Have you been treated unfairly by a big business?
The Federal Government is currently reviewing whether to extend Unfair Trading Practices protections to small businesses.
This follows the introduction of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026, which initially targeted consumer-focused issues like subscription traps and hidden fees.
Unfair trading practices are common in live music’s business-to-business dealings, and they fall on the smallest, least powerful parties.
The ALMBC has a draft response to the Treasury Consultation Paper and we plainly express the current issues for sole traders and small business in their dealings with larger corporations:
- Last-minute cancellation with no compensation. Performers and crew, almost all sole traders, are regularly booked and then stood down at short notice with no cancellation fee, leaving them with lost income and no time to rebook the date.
- Late or withheld payment. Sole-trader artists, technicians and contractors frequently wait months to be paid for completed work, or have invoices reduced or quietly ignored. A delayed payment that a large business absorbs easily can put a sole trader’s rent at risk.
- Take-it-or-leave-it standard terms and unilateral changes. Smaller venues, promoters and artists are presented with non-negotiable platform and supplier contracts that can be changed unilaterally, including changes to fees, payment timing and data rights, with little or no notice.
- Fear of retaliation. A small act or venue will rarely challenge a dominant promoter, agency or ticketing operator, because they need the relationship to continue. The imbalance is structural: there are only so many buyers and platforms in the market, and being shut out is an existential threat to a micro-business.
We invite your feedback to help make our response as powerful as possible.Â
Get in touch to tell us your story or provide your feedback to our draft
