Latest Hearing on Australian Live Music Crisis Discusses Accessibility & Mental Health

The Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts held another public hearing today, as part of its inquiry into the challenges being faced within the Australian live music industry.

The event heard from peak bodies and service organisations about funding, accessibility, consumer behaviour and more.

Accessibility issues in Australian live music

Arty Owens spoke in the hearing on behalf of Arts Access Victoria, the peak body for arts and disability in Victoria.

They discussed the difficulties disabled people faced, both as performers and as audience members.

“The feeling of not belonging when you go into a space, it starts with those physical barriers. It’s clear that the space isn’t made for you because there’s no ramp, the lights are too bright, or there’s flashing lights,” Mx Owens told the Committee. “In that sense, they don’t have a sense of a place to go to create that community.”

Support Act shares they supported 11,000 music workers during COVID

The Committee also heard from Clive Miller, CEO of Support Act, a charity that provides relief services to musicians, managers, crew, and music workers who are unable to work due to illness or crisis.

Miller spoke about the impact Covid-19 had on the music industry, saying that over the course of 2020-2021, the organisation supported 11,000 people, amounting to a value of 45 million dollars.

He also discussed the Mental Health and Wellbeing in Music and the Creative Industries survey the group conducted in 2024, with respondents citing burnout, cost of living, and the lack of opportunities as some of the biggest challenges faced in the music industry.

Hearings have been held throughout the year and have highlighted the extensive challenges faced by the live music industry, especially after the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Multiple festivals have been cancelled in 2024, including Groovin The Moo, Bluesfest, and Splendour in The Grass, which Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has linked to the current cost of living crisis.

Sydney’s live music scene in crisis

The New South Wales Minns government is attempting to reinvigorate Sydney’s nightlife, implementing “vibrancy reforms” to make it easier for venues to hold events, and more difficult for noise complaints to shut them down.

Venues that host live music are offered a two-hour extension on their trading hours, with over 100 venues taking up the offer since March 2023. At the start of 2024, the number of small venues hosting had almost doubled, with 243 across NSW.

However, it might not be enough to save live music. Between lockout laws, increasing insurance premiums, alcohol taxes, and limited visibility for new artists, there’s no doubt the scene is struggling. This latest federal inquiry is just the latest in a long line of inquiries attempting to restore Australian music to its glory days.

In the NSW inquiry in 2018, Hoodoo Gurus singer and songwriter Dave Faulkner told the Committee that the industry was  “something to be shunned. We employ so many people, we generate incredible amounts of money throughout the economy – and yet we’re treated so badly”.