17th October 2024

The Australian Music Association has produced a new report to add depth to the existing data and insights it provides for the music products industry in Australia. The State of the Industry Report, launched at the Industry Leadership Summit in Sydney, is based on a comparable report prepared by UK equivalent of the AMA (MIA) and will check in with the industry each year to measure business confidence, sales trends, employment, and issues.

Full report (member login required)

The report found that profitability is the #1 issue in the industry, with over two thirds of businesses reporting that profitability had decreased in the past 12 months.

Music products retail in Australia remains largely the domain of small and family business. While there are larger stores and several retailers with a presence in multiple states, 85% of retailers and 79% of wholesale companies are small businesses with an average of 7 employees for retailers, 14 for wholesalers (Full Time Equivalent).

The past year has been more difficult than usual for many businesses in the industry. Half of all respondents assessed their businesses as being "significantly worse off" than this time last year, and more than half said that considering seasonal variations, business is quiet or very quiet at the moment, with another third being 'steady' and only a few being busier than usual. The survey was conducted in July/August 2024.

There is some optimism in the industry, with expectations of the next 12 months being considerably more positive than the assessment of the past 12 months. NAMM CEO John Mlynczak told delegates at the Industry Leadership Summit on Tuesday that the industry is in a 'stabilisation' phase after the disruption of the pandemic, and drew parallels between the situation in Australia and the rest of the world based on NAMM's global data and insights.

The AMA Market Report, tracking import data for music products categories, has found that the past 12-18 months are down in many categories after the pandemic years.  The most recent quarterly update found a 24.5% drop in units overall during the past 12 months (July 2023-June 2024), and quarterly import results that were above the 10 year average and comparable periods in most of the past 10 years, but below 2021 & 2022.

The industry has a range of skills shortages, most notably repair/technician skills which were the highest ranked and particularly among retailers, more than half offering servicing/repair as part of their business.  This issue is well known anecdotally and the association advocates to address skills shortages and training needs for specialist professions including guitar makers and repairers, stringed instrument luthiers, brass and wind technicians, piano tuners and technicians, and others.

"This is an important milestone for the association and our work to support the industry", said AMA Executive Officer Alex Masso. "Already, less than a week from launching it, the data from this report has been used to advocate for the need to support training in musical instrument making and repairing, which came through as the highest ranked skills shortage for the industry. The data from this report is important for my own work, advocating for the industry, and members are finding it useful to identifying, confirm and sometimes challenge what they know about trends and conditions in the industry."

All 44 tables and analysis in the 20 page report are available to AMA members. Businesses in the music products industry can join the association.