The Australian Live Music Business Council has announced its formation, representing the interests of small to medium Australian music enterprises and the thousands of live music jobs they underpin – from booking agents and managers, venues and promoters, through to ticketing companies, poster companies, media, publicists, food vendors, security, music technicians, roadies and many more.

The council was created to advocate on behalf of the ‘backstage’ voices in the Live Music supply chain who play a vital role providing the infrastructure to nurture and expose talent for the entire music economy.

With an interim board headed by Select Music’s Stephen Wade and a membership including Architects of Entertainment, ALH Group, EMC, Oztix and Untitled Group, the organisation has identified a strong need for the voices of Australian small to medium businesses across the live music industry to be heard as the road to COVID-19 recovery is mapped.

“COVID has shown just how important a collective approach is in times of crisis and the Australian Live Music Business Council fills that gap, providing for the first time, a platform to help galvanise our passion to work in this amazing industry” said ALMBC interim chair Stephen Wade. “The formation of the ALMBC now gives a coordinated voice to the thousands of small and medium businesses working at the coalface of Australia’s essential night economy, representing the long-tail of shows, venues and events that underpin Australian commerce and culture.”

The ALMBC will feed into and support the initiatives of other organisations by creating a collective voice for the specific needs of operators in the micro-sector of the economy – like the extension of JobKeeper beyond September. “These businesses are the real engine room of the live music economy, and with revenue dropping to zero for many, they face significant commercial challenges for the foreseeable future” Wade said.

“We acknowledge the federal government’s recognition that the creative economy has been hit hard by COVID 19. Whilst we have questions about the composition and administration of JobMaker, funding alone is not the only commercial barrier our sector faces. As just one example, we are extremely concerned about whether our members will be able to secure insurance coverage for upcoming Live Shows, something that could be a real showstopper when the industry is just starting to get back on the road.”

Whilst COVID-19 has provided a founding catalyst for the organisation, the ALMBC is keen to harness this moment to form the foundations needed to improve the vitality of the sector for the long term – an outcome that stands to benefit the entire music ecosystem in Australia.

“The ALMBC is an exciting initiative. It’s great to see an organization supporting vital roles that are really essential to nurture and keep artist careers like mine on the road.” said ARIA Award-winning artist Amy Shark. “If the venue doesn’t exist, the tickets don’t exist, the food van doesn’t exist, the security doesn’t exist and the marketing doesn’t exist, so I wholeheartedly support the foundation of this new organisation, especially knowing it will be representing Australian companies and Australian jobs.”

The founding team at ALMBC recognise the challenge of gathering together the thousands of sole traders and small businesses at a time of crisis. Steering Committee Member, Jane Slingo says that “Australia’s Live music scene is abundant in amazing artists, bands and DJs and behind every one of them is an incredible amount of people power that promotes and supports their careers. ALMBC provides advocacy for the small to medium enterprises that have lacked representation during a time when our collective voice needs to be heard the most. This part of the music sector is made up of thousands of passionate people and it’s our hope that they can direct some of this energy to an organisation designed to safeguard their commercial future.”

In recognition of how challenging current times are for the sector, the ALMBC will be waiving joining fees for an initial 6 months.

Businesses and Sole traders interested in learning more or joining the ALMBC can visit ​www.almbc.org.au