In this day and age of the free market and de-regulation, it’s interesting to be reminded that the Australian Government imposes a quota in which 25% of the music played on commercial radio has to be Australian (hence the billion plays of Cold Chisel every day). In a controversial ruling, the Australian Communications and Media Authority has decided that Australia’s digital-only radio stations won’t be obliged to play home-grown tunes for the next three years after it granted an exemption from the domestic content quota system.
Despite the objections of many local industry members, the ACMA agreed to register a new broadcast code which in effect excuses digital-only radio from meeting the quotas.
Industry representative body ARIA is quite pissed off. “Given the level of concern expressed across the music industry about this proposal, we would have thought that consultation between the radio sector and the industry would have been an appropriate next step,” ARIA CEO Stephen Peach said in a statement to US industry rag Billboard. “This is particularly so given that the code was originally the result of industry-to-industry negotiation and any changes should similarly have been the subject of further negotiation.” Peach continued, “CRA did not make out any compelling case for such an exemption and a desire to play back-to-back overseas artists hardly seems like a good reason to grant one, even if it is only temporary.”
