Can Australian Music Survive in the Age of Spotify?
Music Australia releases The Bass Line 2nd Edition: a $10.76 billion industry that’s growing in size but shrinking in value
Music Australia has today released the second edition of The Bass Line, the first nationally consistent economic analysis of the Australian music industry. The 2nd edition covers the 2024-25 financial year and confirms the industry’s significant scale — while also delivering a more sobering picture of where the value is actually going.
The industry generated $10.76 billion in total revenue and $4.28 billion in direct gross value added (GVA) to the Australian economy in 2024-25, with music exports contributing a further $1.08 billion. Revenue grew 5.2% year-on-year, but GVA grew by only 1.5% — a gap the report frames plainly: growth is hard to achieve, but retaining value is harder.
Live music performance remains the industry’s biggest revenue subsector at $5.19 billion, but its GVA margin has fallen from 30% to 27%. The report attributes this largely to live revenue growth being driven by international touring acts, with domestic operators continuing to absorb cost pressures.Â
Australian artists earned an estimated $877 million in 2024-25, up just 0.9% and not keeping pace with inflation. The median artist income sits at $14,800, with 47% of earnings coming from live performance. The top 25% of artists by income continue to capture around 82% of all artist earnings.
ALMBC contributed to the 2nd edition’s insurance spotlight. The report cites ALMBC’s Insurance Gateway — launched in 2022 to help venues compile risk information and connect with brokers — and our 2024 shift toward risk mitigation, parliamentary advocacy, and systemic insurance reform. ALMBC Chair Howard Adams’ evidence to the House of Representatives Standing Committee (October 2024) is also specifically cited.
The 2nd edition introduces state and territory breakdowns across all subsectors, and includes five new spotlights covering artist income, insurance, country music, music education, and local government’s role in Australia’s music industry, noting that 80% of local councils play a very limited role in music industry development. It is worth noting that Warrnambool Council, where ALMBC EGM worked with Council specifically in developing live music policy through the Live Music Office, is mentioned specifically for their proactive role in industry development.
A companion report, More Than Notes on a Page, formally incorporates music education as a sector for the first time, finding it contributes $1.79 billion in revenue — and more to GVA than live performance.
The Bass Line is an annual series and ALMBC will continue to engage with the research process.
See more info on the Creative Australia site here
