Welcome to SWOT by Sound Story, your inside track on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats looming for the creative industries.
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⚡ Trending: Why Billboard has apologised to Taylor Swift. Words by Chad De Guzman. Source: TIME.
🎵 Music: The integrity of the 2024 Music Victoria Awards was undermined by hackers who committed “voting fraud” in the publicly-voted categories, its organisers have confirmed. Words by Lars Brandle. Source: The Music Network.
📰 Media: ABC chair Kim Williams has backed the broadcaster’s decision to dump radio presenter Sarah Macdonald from the Sydney Mornings slot despite a flood of complaints, saying changes were part of life in the media industry. Words by Natassia Chrysanthos. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald.
💰 Advertising: Vale Lisa Ronson: Former Medibank, Coles, Tourism Australia CMO dies. Words by Paul McIntyre & Nadia Cameron. Source: Mi3.
📲 Tech: ‘Customer privacy was not at risk’: Bunnings responds after breaching privacy with facial recognition tool. Words by Neil Griffiths. Source: Mumbrella.
📜 Government: Australians may have to hand over more personal data and big tech firms face $50m fines, but there are a number of questions that are yet to be answered about the new under-16s social media ban. Words by Josh Butler. Source: The Guardian.
🌶️ Spicy: Joe Rogan and Elon Musk hit out after ABC boss Kim Williams slams podcaster as ‘deeply repulsive’. Words by Nathan Jolly. Source: Mumbrella.
Strength: Australians Actually Love Live Music Experiences
New data has revealed that Australians love live music, want to attend more gigs in the coming months, and know the cultural and social value these experiences bring to their lives.
👉 Despite a raft of negative headlines about the live music space, the takeaways from Winarch Group’s 2024 Australian Live Music Census are actually good news.
👉 Australians love live music gigs. They know the value these events bring to their lives. And the data reveals there is a strong intent for people to attend more live music in the coming months.
👉 33% of the representative sample in this year’s Australian Live Music Census said they are ‘very likely’ to attend a live music event in the next six months, and a further 31% said they are ‘somewhat likely’.
👉 Plus, 68% of people already attend more than one gig per year.
👉 These positive numbers show that despite economically tough conditions, people are still willing to spend money on these human experiences.
Weakness: Frustrations with Venues and Industry
There are, however, a number of frustrations and gripes which people have with the way these experiences are currently executed.
👉 One glaringly obvious weakness, which was also confirmed by the data, is that the country needs more venues.
👉 Only 6% of people in Winarch Group’s 2024 Australian Live Music Census ‘strongly agreed’ that there are sufficient live music venues in their area, and a further 37% ‘agreed’. 👉 24%, meanwhile, disagreed with the statement that they have sufficient live music venues in their area, and a further 7% strongly disagreed.
👉 There is also a long list of things people want from the industry, that they’re not currently getting.
👉 This includes: cheaper ticket prices (74%), venues closer to where they live (50%), better transport options (32%), earlier show times (29%), and better designed venues (20%).
Opportunity: Reinvigorating Australia’s Culture of Going to Live Music
For every potential bad news story to emerge from the Census, there’s actually an opportunity to improve the customer experience, and lure people, of all ages, back to live music.
👉 There’s an opportunity for developers, venue owners, policymakers and the industry to alleviate people’s frustrations, so they purchase more tickets, more frequently.
👉 Once people are at gigs, their biggest frustrations include: toilet queues (59%), transport to and from the venue (41%), poor visibility (40%), disrespectful audience members (38%), access to tickets/ good seats (31%), and entrance/ exit queues (28%).
👉 As Winarch Group Founder, Paul Lambess, said: “Understanding the priorities, perceptions and preferences of Australians when it comes to live music is key to ensuring we have a thriving local industry.”
👉 He continued: “The Winarch Group Australian Live Music Census paints a picture of an Australia that knows what it wants – more purpose-built live music venues, fewer issues with accessibility and transport, and the opportunity to create more lifetime memories.”
👉 So what next: Provide more purpose-built venues, with adequate infrastructure. Give people what they want – more gigs with fewer frustrations. Hopefully, this then reinvigorates the Australian culture of going to live music and creating memories.
Threat: Inertia, Inactivity and Inaction
As with all of these insights, the biggest threat to progress is inertia, inactivity and/or inaction by the industry.
👉 As Lambess noted: “We need more people acting on this positive intent and sentiment, and getting out there and seeing more shows across the capital cities and our arts-loving regions.”
👉 He continued: “The data in this second annual Winarch Group Australian Live Music Census will help inform venue owners, promoters, policymakers and key stakeholders, to ensure they’re prioritising what people want and need from this culture-defining industry.”
👉 The risk, or threat, here is that people have told these owners, promoters, policymakers and key stakeholders what they want – but nothing happens.
👉 The data shows there is an intent to attend more live music events, despite the overarching sentiment that there aren’t enough venues to do so.
👉 So let’s give the people what they want.
The Fun Stuff
Quote of the Week: “This season is a rollercoaster of laughs and emotions. We were especially hesitant to listen to our first-ever demo tape because we honestly couldn’t remember how it would sound. It definitely made us question how we ever thought we could make a career out of radio,” Andy Lee on going back to where it all began on the new season of Hamish & Andy’s Remembering Project (via Radio Today).
🇯🇵 Team Tidbit: Zanda recently decided to take the compulsory early 30s millennial Australian sojourn to Japan – pictured here at the famous Itsukushima Torii Gate on Miyajima Island, in Hiroshima.
