Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.billboard.com
Ausify, the national campaign to lift Australian music’s visibility at home, launched its second year Monday (Nov. 2) against a worsening backdrop: local music now accounts for just 8.5% of all audio streamed in Australia.
That figure comes from APRA AMCOS’s latest Year in Review, released in October, which recorded a 37.5% decline in local content’s streaming share over five years, down from 13.6% in FY21. The rights body’s CEO, Dean Ormston, has warned the share could fall to about 5% within five years without intervention. On user-generated content platforms, Australian music’s share sits lower still, at 3.6%.
A separate analysis published by the Australia Institute last year, using IFPI data, found Australian artists’ share of the 10,000 most-streamed acts in Australia fell from 12% to 8% between 2021 and 2024, with the number of Australian acts on that list dropping from 932 to 773.
The campaign frames the problem as discovery rather than demand. A nationally representative survey of 1,018 Australians, conducted by Pureprofile for Music Australia in October, found 84% say a defining life moment brings an Australian song to mind, and two-thirds could name the song. But only 27% say they have streamed an Australian artist in the past 12 months. Earlier research in Music Australia’s Listening In series found 71% feel pride hearing local music, 62% feel a connection to it and rate it as good as international music, and 66% want more of it.
“These positive attitudes are not translating into listening, sharing, attendance and advocacy,” the campaign said in its launch material, pointing to availability, discoverability and default listener behaviors “often influenced by streaming algorithms and dwarfed by artists from larger English-speaking markets.”
Where last year’s campaign asked listeners to “Ausify” their algorithms, this year’s pitch is visibility: Ausify is calling for “Public Displays of Ausify,” from social posts and tour merch to singing along in public. The month-long run launched with seven Australian artists performing a karaoke version of “Love Is in the Air,” and the artists backing it include Ben Lee, Fanny Lumsden, Astrid Jorgensen, aleksiah, Ayesha Madon, Becca Hatch, Budjerah, Conor Jacob Smith of Midnight Til Morning, Georgia Maq, ISHAN, Missy Higgins, Nooky, Ruel and Vv Pete.
Lee, an ambassador for the campaign, said the goal has shifted. “The Ausify campaign this year isn’t about convincing people that Aussie music is incredible — everyone already knows that,” he said. “This year it’s about being loud and proud about the music we listen to and love.” He added: “I’m calling on everyone to join me in showing their love for Australian music in whatever way they like — tell a friend, get a tattoo, annoy people on the bus by blasting your favourite local track.”
Ausify is run by Music Australia, the contemporary music body within Creative Australia. It launched in 2025 during Ausmusic Month with Thelma Plum, Keli Holiday, G Flip and Ben Lee among its first backers.
The campaign runs alongside APRA AMCOS’s policy push, which includes advocating for a federal live music tax incentive and minimum Australian music requirements across platforms. Australian music continues to perform strongly offshore: APRA’s international revenue topped $100 million for the first time in FY26, with total group international revenue reaching $107.3 million.
