The Struggles of Musicians in Sydney’s Live Music Scene
Karen Lee Andrews, a well-known blues and soul singer, shared her emotional story during a parliamentary inquiry into live music. She described the challenges of being a musician, including the rejection of her latest grant application and having to work at a supermarket to support herself. “I have been a professional musician for the last couple of decades now,” she said. “I was getting hired for festivals and doing my own sold-out tours while still working in retail, and then COVID hit.”
Andrews emphasized how the pandemic disrupted her career. “I was very fortunate to have my job in Woolworths at that time, and then coming out of COVID, I wasn’t hired as much at festivals because they were shutting down.” Her experience highlights the precarious nature of life as a musician in Australia.
Musicians Sharing Their Stories
Sydney musicians spoke openly about their struggles during the inquiry, describing how they are living “day to day, hand to mouth.” Declan Kelly, a soul singer, shared his experiences performing in “pokies pubs” for $300, often shoved into the back corner. He explained how pubs use Labor’s vibrancy reform incentive to get extra trading hours by hosting live music.
“I’ve actually … played in these places; you’re put in the corner, nobody really cares, and you’re just there … [to] pick up a guitar, and we go and sing for our supper. We prefer to sing our own songs because we have been making our own songs forever, but we’ll go sing Brown-Eyed Girl for somebody because they are paying the money.”
Despite the government pledging $103 million for live music over four years in 2023, many musicians feel the funding is insufficient. They face challenges from AI, shrinking income streams, a cost-of-living crisis, and audiences consuming foreign music on streaming services.
Financial Challenges and the Impact of Lost Festivals
Alex Lynn, known professionally as Alex the Astronaut, shared how the loss of major festivals like Bluesfest, Splendour in the Grass, and Falls Festival has affected their income. “A band of my size would be paid around $20,000 per festival. Three festivals, you would have enough to pay for the next recording, and then you would have a little bit left over to pay yourself, a little bit left over to pay your team, and a little bit left over maybe to plan for a tour.”
Lynn emphasized the importance of live performances. “That $60,000 – any kind of live income is now completely non-existent. If you take $60,000 out of any small business, when it’s 80 per cent of their income … that business can’t function.”
Streaming and the Challenge of Visibility
Lynn also discussed the impact of streaming algorithms on visibility. “Discussions about how streaming algorithms should operate – either through the government enforcing local music targets or at the whim of platforms such as Spotify, Apple and Amazon – often resulted in a catch 22.”
“[Before COVID] if you got on a playlist in Australia, on Spotify, they have an inbuilt audience, so that song gets serviced to thousands more people than it would if it was just sitting on your profile… Whereas now those playlists being constricted down based on geography means that we don’t have access to those thousands of people that [previously] were an option.”
According to a 2024 Luminate report, only 8% of the top 10,000 artists being streamed in Australia were Australian. More than half the artists being streamed were from the United States. “My streaming has gone down from what I thought was a bad figure during COVID at 250,000 followers, and then that has been reduced and reduced and reduced, and now I’m on 45,000,” Lynn said. “Before was unsustainable, and now it’s just 100 bucks every month, even when you’ve got songs that have millions and millions of listeners.”
Merchandise Sales Dwindle
Zoe Catterall, a member of alternative rock band The Buoys, highlighted the decline in merchandise sales. “I haven’t made a profit on merch in over two years now,” she said. “That used to be our main income stream, aside from touring, which, when touring left, we thought it was OK; we’ve still got merch, but we’re just watching all of those income streams completely disappear, and those would fund our recording projects.”
Conclusion
The stories of these musicians reveal a complex web of challenges facing the live music industry in Sydney. From financial instability to the impact of streaming algorithms, the road ahead is uncertain. Yet, despite these obstacles, many continue to create and perform, driven by their passion for music.
