Dean Lewis kicks things off at new iHeartLIVE Arena in North Sydney

KIIS and iHeartRadio Australia, together with Island Records/Universal Music Australia, returned in style with Sydney singer songwriter Dean Lewis the star of the first iHeartLIVE event at the brand new multi-million-dollar iHeartLIVE Arena in North Sydney on July 18.

Lewis’s setlist included Waves, All I Ever Wanted and Be Alright to an exclusive crowd of 150 lucky fans. After worldwide success, critical acclaim, and sold-out shows at venues like Wembley Arena in London, Lewis is to tour Australia in October and November this year following the release of his third album The Epilogue on October 18.

ARN’s Chief Strategy & Connections Officer, Lauren Joyce said:

“After a successful return last year, it’s brilliant to see iHeartLIVE attracting an artist of Dean Lewis’ calibre so quickly. The event format offers fans access to an intimate entertainment experience, while for artists they get to enjoy the benefit of iHeart’s reach well beyond the event itself.”

Events like iHeartLIVE and Nova’s Red Room are part of commercial radio’s efforts to work more collaboratively with the live music industry.

Ciaran Davis, CEO of ARN as well as Chair of industry body Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) gave evidence at a public hearing today, Friday July 26, to the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts as it inquires into the challenges and opportunities within the Australian live music industry.

“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,” Mr Davis told the inquiry.

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. 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.”

In 2022, commercial radio played 2.7 million Australian songs and broadcast 160,000 hours of Australian music.