You may not have heard of online UK magazine What Culture, but their piece, ‘6 Reasons Why The Australian Music Industry Is Currently The Worst In The World’, has put the internet into spin with plenty of outraged Australian music fans sending the article viral
Viewed over 135,000 times the piece was written by Aussie Brad Lee, who draws upon his experience as “roadie to frontman, from major distribution to retail”, he explains just why he thinks we haven’t seen an iconic Australian band to breakthrough since the likes AC/DC, Nick Cave and other classic local acts.
Lee cites unoriginal local acts, talent shows, Triple J, the Australian public and even poker machines as just some of the reasons why he thinks the local music industry is the world’s worst.
To counter this article and prove Lee wrong Australian Band Manager Adam Kelly has taken up arms and written an impassioned reply to the author of the story by providing us with six reasons why the Australian music industry is stronger than ever.
I found several things about the article particularly unsettling; his constant need to reference his own credentials, his obvious closed minded views about what ‘real Australian music’ actually is and his repeated references to Silverchair and the year they broke through, 1993.
The truth is the Australian music scene has never been stronger… ever… especially considering the challenges we face around curfews, licensing and just the sheer volume of viable entertaining alternatives. This should be celebrated, not condemned.
Almost everyday I read another article about another Australian band who has been recognized overseas. I myself literally just got back from 7 weeks away touring the US with an Australian band. A band that has only released four songs. Independently. Online. With no backing from anyone but themselves.
But before I give my reasons I want to start by addressing the notion of success. And by address I mean I want to label it as bullcrap. Success isn’t tangible, it cannot be measured, it is entirely subjective.
The reality is that only the smallest percentage of musicians will be able to make a living off their music. We know this, it’s a fact. We also know that as much as it is about talent it’s also about luck and it’s about networking. So then, why, if we know this, does ‘units moved’ or ‘money earnt’ become our measure of success?
A New Hope
If you want to find flaws in any system you will find them. No doubt. If your reference point for Australian music is Reese Mastin then sure, Australian music is a sad copy of every generic teen pop song written ever.
But as much as the Australian music industry isn’t Reese Mastin (and thank God for that), it also isn’t AC/DC. Where as once upon a time Australia relied on a specific type of music in order to garner international success, now we are exporting artists from genre’s so diverse we couldn’t even name them all if we tried. And that is a good thing!
Imagine if every Australian export still sounded like the lead singer had a mullet and drank Fosters?! Want to talk about cloning?? That would be a reality that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy… Okay, maybe him… But not on any one else!
Because Australians have dared to dream, dared to explore and dared to be influenced by different things we have a roll call of artists that makes the rest of the world go giddy at the knees!
Gotye, Matt Corby, Sia, Chet Faker, Ne Obliviscarus, Hiatus Kaiyote, Parkway Drive, Karnivool, John Butler, Violent Soho, The Living End, The Temper Trap, Cut Copy, Jet, Tommy Emmanuel, Flume, Tame Impala and yes… even 5 Seconds of Summer need to have their name on that list.
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How is that not exciting?! No longer does the phrase ‘uniquely Australian’ conjure up images of middle-aged bogan men playing beer smelling rooms to even more beer smelling people. No. it’s become all encompassing. Just like our fine country. Diverse.
We are now leading the world in so many different styles of music and that is because of the culture that we have within our music industry. One that helps to cultivate and to nurture, not one that restricts.
The future of the Australian music industry has a new hope, and the beauty of it is none of us know what that sounds like yet.
New Music Comes From Literally Everywhere
Brad makes a passionate plea to artists not to go down the path of reality television singing contests. I’m not even going to argue with him on that. If you audition for one of those shows don’t try and kid anyone into thinking it’s for any reasons other than to get famous.
The quote he used by Bruce Dickinson is actually so good that it deserves to be reprinted here:
“I don’t understand these kids auditioning for X-Factor claiming they just want to make music. CUT THE CRAP! Let me introduce you to the kid teaching himself how to play guitar, the busker in the train station. The guys and girls recording their own demos and playing the small venues. The unpublished songwriter with countless books full of lyrics. The people who just want to be heard, who want to express themselves, their creativity and their artistic worth.”
But, the good news is, the way in which Australian music is discovered is as diverse as the people who play it. There is no longer ‘one way’ to have your music heard, so many people are trying so many different things and the exciting thing is it’s working.
Just over a year ago I helped a band that I co-manage to release their first single online. My contacts were sufficient, but in comparison to the other bands we’ve been referencing, at the time, we’re very limited.
“Imagine if every Australian export still sounded like the lead singer had a mullet and drank Fosters?!”I knew a couple of people who worked for labels here in Australia, and naturally I sent them the demo. But there traction didn’t come from that. It came from a simple press release with a Sound Cloud link embedded that I had sent out to a couple of blogs.
Before we knew it blogs were passing our music around faster than we could track it. Almost overnight we went from a band with no music to a band with 50,000 plays. In just over 12 months we were heard nearly 8,000,000 times, we’ve toured Australia twice and are just putting the framework around our second tour of the US and Canada. In a year. Blogs.
For Matt Corby it was a succession of intimate secret garden parties, Tame Impala toured relentlessly, for Hayden James it was being discovered by triple j, The Pierce Brothers used busking, 360; battle rap. Even our old mate Justin Bieber got discovered via the (then) unconventional method of YouTube.
More Australian music is getting to more people via more avenues than ever before. If you can’t see that then I have no idea what rock it is you’re living under, what I do know is that you need to get that rock connected to wifi.
Community Radio
I didn’t want this point to revolve around Triple J. Regardless of what your opinions of that station might be no one can factually argue that they haven’t been a huge reason behind a lot of Australian bands being discovered by a larger audience.
But it isn’t just Triple J. It’s every community station, every digital station, every Spotify playlist, every podcast and everyone who volunteers their time to write for a blog. Over the last 15 years these things have become the heartbeat of the Australian music industry.
We have access to more information and more music than at any other time in our history and these people sift all that for us so that we’re left with what sounds best. They offer niche programming that suits even the most closed minded consumer so that literally everyone has the capacity to discover something new everyday.
When I was growing up there was only really two ways to discover new music; word of mouth or countless hours scouring (and listening to) music in record store. Now, don’t get me wrong – both those things still very much have their place.
But as much as I love scouring racks of old records I don’t always have the time. The truth is I discover more of the music I like because of stations like Triple J or PBS, websites like Unearthed and blogs like Hilly Dilly than I do agonising my way around a record store.
This is good news for Australian musicians, it increases your chances of being heard beyond your immediate sphere of musical influence. Without these things we would be stuck in the musical equivalent of the dark ages and people like Hayden James might never have been heard outside the four walls of their studio. If nothing else Triple J has given me the track ‘Permission to Love’ and for that I am thankful.
Resilience
I mentioned earlier about the abundance of entertaining alternatives that musicians compete against. Brad focused on poker machines, but he forgot to mention television, video games, sporting events, 100 other shows on the same night, YouTube and so many others.
There are literally 1,000 different things you could do on any one night, seeing your band play is but one of them. But since 2004 live music has had a 50% increase in attendance within Australia. That is despite the competition for consumers attention getting stronger and stronger.
“If you have no money, get a freaking job. If you’re not prepared to invest in your own music at that level then you certainly can’t expect anyone else to do it for you.”This is because we have an industry committed to live music, an industry that fights for the rights of artists, for venues and patrons. An industry that hasn’t lay down in the face of stiff competition, but an industry that’s been prepared to do what’s needed to move forward regardless.
Australian’s love live music, as much now as they did when the Bee Gee’s started. The proof, they say, is in the pudding; well, the pudding is not only more delicious it’s now also 50% bigger.
A Disillusioned Reality
This is the point at which I tuned out the most in reading his article. To save you the effort his summary was that unless you’re a rich kid with an already established name you probably shouldn’t bother being a musician because you’ll never make it.
Firstly, if you have no money, get a freaking job. If you’re not prepared to invest in your own music at that level then you certainly can’t expect anyone else to do it for you.
Only a few weeks ago I read an article where Violent Soho members admitted to still needing to work at McDonalds despite their apparent successes. That doesn’t sound like a kid with rich parents. It sounds like someone who has the balls to take responsibility for both their own circumstances and their dreams as a musician.
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Let me be really honest – it doesn’t matter about your gender, your genre, your musical experience, your religion, your family heritage, your colour, your financial disposition or your sexual orientation. These things will not affect your bands ability to grow.
What will affect you is a disillusioned sense of entitlement. No one is going to come and give it to you. And if they do I’d be very suspicious of them. No, you need to be responsible for your own circumstances. If you can’t afford to make, market, distribute or tour your music then you need to get a job.
The Australian music industry is an incredible conduit available for you to utilize. We have world class venues, one of the only national radio stations in the world, worldwide leaders and industry changers, passionate promoters and dedicated agents.
Remember, as strong as this industry is your team is only as strong as your weakest link, if that link is you then you can hardly hold the industry to ransom.
The Australian Public
It must be hard to stay positive as a consumer when almost everyday somebody else is writing an article complaining about something that isn’t going their way in the music industry. Yet, you do it.
Week after week, month after month, year after year you guys show up to our shows, you interact with us on social media, you contribute to our fundraising campaigns and you buy our merchandise.
Thank you.
You are the ultimate evidence of an industry that is strong. You give us shivers down our spines when you sing the lyrics to our songs, you make it possible for us to tour overseas when you buy our stuff, you allow us to believe in ourselves and in our music in the moments when we struggle to do it for ourselves.
You are prepared to take a chance on new music and you’re not afraid to lend your voice to championing one of your own overseas when needed. I am proud to be one of you, whatever your choice of music might be, because it’s YOU who ultimately shapes this industry and you have done a mighty fine job.
It’s easy to find the faults, but it’s so much more satisfying to celebrate the positives. I, for one, am thankful I’m a part of this ever growing, ever evolving, incredible industry that is Australian music.
