Live music performances and music festivals are the biggest contributor to Australia’s live performance sector, which has been valued at $2.55 billion and responsible for employing nearly 35,000 people in a new report by industry body Live Performance Australia (LPA). But these figures conflict with previous LPA reports which show that the industry much less than the proposed $2.55 billion.

LPA issued its newest study of the Australian Live Performance industry this morning, undertaken by EY (formerly Ernst & Young), analysing the economic size and scope of Australia’s live performance sector, as The Music Network reports, which covers performance categories such as live music, musical theatre, opera, classical music, dance, and other disciplines.

The report (which you can view and download in full here) bases its numbers on the latest data available, in 2012, ad shows that in terms of all live performance event categories, Contemporary Music has the highest share of the $2.55 bn value, at nearly 37%, meaning it generated $830.9 million for the local economy during 2012.

That means Contemporary Music earned more for the sector than music theatre (the next biggest earner at 14.6% share), theatre (8.6%), classical music (6.6%), opera (5.1%), circus (4.6%), and comedy (3.4%) combined. Along with contributions generated by live performances at venues and arenas around Australia, ‘single category’ festivals – meaning events that comprise just one live performance type eg. music festivals – accounted for 8.9% share, while ‘multi-category’ festivals (eg. more than just one live performance category, ie not just music) accounted for 1.6%.

The report that Aussie live music generated $830.9 million in 2012 is in direct conflict with the LPA’s own report from 2012 showing a sharp drop in live music attendance and revenue where it generated just over $482.1 million while the live performance sector was reportedly worth approximately $1.2 billion, nearly half the current $2.55 billion figure. 

Confused? So are we. The discrepancies are further complicated by the current LPA report comparing its results to a 2010 report (in turn based on figures from 2008), which instead shows a growth in revenue – not a decline. The current live performance revenue is up from the $2.1 billion figure it was worth in the last LPA report in 2010 (based on data from 2008).

The latest figures also show growth in for the Festivals and Contemporary Music figures; single-category festivals were worth an added $50.4 million (an increase of 30.6%) and Contemporary Music added $31 million (up 4.3%) more in 2012 than in the 2010 report (adjusting for inflation).

By contrast, classical music and music theatre both showed drops in revenue; classical brought $135 million less (down 55.4%) and music theatre  $108.2 million less (down 25.5%) to the Australian economy than in the last LPA study.

This discrepancy could be due to a broadening in analysis – now including organisations such as the Australia Council For The Arts and members of the Australian Performing Arts Centre Association – but the change in figures is dramatic to say the least.

Regardless of the bizarre comparisons, LPA’s chief executive, Evelyn Richardson has applauded the current live performance report: “Our industry is a significant contributor in terms of financial, employment, and quality of life metrics to the Australian economy,” she said. Ms Ricahrdson also attributed the overall rise in live performance to an increase in industry wages and a 21% increase in the the number of full time employees in the sector to 34,131 – more than the 20,439 people employed in the equivalent Australian film and video game industries.

As for the highest financial contributors by state, New South Wales and Victoria continued to comprise 65% of the total value of the live performance sector’s revenue. A breakdown of each state (before deducting the cost of goods and services used) showed live performance contributing $586.5 million to the NSW state economy, $422.2 million to VIC, $236.5 million to QLD, $161.7 million to WA, $87.9 million to SA, $19.4 million to ACT, $13.2 million to TAS, and $1.5 million to NT.

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