Glynis O’Hara
GOVERNMENT regulation in the music industry can reach a point where it interferes with the market, but artists must be nurtured before people start throwing “international standards” at them.
So says Sue Gillard, general manager of Ausmusic, in South Africa to address a series of seminars organised by the Music Industry Development Initiative (Midi), as well as the Grahamstown Conference on the Economic Benefits of Arts and Culture over the past week.
Ausmusic, formed in 1989 by the Australian government and the music industry, aims to provide education and training as well as to promote Australian music. It has established a series of certificates and diplomas in different aspects of the music industry. Midi has similar aims for the South African scene, with the emphasis on training and guidance, especially for producers, technicians, managers, road managers and impresarios.
Brought out to discuss the successful Australian music industry, which has had top-selling exports like INXS, Midnight Oil, Jason Donovan, Men At Work and Kylie Minogue, Gillard emphasised that one of the most important foundations was a strong live scene at home.
“It’s the way bands sustain themselves. Most Australian bands invest their live earnings in a special bank account so that next time they can advertise bigger, get better equipment and so on. A healthy live scene is essential.
“In Melbourne, there’ll be 80 bands playing live on a Saturday night. And every now and then a band like Midnight Oil will go and do the pub scene again.” The live tradition also gave Australian bands one of their strengths, she said. “The Americans like our sound. They say it’s raw and honest because of the years on the road. We’re also very direct in doing business.”
Other ways of nurturing music included a local music quota, building a skills base, the Australian Music Day, linking music to tourism drives, and establishing a long- term strategy for breaking into the international market.
As things stand in South Africa now, there is only an Independent Broadcasting Authority recommendation that broadcasters play 20% South African music, but no regulation.
“In Canada,” said Gillard, “they put a local quota of 35% in place, but then found they didn’t have that amount of music! So they had to invest in it, to start recording like crazy. It was a wonderful catalyst and very good for the industry.”
The Australian Music Day is just that- a day when all broadcasters play nothing but Australian product, there are concerts and events everywhere and a huge big-name free concert in one of the major cities. Last year saw the now sadly disbanded Crowded House playing to a massive crowd outside the Sydney Opera House.
Australia also organised the first South Pacific Music Convention in September this year, heavily linked to tourism, which fits in with a national drive to take pride in Australian produce and buy nothing but Australian. (Australia is apparently the third-largest source of original music material in the world, and the ninth- largest record selling market in the world.)
“South Africa’s music scene is roughly where we were 10 to 15 years ago, but the will to make it happen is here,” said Gillard.
One way to ensure sustainable growth, she said, was for local investors (as opposed to multinationals) to own the copyright, as those earnings had to come back to the country. “Industries based on intellectual property,” she told the Grahamstown conference, “are the fastest growing group of industries in Western developed economies.”