Understanding community radio’s contribution to Australian music

Reporter

Community radio’s contribution to the Australian music and creative industries is the focus of a major new three year study.

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) has announced that in its latest round of Linkage projects, the Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded $218,000 to conduct the study, which is expected to start in August this year.

The project, Community Music Radio: Building the Music-Media Ecosystem, is led by researchers from Monash and Griffith universities in partnership with the CBAA, the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF), Australia Council for the Arts and APRA AMCOS.

The project has three core aims:

* To establish the economic and sociocultural contributions of community music radio,

* Assess the role of community music stations in the discoverability and visibility of Australian music on global digital platforms; and

* Produce a series of community music radio station and music artist case studies of diverse music genres and locations.

Monash researcher Associate Professor Shane Homan believes that the sector is long overdue for examination of its links for and to Australian music.

“This funding provides for the first time the opportunity to dig deep into how community stations operate across different music genres and local contexts that can in turn provide a national picture.”

Jo Curtin, Community Broadcasting Foundation’s CEO, says they’re proud to be a partner in this important project.

“Community radio has played a hugely significant role for decades broadcasting and promoting Australian music to listeners around the country. Having a deeper understanding of the positive cultural, social and economic contribution of music radio will be invaluable in our role funding a thriving and resilient sector.”

Kirsty Rivers, Head of Music for Australia Council for the Arts says “This research will provide valuable insights into the contribution of community radio, and its role in supporting our diverse and thriving music industry. This comes at a critical time – as the industry works to recover from the impacts of the pandemic and to navigate significant social and technological change. We are excited to partner with Monash University and the CBAA on this ARC Linkage project.”

Jon Bisset, CBAA’s CEO says “The CBAA is delighted to be partnering in this project. We have always known that community radio has a unique and important part to play in helping to get Australian music heard across the country. Across our sector, stations play on average 36% Australian music each week.”

“This is because stations are deeply connected to and integrated with their local music scenes, with presenters running labels, putting on gigs and building grassroots relationships and networks. We look forward to sharing the results with the wider industry to further nurture community radio’s contribution to Australian music.”

The study will look at opportunities provided to musicians and artists by small, local community radio outlets right through to the ways that the industry can interact with major global streaming platforms.

Griffith University researcher Professor Susan Forde says the inclusion of First Nations music, LGBTQI+ and non-binary artists and programmers will  capture the diversity of Australian music.

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Mr D
28 May 2022 - 10:37 am

I listen to Community Radio most of the time( 2mcr fm 2Ser fm 2HHH fm SWR999 ) no BS.
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