Streaming services bias American music, which is bad for Aussie artists

Ausmusic T-shirt Day is 27 November. You might not have heard of it, but the event encourages people to wear their favourite Aussie band tee as a way of showing support for our homegrown music. Last year it raised nearly a million dollars for Support Act, a music industry charity. But that’s the problem: the popularity of Australian music is in such decline that it needs a charity to help not just struggling musicians, but all the people behind the scenes who help make their careers possible.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the huge cost of touring are factors, but the main problem is global streaming services, which are now more likely to recommend American music to Australians. This puts our own songs and stories at a competitive disadvantage, which leaves music workers with an even longer way to the top if they wanna rock’n’roll.

New analysis from The Australia Institute shows that, in the past few years, revenue from Australian music increased by an impressive 25% — from USD$417.5m in 2021 to $534m in 2024. In this sense, it’s never been a better time for Australian music. However, the share going to local artists has shrunk by almost a third, which means it’s never been a worse time to try and make it in music. If you’re Royel Otis and you go viral, you’ve hit the international jackpot. But if you’re a hard-working band touring regionally, you’ll be lucky to break even.

The reality is that Australians are streaming less Australian music. Between 2021 and 2024, the number of Australian artists streamed within Australia has dropped by about 25%, and there’s been a decline of about 30% in the number of times Australians listen to Australian songs. And it’s not just the raw stats that are concerning. A quick look behind the numbers shows that many of Australia’s most streamed artists are ‘heritage’ acts like AC/DC; in 2024 Australia’s most streamed domestic artist was The Wiggles. That might be great for kids who like fruit salad, but not so great for new bands and artists.

The problem is that the algorithms that determine what music you hear on a streaming service filter for language, but not for geography or culture. This can work one of two ways. Research shows that bigger European countries like Italy, Germany, and France have each seen more domestic artists reach the top of the charts because of streaming. This is because algorithms give people listening to music in a particular language more of the same, and since most German speakers are in Germany, more German artists get heard. But Aussie artists get clumped together with everyone else who sings in English, which means they have to compete for an audience with the huge number of Americans listening to American artists.

There are things individual listeners can do to help, like following and sharing the content of Australian artists or, better yet, going to their gigs and buying their merch. But structural problems require structural solutions.

In March, a Commonwealth Government inquiry into live music in Australia recommended that streaming services increase the proportion of Australian content that algorithms and automated playlists generate for Australian users. The inquiry said that, if this doesn’t happen, the Commonwealth should consider a ‘mandate’ to ‘enforce’ Australian content requirements for music streaming services.

In contrast, if Australian radio stations don’t meet local content requirements they risk losing their broadcasting licence. It’s because of a goal to play 40% Australian music that Triple J, which turned 50 this year, has done more to foster the popularity of Australian music than just about anything else. But it’s easy to forget that Triple J would never have existed, save for the initiative of the Whitlam Government.

As former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says in the foreword to the Australia Institute’s new paper, “creativity is a strategic asset. Just as we invest in technology, energy, and defence, we must invest in culture — because identity is the foundation of confidence. The streaming age does not have to erase national character; it can amplify it, and it should.” Australia is much wealthier than it was in the 1970s, when Whitlam first funded Triple J, yet we spend little on the arts, and do little to regulate online markets.

A handful of enormous multinational companies now decide the fate of Australian music. If a lack of regulation allows that to continue no one should be surprised when the only band left touring Australia is The Wiggles on their Tumbly Wumbly Wheely Walkers Tour 2050.

Morgan Harrington is a research manager at the Australia Institute.