Music Australia invests $2 million into Contemporary Music Sector

January 14, 2025

Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Events / Finance /

An investment of $2 million by Music Australia will support 17 organisations to strengthen core operations and staffing, administrative and running costs, and professional skills development for artists and arts workers.

Music Australia was established in 2023 within Creative Australia as a new dedicated body to support and invest in Australian contemporary music.

The recipients of Music Australia’s inaugural Core Contribution Fund -designed to support the core operations of Australian organisations providing services to the contemporary music industry – have been announced.

Among the organisations funded,16 out of 17 are national organisations, with a key focus on diversity, genre and industry sectors.

Electronic music, country, folk, jazz, improvised music, musical theatre, children's music and screen composers will all reap the benefits of enhanced collective representation with this core funding.

Peak bodies representing industry sectors including festivals, grass roots live music businesses, producers and engineers, music products, publishers and crew will increase their capacity to advocate and provide targeted services and activities for their members.

The funding will support organisations to expand their impact by facilitating sector development initiatives and engaging in market development activities.

This two-year investment will have a significant and important impact for the organisations supported and the broader music sector. The recipients join a strong ecology of contemporary music industry organisations already funded by Music Australia through Delivery Partnerships, including the Association of Artist Managers (AAM), Australian Independent Record Label Association (AIR), Live Music Office (Live and Local Program), Sounds Australia and The Push.

Music Australia has also committed to funding the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN) with their renewed focus on supporting grass roots industry and delivering strategic programs and industry development. AMIN represents the coalition of eight state and territory peak music industry bodies including Music ACT, Music NSW, Music NT, Music SA, Music Tasmania, QMusic and West Australian Music (WAM).

Director of Music Australia Millie Millgate notes "It is imperative that Music Australia invests in the entire contemporary music ecosystem, which requires a strategic balance of support for individual artists, commercial companies and not-for-profit organisations.

‘To date, Music Australia funding has been awarded to more than 400 artist projects (including bands, solo artists, producers and songwriters) and it's great to be able to kick off 2025 with core funding being allocated for the first time, to a range of nationally representative organisations, that collectively provide enormous support to Australian artists and industry professionals alike."

The recipients include:

Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN)
Australasian Music Publishers' Associated limited (AMPAL)
Australian Festival Association (AFA)
Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC)
Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC)
Australian Music Association (AMA)
Australian Women in Music
Black Music Alliance Australia (BMAA)
Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA)
CrewCare
Electronic Music Conference (EMC)
Folk Alliance Australia (FAA)
Home Grown Musicals Aus
Major Minor Music Australia (MMMA)
Music Producer and Engineers' Guild (MPEG)
One of One
Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA)

Image. Credit: Pexels

17th December 2024 - Creative Australia and Music Australia support 20 tours of contemporary music artists

11th September 2024 - ARIA and PPCA welcome Music Australia’s Record Label Development Scheme

10th September 2024 - Music Australia launches new funding initiative to support Australian labels

11th April 2024 - Music Australia approves four Delivery Partners for pilot investments in 2024

20th October 2023 - Millie Millgate announced as inaugural Director of Music Australia

23rd August 2023 - Appointments announced for Music Australia Council

19th October 2022 - Applications now open for round five of Live Music Australia program

1st July 2022 - Green Music Australia among 17 organisations campaigning this Plastic Free July

29th November 2021 - Applications now open for Live Music Australia program

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