Commercial radio sees benefits of collab with Australian live music industry

Commercial radio has called for measures to help it remain sustainable and allow it to work even more collaboratively with the live music industry, so that these key pillars of Australian culture can support each other.

Ciaran Davis (main photo), CEO of ARN and Chair of industry body Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA), has given evidence to the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts as it examines the challenges and opportunities within the Australian live music industry at a public hearing in Sydney.

“Commercial radio has a long history of supporting emerging and established Australian artists and contributes to their economic development through royalty payments, which amounted to nearly $40 million in 2023,” Davis told the inquiry.

CRA notes that radio is also a vital platform for promotion of local artists. In 2022, commercial radio played 2.7 million Australian songs and broadcast 160,000 hours of Australian music, with all networks and stations proactively involved and fiercely supportive.

“But like the music industry, radio is facing its own challenges – so to truly unlock the potential of radio supporting the live music industry, we need measures to ensure our industry can remain sustainable, thriving and innovative,” said Davis.

“Radio and music should be working together and we want to work together. Research, promotion and events, as well as working to achieve prominence for Australian radio on connected devices – keeping Australian radio and Australian music free and accessible for all – is something that is in all of our interests.”

“We look forward to a future that is collaborative, creative and sustains the unique Australian voices and music across our country, and we thank the committee for giving us the opportunity to be included in this important conversation.”