Australian music industry unites behind call to extend JobKeeper
A letter signed by more than 3500 music industry workers will call on the government to extend JobKeeper for the live entertainment sector.
Australia’s live music industry has been unable to operate at full capacity since March last year, having been subject to the whims of sudden border closures due to COVID outbreaks and hampered by restrictions on social gatherings that vary state by state.
It’s a taxing bind for anyone whose livelihood revolves around performances and on Wednesday, an open letter signed by more than 3500 music industry workers and artists — including Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Midnight Oil and Kate Miller-Heidke — will call on the federal government to extend JobKeeper for live entertainment workers or provide an industry-specific wage subsidy.
“Each time there is another COVID-19 cluster or a quarantine breach, any plans to trade again are halted,” the open letter notes.
“Musicians, sole traders, venues, clubs, festivals, music businesses and the industry remain out of work. Billions of dollars for hospitality and tourism generated from Australian music remains stifled. We are an industry in crisis.”
That crisis is acute for John Collins, the former Powderfinger bassist who co-owns two venues in Brisbane, The Triffid and The Fortitude Music Hall, which reopened in COVID-safe fashion in July and November, respectively.
“JobKeeper saved our team and saved the venues,” said Collins. “Our capacity’s around 30 per cent of what we could normally do at The Triffid; we’re trading at around 50 per cent of what we’d normally do, and 60 per cent of our wages have been subsidised (by JobKeeper), so you can see the margins and how important that is for us as a business.”
New figures released on Wednesday by music rights organisation APRA AMCOS reveal that live music in Australia is operating at just 2 per cent compared to this time last year, as its members’ gig reports dropped from 1.6 million performances pre-COVID to just 60,000 across a six-month period last year.
For Hemisphere Group operations manager Shannon Ward, who was providing services to arena and stadium-sized concerts for the likes of Elton John and Queen + Adam Lambert at the start of last year, the drop-off in music work has been stark.
“It is amazing to see some of these smaller shows go back, but there is a selection of people in this industry that survive off the big-end stuff,” said Ward.
“For us, the next international show is tentatively Guns N’ Roses at the end of the year — and let’s just say I haven’t quite locked in staff for that one yet.”
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