Jenny Morris calls for export emphasis on Australian music
Speaking at the National Press Club, Jenny Morris said Australia should reverse the trend of spending more on foreign artists than we sell to the world.
Australia has an untapped goldmine of music talent that could become a major export earner, bringing $7bn to the national economy, says singer-songwriter and music industry spokeswoman Jenny Morris.
The international success of artists including Sia, Gotye, Tash Sultana and Vance Joy already is helping earn export revenue worth $195m annually, but Morris says the nation could be reaping so much more from its musical talent.
In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Morris said Australia could become a net exporter of music, and reverse the trend of Australians spending more on foreign artists than we sell to the world.
She set an ambitious target of Australia earning 5 per cent of projected global music industry revenue by 2030, or the equivalent of $US7bn a year.
“We need a clear vision, and I think that vision should be for Australia to become a net exporter of music,” said Morris, the chairwoman of industry body APRA AMCOS.
“This won’t happen overnight and it could well take a decade, but you need a clear vision in order to start change now. Aussies have never backed away from a challenge — we need to back ourselves. The potential reward is nation-defining.”
The export value of the Australian music industry is estimated to be approximately $195m, according to a report published by the University of Newcastle and Monash University last year in partnership with APRA AMCOS.
That figure included the combined export value of Australian artists, music publishers and record labels, yet Morris wants the industry to aim much higher.
“Despite the devastation of COVID-19, a Goldman Sachs report into the international music market released in May estimates global industry revenue will soar to around US$140bn by 2030,” she said.
“Australian artists, publishers and creators have the potential to earn a 5 per cent market share of this [about US$7bn] if we get the framework right.”
Morris is an acclaimed New Zealand-born singer-songwriter behind hits such as 1989’s She Has to Be Loved, and on Wednesday she became the first musician to address the National Press Club since jazz artist James Morrison in 1993, while Morrison’s mentor Don Burrows gave a speech in 1990.
Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett also appeared in 2017, but he spoke about the fate of the Great Barrier Reef rather than his creative outlets.
According to Morris, this vision for Australia to become a net exporter of music — in line with powerhouses such as the US, Britain and Sweden — will require a shift in federal, state and local government policy and an investment commitment.
Her example of Sweden as a net exporter is a curious one, yet for a nation of 10 million people, it has had a significant impact on popular culture that stretches back to the likes of ABBA in the 1970s and continues today.
“Swedes have more US Billboard No 1s than any European country besides the UK, but their success isn’t tied to any specific style, genre, movement or trend,” said Morris.
“Sweden is one of the best countries for live music, home to many internationally renowned DJs. They celebrate music like we celebrate swimming. Crucially, they have a comprehensive music education that includes songwriting.”
Accordingly, Morris called for songwriting to become part of the national curriculum here, as well as the protection and promotion of Australian live music venues and for local music production and performance to be incentivised across all media platforms.
“With ambition like this, not only will we secure this renaissance we’re experiencing, we’ll capture the imagination and power the careers of the next generation of Australians ready to emerge,” she said. “With First Nations songlines reaching back more than 60,000 years, our diverse nation here at the Asia Pacific rim is ready. Because the whole world is waiting for us — and they want to hear more.”
In an unusual step, Morris — who was diagnosed with a speech condition known as spasmodic dysphonia in 2005 — began her speech before asking indie folk singer-songwriter Sophie Payten, who performs as Gordi, to take over on her behalf.
“David Byrne says you have to write a lot of crap songs to get a good one out,” said Payten at the beginning of her remarks. “I’m a songwriter and there’s no better feeling than to ‘get a good one out’. It’s a work of great value: to me, yes, but more importantly, to my audience, my community, my culture — and, of course, to our economy. A good song creates jobs. Lots of jobs. Tens of thousands of Australians earn a living from music.”