Music For All is fundraising to support the next round of grants to schools and community groups, with an end of financial year campaign. This is an initiative of the Soundhouse Music Alliance, a registered charity with DGR status, so donations are tax deductible.

Donate to the End of Financial Year campaign to support the next round of grants, which will be awarded in the second half of 2022:

• Donate: www.musicforall.org.au/donate
• Contact info@soundhouse.org.au

Successful First Grant Round

The recent round of Music For All grant funding included recipients from three states, with the largest grant being awarded to Burnside State School, just out of Nambour in regional Queensland. The grant enabled the purchase of flutes, clarinets and alto saxophones to provide a significant expansion of the music instrumental program.

The close connection between Music For All and the MI industry is evident in this particular grant, which was further enhanced by the generous donation of a bass clarinet from Yamaha Music Australia and the involvement of Shake It Up Music who worked closely with Music For All to provide the best possible deal.

The support of the music industry was vital to enable the project to be fully funded.

Instrumental music teacher Liz Druitt said “the school is delighted and proud to be able to provide the opportunity for additional students to experience the joys of music making” as a result of the Music For All grant.

About Music For All

Music for All seeks to:

• Promote the life-changing benefits of music making
• Support the musical needs of community music groups and educational organisations
• Donate instruments and music tuition to individuals who need our help to express themselves musically
• Provide opportunities for Australians of all ages, backgrounds and locations to learn musical skills and be active music makers
• Partner with other music, educational, social, allied health, community or philanthropic organisations to develop (or create) sustainable active music making programs throughout Australia

AMA members have been advised that Soundhouse Music Alliance has launched the music charity, Music for All. The Australian Music Association has been instrumental, along with Pressroom Philanthropy, in establishing this industry supported charity which aims to encourage and support Australians to become creators and makers of music with the goal of having them experience the life-changing benefits that active music making can bring.

This is a charity which through a small grants program at first will seek to encourage individuals to pursue their music journey as well as assist worthy community or school-based music making projects. The first round of this grants program has been completed, with awards made to schools, organisations and individuals totalling nearly $10,000. These awards facilitate increased music making opportunities, with grants of instruments and cash being made.

Music for All hopes its small grants program can grow into a large one with the support of the industry and other partners. Donations of cash or instruments are fully tax deductible.

For more information go to www.musicforall.org.au

About Soundhouse Music Alliance

The Soundhouse Music Alliance has supported our industry of 25 years. It has been a major contributor to providing access to music making through its projects and programs in and for schools, people with disabilities and other settings.

Soundhouse Music Alliance is a registered charity with DGR status.

Music for All is the official charity partner of the Australian Music Association.

During this Federal election campain there has been relatively little talk from the major parties about the arts, the music industry, music education, and associated issues. There are, however, some proposals from music and retail industry organisations. This is a summary of what has been proposed. Continue reading →

20 April 2022

Payment provider ArtsPay and the Australian Music Association (AMA) have today announced an exciting new partnership that will help music retailers reduce their payment fees and at the same time help build a new funding source for the arts.

The partnership means Australian music retailers will access priority account management and special rates when they switch to ArtsPay, saving businesses money every month.

ArtsPay is a for-purpose payment processing company which uses the fees from each transaction to support the arts. That means that every music retailer that joins ArtsPay will be helping to build a new source of funding for artists – and that includes musicians and sound related arts organisations.

It also means that customers who shop at music retailers using ArtsPay will know that the business is helping to support the arts.

The Australian Music Association is the industry body for the music products sector – wholesalers, manufacturers, retailers and associated services for musical instruments, pro audio, print music, lighting and computer music.

“This is a win for music retailers and a win for the arts” says AMA Executive Officer Alex Masso. “Our members would like to see their payment processing fees go towards supporting artists and we strongly encourage them to make the switch”

“This is an exciting growth opportunity for ArtsPay ” said Alistair Webster, ArtsPay Co-founder. “Not only will we be supporting small businesses as they recover from the pandemic, but the more music retailers that come on board, the faster we will be able to grow our funding for the arts, and the quicker we can start having an impact.”

Profits generated from ArtsPay payment processing fees will be distributed to independent artists and small arts organisations via our charitable foundation, the ArtsPay Foundation.

This partnership adds to ArtsPay’s formal agreement with the Australian Booksellers Association and demonstrates the growing support for ArtsPay from retailers who would prefer to see their fees go to the arts, rather than the big banks.

Media Contact: Alistair Webster 0499 760 777 alistair@artspay.com

AMA Members: read more about activating your ArtsPay member benefit

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Vera May, and all at Maton Guitars, after the matriarch figure of the iconic Australian acoustic instrument maker passed away at the age of 102 on Wednesday. Continue reading →

The Federal Budget, announced on 29th March 2022, included some changes to tax breaks for businesses.

• The instant asset write off has not been extended, meaning businesses will have to have installed or be using new equipment by June 30, 2023 to claim full expensing.
• A new Technology Investment Boost will provide a 20% bonus deduction for the cost of expenses and depreciating assets, up to $100,000 of expenditure per year. This is available to businesses with a turnover of up to $50m per year. Eligible expenditure includes items such as portable payment devices, cyber security systems and subscriptions to cloud-based services.
• A new Skills and Training Boost will work in a similar way, providing a 20% bonus deduction for the cost of external training courses delivered to employees in Australia or online, by providers registered in Australia.

Continue reading →

At an executive committee meeting following the 2021 AGM , new office bearers were elected for the 2021-22 year. Anthony Ursino, proprietor of Macron Music (NSW & VIctoria) was unanimously elected president.

Anthony said; “ I am honoured and privileged to take on the role as president of the AMA. When I joined I wanted to learn more about the industry as a whole and try to help it evolve into the future. I feel like with the team we have now, we can take the AMA into a new era with innovative projects that build on the past efforts of many before me. I look forward to hearing from all the members about how we can better serve them in the future ”.

Warrick Baker, General Manager of Kawai Australia was elected Vice President and Michael Jago of Link Audio was elected Treasurer.

Warrick Baker

Michael Jago