The Australian music evolution; music consumption in 2016

With news that Foxtel are ending the era of Channel V and Sydney-siders still protesting Premier Mike Baird’s lockout laws, it makes you wonder how we will continue to keep Australia’s exciting music scene alive.

Australian music is ever evolving and tends to adapt quite quickly to change. Australian music-lovers are innovative and are happy to create new things without standing back and watching their favourite industry be dismantled. For example; when radio listeners first began to drop, the radio industry worked towards curating online streaming online streaming for specific tastes (eg, FBi Click); when epic music videos were completed, YouTube allowed them to be put on show without the restrictions that TV had placed upon them for years; and if someone decided that travelling nine hours over to Lorne for Falls Festival was was too long, they threw their own party and named it Southbound.

In the last five years more and more people have been watching music videos on Youtube, streaming new originals, mixes and bootlegs on SoundCloud or Spotify and purchasing their music through iTunes. These kinds of actions were inevitably going to take their toll on the stagnant musical landscape.

Channel V is going to be replaced by two new music channels that will play music videos non-stop which leaves us without the more entertaining aspect of the channel including the many interviews, festival live broadcasts and original programming that made Channel V so great. But this portion of the music industry hasn’t exactly disappeared, it’s just relocated.

The online sphere is assisting keeping the Australian music scene alive. New and upcoming acts are thriving with online blogs and websites spreading their tracks and videos across the globe. Radio stations such at FBi Radio, RRR, RTR et al, are also still providing fantastic content with their interviews, creating community events and you know, helping new artists out, giving the opportunity to release unknown tracks, and potentially reach a new level in the careers.

Also new music labels, collectives and party curators (like Sidechains, Good Manners, LISTEN and so many more) are popping up everyday; they are standing up against the big players of the industry, allowing smaller, young artists to showcase their talent in a truly artist friendly way. Around friends, with support and encouragement, and away from money making practices.

Band showcases, boutique festivals, your mate’s garage; Australian music is out there still and despite restriction to live music and the removal of our television classics, Australia will still find music anyway they can.

Words by Lauren Payne

Photo Credit: Zak Kaczmarek and Lauren Payne

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