Australian Musical Futures: The New Music Industry

On September 5th 2008, the Music Council of Australia held a national summit, bringing together 100 leaders in the music field to identify and debate the major issues facing the music sector in Australia. The summit was structured into four expert groups. This paper was commissioned to brief participants in the 'New Music Industry' stream, one of the four expert groups assembled for the event and chaired by the author. Against the background of major international trends, the paper summarises the major issues, roadblocks and opportunities in the Australian music industry in 2008 across the domains of recording, live performance and digital distribution. The paper also includes a survey of existing government support to the industry and the activities of the Contemporary Music Working Group to develop a comprehensive contemporary music strategy in partnership with the Australian government