia, with some differences in their structure, strengths and programs. Continue reading

Market Report 2024 Executive Summary

The overall change in the Australian music products market in 2024, based on inflation-adjusted import values across all sections, was a decline of 10% compared to 2023.

  • 2023 total market value (Adjusted): $AU500 million (imports) / $AU1.25 billion (retail value)
  • 2024 total market value: $AU450 million (imports) / $AU1.13 billion (retail value)
  • Year-on-year change: −10%

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NSW Government Commits to 10 year Music Education Plan

23rd May 2025

The New South Wales Minister for the Arts, John Graham, recently addressed the launch of a report revealing new insights into music education in NSW. The report, commissioned and published by the Music Education: Right From The Start initiative and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), found that teachers clearly and overwhelmingly understand the value of music in schools but the majority are not confident teaching the subject. Continue reading

LIPD License Class Submission

22nd May 2025

The AMA responded to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) consultation on the proposed Low Interference Potential Devices (LIPD) license to replace the 2015 license.

No concerns were raised by members, and the AMA collaborates with the European spectrum advocacy organisation Save Our Spectrum, who support the proposed LIPD license. A previous round of consultation on the LIPD license class received feedback from microphone manufacturers in the industry, the submission is consistent with that feedback.
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DOUBLE DONATION WEEK! Support the Music For All Fundraising Campaign

As a registered and fully tax deductible charity, operated by Soundhouse Music Alliance, Music for All makes small grants to assist those in disadvantaged circumstances experience the life changing benefits of music making. The Australian Music Association has adopted Music for All as a partner charity and encourages members to support its fundraising work. Continue reading

WA Expanded Plastics Ban

2nd May 2025

From 1 July 2025, Western Australia will implement a ban on moulded and cut expanded plastic packaging, including materials made from expanded polystyrene (EPS), polyethylene (EPE), polypropylene (EPP), and EVA foam. This affects many forms of packaging commonly used for musical instruments, especially for fragile items like guitars, keyboards, and pro audio equipment. Continue reading