NSW loses mantle to Victoria on live music stage

LPA

For the first time, NSW has lost its mantle as Australia’s live music market leader with Victoria recording record contemporary music ticket revenue and attendance numbers in 2018.

NSW now lags behind Victoria and Queensland and bucks a global trend of strong growth in live music performance.

“NSW is no longer the premier state for live music, and is rapidly losing ground to Victoria and Queensland for growth in attendance and revenue,” said Live Performance Australia’s Chief Executive, Evelyn Richardson.

“Sydney’s lock-out laws, a shortage of live music venues and the uncertainty created by the Government’s music festival regulation fiasco have undoubtedly turned down the volume on live music performance in NSW,” Ms Richardson said.

“As the NSW Parliament considers the Government’s latest music festival legislation, it needs to keep the consequences of poor regulation and policy at front of mind.

“Nationally, around ten million tickets were sold for contemporary music performance in 2018 with one billion dollars in revenue. 975,000 tickets were sold for music festivals with revenues of around $102 million.

“According to LPA ticket attendance and revenue data, growth in attendance for contemporary music performances doubled in Victoria compared to NSW between 2017 and 2018 (Victoria grew by 864,143 compared to NSW 441,484).

“Growth in contemporary music revenue in Victoria was more than double that of NSW ($151.1m compared to $70m). Revenue in Victoria has grown by 194 per cent since 2015, compared to growth of 122 per cent in NSW. Music promoters are reporting that show counts and attendances in Sydney are now being significantly outstripped by Melbourne.

“Queensland has charged ahead for growth in revenue from music festivals, up by 89 per cent between 2015 and 2018.

“Of the three states, NSW recorded the lowest growth in combined revenue for contemporary music and music festivals (88 per cent compared to 176 per cent for Victoria and 110 per cent for Queensland) between 2015-2018.

“Combined attendances for contemporary music and music festivals grew by 103 per cent in Victoria between 2015 and 2018, compared to 63 per cent for Queensland, and 55 per cent in NSW.

“Increasingly, a much bigger share of growth in revenue and attendance is going to Victoria and Queensland at the expense of NSW.

“That’s bad for artists, bad for their fans and bad for the state’s economic and cultural vibrancy. Everyone who has a stake in a strong live music industry needs to be concerned about what’s happening in NSW.

“And when our most populous city and state is underperforming, that can also impact the rest of the Australian market, particularly for international artists,” Ms Richardson said.

“It’s time the NSW Government got behind live music with policies to support the kind of growth in live music performance that other parts of Australia and the rest of the world is experiencing,” Ms Richardson said.

/Public Release.