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The good news first: most Australians love music, we dig our own music culture, and we’re open to discovering more of the good stuff.
The bad? More than 100,000 tracks from around the globe are ingested daily into DSPs.
Australians’ connection with digital music in all its forms is explored in the Listening In report, presented Thursday, June 12th by Music Australia with a batch of new insights.
In a surprise to no one who follows the domestic music industry, Australians artists’ visibility is on the decline, proof of which could be found in ARIA’s year-end charts and on triple j’s Hottest 100.
But it’s not all shock and horror.
Australian music is a regular part of the music diet of almost all music-engaged survey respondents, and this group want to listen to more, according to the Listening In report, part of series of three research studies.
Nine in 10 Australians listened to Australia music in 2023, the report finds. Music and live music are important to the majority of Australians and its particularly true for young Australians. In 2024, based on Nielsen data, more than six in 10 Australians (62%) said they strongly agreed that music was really important to them. And in this all-you-can-eat era of streaming music, 75% of “music-engaged” Australians are “satisfied” with their ability to find and access Australian tunes.
There’s a “keenness” to discover more. More than 60% of respondents said they had a connection to Australian music and two-thirds said they wanted to listen to more Australian music.
The “discovery” or “visibility” isn’t an easy fix. Rising above the noise of 100 million tunes will require marketing spend, investment, A&R and more.
Some key takeaways:
• There is strong positive sentiment towards – and an openness to consuming more – Australian music. At the same time, the convenience of listening to personalised, algorithmic playlists on streaming platforms may inhibit the discovery of new Australian music. Personalisation is a key feature that attracts users to music streaming and social media platforms, and, for the music-engaged, actively seeking out new music can be seen as a chore, requiring people to break out of their habits.
• Australians are predominantly listening to international music – particularly music from the larger English-language markets of the United States and the United Kingdom. Although engagement with Australian music is declining across the general population, Australian music is part of the music diet of almost all of the music-engaged survey respondents and many are regularly listening to Australian music.
• Streaming services are the primary source of music discovery. Almost all music-engaged survey respondents are discovering new music and new artists on streaming services. However, for the music-engaged, social media and music festivals are also popular sources of music discovery.
• Among the music-engaged, there is a recognition of the challenge that streaming and social media pose to the discovery of emerging Australian artists. Some of the music-engaged are concerned that algorithms may limit the exposure of lesser-known artists. There is also a recognition of the important role radio – in particular triple j – plays in serving new Australian music to local audiences.
• While half do not consider artist origin when looking for new music, music-engaged participants hold strong positive perceptions of Australian music. A third seek out new music by Australian artists and bands – higher than the proportion who search for new music by international acts. At the same time, the majority of music-engaged participants say they feel a sense of pride when listening to Australian music, feel a connection to it and believe it is as good as international music.
• Australian music is considered easily accessible by most of the music-engaged. At the same time, two-thirds say they want to listen to more Australian music, indicating there is an opportunity to drive local engagement with new Australian music.
The Listening In data is based on four surveys, each gathering more than 3,500 responses, plus nine focus groups.
Produced by Creative Australia for Music Australia, the report trilogy also seeks to better understand how Australian music sits within the overall music diet, as well as how people feel about Australian music – and their current access to it.
Also reported Thursday, the music industry, through all activities in its ecosystem, created an economic contribution to the GDP of $2.82 billion.
Australian artists earned $860 million in 2023-24, royalties and live accounting for roughly 70% of that sum. Collectively, an estimated $425 million (or 47%) in net income is raked in from live music performance, after fees.
Watch the presentation below.
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