Call for ticket levy in Aussie live music inquiry

The government inquiry into Australia’s troubled live music scene has heard calls for a ticket levy on large-scale concerts to plough back into the country’s grassroots scene.

The first round of public hearings into the country’s live market’s ‘existential crisis’ launched last week amid the widespread closures of venues and festivals, with stakeholders including trade bodies, broadcasters and event organisers lining up to give evidence.

The situation was influenced by the current state of play in the UK, where the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee has backed calls for a new arena and stadium ticket levy, plus tax relief, to safeguard UK’s grassroots music venues. It said that a voluntary levy on arena and stadium concert tickets – as lobbied for by the MVT – would be the most feasible way to have an immediate impact on the business.

Kris Stewart, CEO of Queensland music industry development association QMusic, said the introduction of a small levy would have a “transformational effect” on the local industry in Australia.

“If you’re the Taylor Swifts of the world, up to 50,000 seats, £1 per ticket goes back into a charitable trust to be re-invested at the foundations of live music,” said Stewart, as per The Music Network via ABC. “If you’re paying £120 to see Taylor Swift and it becomes £121, that doesn’t change it. If you’re suddenly finding a new way to put £2, 3, 4, 5 million back into the foundations of live music, that is transformational.”

“If we want an Australian industry in 10 years, we need to acknowledge that our small music venues are the soil from which our artists grow”

He added: “If we want an Australian industry in 10 years, we need to acknowledge that our small music venues are the soil from which our artists grow. If that soil dies, no seeds can come from that.”

Stewart also made a suggestion that Australian support acts should be mandatory for international tours.

“The simplest intervention we could pull a lever on tomorrow, is say any international artist playing a venue larger than a thousand seats in Australia needs an Australian support artist,” he said.

Elsewhere, deputy director of Arts Queensland Kirsten Herring also encouraged bookings of emerging domestic artists at major sporting events.

“What are we doing at those major events at stadiums, in front of 60,000 people, to showcase live music?” she said. “For me, it seems like a fairly logical way to keep making sure live music is visible to all audiences in every form.”

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