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Up to 97% of Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) creatives who responded to a first-of-its-kind APRA AMCOS report on AI want their governments to bring in laws to protect their copyright from use by AI companies.
They are open to the fact that Artificial Intelligence will open up their creativity, but are worried about lack of consent, credit and remuneration.
Push
In a webinar on Monday (April 19) APRA AMCOS chief executive Dean Ormston announced that the rights association would be discussing with the Federal Government a push for transparency guidelines for AI companies, and sanctions.
“Without this our industry is facing a bleak future,” Ormston said.
Move Fast
APRA AMCOS will also press on the Government that “We’re still a long way behind the European Union” on protection from AI, and that China, Brazil and the US are already moving fast on the issue.
The report was conducted by Berlin-based consultation and research group, Goldmedia GmbH, from responses from over 4,200 APRA AMCOS members, academics and tech developers across Australia, New Zealand and overseas in May and June this year.
Read all the latest product & music industry news here.
AI Adoption
The report showed that ANZ creatives were in no way feeling negative about using AI in their work.
38% already work with the software, predominantly at this stage on EDM and hip hop/rap.
49% believe AI will open up their creativity and 69% accept that AI technology will integrate into the creative process, including lyrics.
Outweigh
But 65% think that the dangers outweigh the possibilities.
Up to 82% are concerned that the use of AI music could stop them from making a living from their work, and 23% are concerned that loss of revenue will reach half a billion ($519 million) by the year 2028.
Culture
89% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island music creators are concerned AI platforms will culturally misuse their culture, often music and musical instruments which are considered sacred.
The fear is that as many remote settlements are without internet connections, they are at a disadvantage, especially when making a decision on giving permission for use without knowing the facts.
HOW MUCH DOES GEN Z SPEND ON CONCERTS?
Gen Z in Australia are said to abandoning mainstream music festivals and saving their crackalackin’ for those which focus on genres as EDM, hard rock and country music.
They are also the nightmare of grassroots venues because they live healthier lives and don’t spend much on booze.
But it’s a different story with American Gen Zers, according to a report by US-based research group Luminate.
Second Quarter
During the second quarter of 2024, Gen Z led all generations in their monthly concert spend with an average of $38 per month.
This figure is 23% higher than the average U.S. music listener’s spend of $31.
Q2 is also the first time Gen Z spent the most on live music events, replacing Millennials.
Festival Spend
Throughout Q2 2024, Gen Z reported spending an average of $23 per month on festivals, a full $10 higher than the average listener’s $13.
Luminate mused, “The second quarter typically marks the kick-off to (the US) festival season, and with a new school year right around the corner it remains to be seen if this trend will continue or if the torch has indeed been passed (from Millennials).”
ADELAIDE’S CROWN & ANCHOR SAVED
After months of rallies and petitions by live music fans, Adelaide live music venue Crown & Anchor is being saved from the wrecking ball.
It was part of a building that was to be turned into student accommodations.
But the SA government did a deal to save the venue but allows developer Wee Hur Holdings to increase the accommodation from 19 storeys to 29 although the Crown & Anchor will be closed for two years while the accommodation is built.
AWMA UNVEILS PERFORMERS, TOPICS
The Australian Women in Music Awards unveiled a pretty impressive list of performers and conference speakers.
They are held on Wed. Oct 2 at the Fortitude Music Hall, Meanjin/Brisbane.
Treading the boards are Sarah Blasko, Kasey Chambers, Mo’Ju, Nina Korbe, Sarah McLeod, Katie Noonan & Karin Schaupp, Ripple Effect Band, Karen Lee Andrews and Emily Wurramara.
House Band
Yumi Stynes returns as co-host with Sarah McLeod.
The all-female house band is Zoe Hauptmann (AWMA music director & bassist) Sarah Belkner (keys & vocals) Hilary Geddes (guitarist & vocals) and Lozz Benson (drums).
There are 19 wins, and “two extraordinary matriarchs inducted into the AWMA Honour Roll and the 2024 Inspiration Award.”
Conference
Now in its fifth year, the conference will be presented for the first time at the Queensland Multicultural Centre in Kangaroo Point on Tuesday October 1.
Topics to be discussed will be Blak Matriarch Energy, green initiatives, the next steps for inclusion and safety and a male viewpoint of gender equality.
POWDERFINGER HONOURED
Powderfinger received Support Act’s Excellence in the Community Award at this year’s sold out Music In The House fund raiser on August 20.
It was for their contribution to the wider community.
The Sydney event featured unplugged versions of Powderfinger toe-tappers by Paul Dempsey, Sarah Blasko, Davey Lane and Troy and Jem Cassar-Daley.
NUHEARA IN ADMINISTRATION
$21 million Perth-based smart earbuds maker Nuheara Nuheara went into voluntary administration appointing KPMG.
Its woes were that after Samsung offered to buy the business for $84 million, the deal was abandoned, leaving the audio company finding a way to pay off a $2.5 million loan.
HOW THE LIVE MUSIC SCENE CAN BE SAVED
The Federal government inquiry into the state of the Australian live music sector brought up many solutions from the music industry.
Here are a couple from two major associations and two industry events.
ALMBC
The Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) pitched that to help grassroots music venues, there be a small levy on ticket sales for major international touring shows held in large arenas.
This would “help resuscitate and sustain the nation’s smaller and more remote music venues,” said its chair, Howard Adams.
Pollies
He told the pollies, “The notion that ‘the model is broken’ overlooks the critical role grassroots venues play in the development of major Australian artists.
“Without these venues, there would be no Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett, Tones & I or RUFUS DU SOL.”
Regional Tours
There should be a new funding model for regional touring, which would underwrite the risks for artists, said the ALMBC.
Other music figures that Mixdown spoke to suggested that this idea be taken a step further, where it should be compulsory that artists who get government funding must play regional areas and build up the network.
LPA’s Three
Live Performance Australia had three suggestions that could reboot the live sector.
First: “develop a global export strategy where we properly harness and engage the commercial sector, leveraging their national and global footprints and expertise.”
This requires getting all the record labels, publishers and the streaming companies.”
Artist Career Matrix
“Second: invest in the Artists Career Matrix. We need to understand the myriad of pathways an artist now has to navigate to grow and sustain a music career.
“What does that career matrix look like in 2025 and beyond and where does government invest valuable public funds to support local artists succeed in a global market?”
Streaming Playlists
Third: find ways to get Australian artists onto global playlists of streaming services.
“This may be through having a percentage of local content requirement on locally curated playlists in our market,” the LPA recommended.
Mornington Peninsula Summit
The Mornington Peninsula Music Industry Summit (August 12) saw the launch of Make Music Matter, a Mornington Peninsula Shire initiative to reboot the Peninsula’s music scene.
It covers all styles of music and not just traditional pubs which host live music but also bowls clubs, yacht clubs, restaurants, wineries, breweries and many other businesses that are hosting live gigs.
Opportunities
Shire arts and culture manager, Cheryl Casey said, “They see an opportunity to embrace live music.
“There are creative people who are thinking outside the box, and we need to embrace that.”
Foster
The scheme also “intends to support and foster music related industries such as sound engineers, music stores, promotions, and anything music related.”
The summit had major industry names, venues and artists discussing topics as current trends,
lack of national radio airplay, festivals being cancelled, and challenges in selling tickets to events, as well as conducting songwriting workshops.
Subsidy For Venues
The City of Fremantle (WA) has suggested the Federal government subsidise live music venues “to offset spiralling costs and help support a diverse annual program.”
The City’s director of Creative Arts and Community, Pete Stone, also suggested the Feds “invest and partner in initiatives to ensure that (the) grassroots live music economy is healthy and sustainable”.
He further mooted “incentives to attract touring acts, due to the high travel costs to WA, which would help with the programming of major touring venues such as the Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Prison, Freo Social and Mojo’s.”
Regional Summit
Expanding the regional touring circuit and supporting regional live music venues has been the subject of many music industry discussions.
So much so that there is a suggestion that artists who get government funding for touring should be forced to include at least four regional venues on their schedule.
The inaugural Regional & Remote Music Summit was held at Darwin/ Garramilla) August 7-9, with 120 delegates.
Keynotes
Renowned promoter and artist manager Michael Chugg stressed the importance of local councils and communities working together with regional music executives to help venues growths.
Griffith University’s Dr Ben Green said that there was a misnomer that all the action happened in metropolitan areas.
But 7 million people (28%) lived in regional and remote areas, and that there were as many musicians in these places per capita as major capitals.
But distance, cost and availability of technical support and proper infrastructures was a problem with participation.
Next Year
The Summit will be held every year in another state.
In 2025, it will stage somewhere in NSW, where there are 184 venues supporting live music in the regions, according to Music NSW.
UK FESTIVALS GAP
A survey of 20 UK music festivals by the music company A2D2 found that almost three times more male bands and solo artists than women played the circuit this northern summer.
STREAMING, SALES, BOOST FOR OLYMPICS STARS
With the Paris Olympics the most watched Olympics ever, it’s not surprising that the music stars involved had tremendous spikes in their streaming and sales numbers.
The closing ceremony where the torch was passed from Paris to Los Angeles for the 2028 summer event saw Billie Eilish’s “Birds Of A Feather” the biggest success.
In the 48 hours after she performed it, it more than quadrupled sales to 4,200 digital downloads.
Mainstream
The French acts had great success. Phoenix returned to the US mainstream, with their catalogue rising 86%, to 1.12 million U.S. on-demand audio streams.
DJ Kavinsky’s 2010 synthwave single “Nightcall” clicked up 897,000 streams around the world.
The track was trending on Shazam even as he was performing it, the most in France, US and Mexico.
It was a boost too for its writer French producer and Daft Punk member Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.
Opening
The Opening Ceremony was a similar boost for two of its musical stars.
French metal band Gojira struck a chord performing French Revolution song “Ah! Ça Ira!” on top of balconies of the Conciergerie palace with opera singer Marina Viotti.
Within the first week, it was up 278% globally to 14.8 million.
Dion & Dusted
Celine Dion’s first performance in four years generated her back catalogue spinning 44.4 million, up 35.3% globally, and up 66% in France.
The 1950 song “L’Hymne à l’Amour” by late French singer Édith Piaf, which Dion performed, had a massive 320% increase in streams.
French
Spotify boss Daniel Ek many French artists were “discovered” by the world because of the games.
Disco producer Marc Cerrone’s chart topping 1977 track “Supernature”, played during the light show over the Eiffel Tower, had a 1,200% boost on Shazam.
SPOTIFY GOES FOR MULTI-GENERATIONS IN ANZ
With almost half of Australian listening to Spotify, according the company, the platform is branding itself in Australia and New Zealand as a place which offers different ways to listen for varying age groups.
Its current campaign “Connected By Spotify” provides users an interactive, personalised on platform experience that analyses their Top 50 listened to tracks across the last 12 months ultimately revealing their true generation music percentage (e.g., 43% Boomer, 20% Gen X).
Generation Gap
Spotify’s Head of Marketing, Rosie Rothery, said: “While the generation gap widens around us, content consumption and Spotify feature usage reveal that Australian generations are perhaps more connected than we’d all care to admit.”
LIFELINES
Expecting: Triple M Townsville drive co-host Annabelle Brett went on maternity leave for her first child.
Married: record label executive (Rouseabout, Larrikin) and author Warren Fahey and Mark Cavanagh after a 44 year relationship.
Injured: producer CYRIL had to postpone a tour due to not being able to walk for three months due to a broken ankle.
Heart Disease
Ill: Melbourne singer Gretta Ray, 26, triple j 2016 Unearthed was diagnosed with rare heart disease infective endocarditis.
Ill: Mix 102.3’s morning show co-host Ali Clarke revealed on air she is battling breast cancer.
Recovered: Eurogliders guitarist Bernie Lynch his cancer-free and returning to tour with the band in September.
Allegations
In Court: Adelaide DJ Ben Mak, 28, returns to Adelaide Magistrates Court facing charges he stabbed his mother’s partner during detox. He plans to contest the allegations.
In Court: 45-year old Victorian concreter Steven Ray Meredith was sentenced to a two-year community correction order and fined $9000 in Byron Bay for drunkenly groping three girls/ women at Splendour In The Grass.
In Court: the Daily Telegraph reported that Sticky Fingers singer Dylan Frost pleaded not guilty to charges he stole a $6.50 roast chicken and $2.65 iced coffee from Woolworths Metro in Sydney on June 27.
Bail
In Court: Western Sydney rapper Manu Crooks was granted bail over alleged group sexual assault at a party in 2022.
In Court: Western Sydney rapper Hooligan Hefs avoided jail in Downing Centre Local Court over his alleged role in a brawl inside Ivy Pool Club.
Died: UK-born record label executive Michael Crawley who worked as A&R at PolyGram Records before setting up his True Tone Records (Rockmelons, GANGGajang, Deni Hines, Celibate Rifles, Ed Kuepper, Peter Blakeley, Stephen Cummings), ran Sherbet’s Razzle, and in 2013 set up Vienna People, signing rapper, L-Fresh the Lion.
Died: Sheree Grey was a member of Shock Records, moving to WA to be with her family as her health failed.
Booker
Died: Stephen Conlon was a booker in the late ‘80s at Sydney venues as the Sandringham and Lansdowne before moving to Thailand.
Died: Queensland Hammond player Julian Young who played around Brisbane, Townsville and Rockhampton before ending in Cairns where he played regularly and continued to mentor young players.
Died: John Newman, 94, Melbourne and Gold Coast entertainment figure and Dracula’s founder.
Ausmusic
Died: Melbourne journalist Peter Steedman, 80, who set up music development agency Ausmusic, and ran for Parliament. He represented Labor in the House of Representatives from 1983 to 1984, holding the seat of Casey.
Died: Ian Sutherland, long time community radio PBS volunteer, most recently co-hosting the Shaggin’ The Night show about the Carolina Beach music scene.
Died: Monique Lisa, 57, long time music publicist (including for the Australasian Music Business Conference), site produced I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here, drove around Europe for two years in a Kombi van called Konrad and did an MBA at Monaco University.
Pig
Died: Glenn ‘Pig’ Loyd, one of the early hard man road crew member, worked with Buffalo, Rose Tattoo, Midnight Oil and AC/DC. Remembered as someone who fiercely protected the bands he worked with.
Died: Shaun Gardener, guitarist/vocalist with Melbourne band 21/20.
