Our Asks
01Local Supports For International Acts
Every international act must have a local act to support in order to perform. This is already the case in Australia, and something New Zealand used to have. It would cost the Government nothing and massively support up and coming artists.
02Thriving Live Venues
There is no space for live music without venues. Every artist needs a space to play to test their craft and earn an audience. But venues are at the mercy of the economic conditions of the time.
We can have thriving live venues with proper funding and a government that lowers the cost of living, rather than worsening it.
At the same time, RMA laws shouldn’t let Councils shut down live music based on complaints from NIMBYs. Any decision should be based on actual loudness readings onsite. Zoning laws also need to change in areas around established live music venues to allow higher maximum noise emission levels and require better acoustic insulation requirements from new housing.
03Living Wages For Artists And Music Workers
A fee for playing a night at a bar has been about $100 per person for the last thirty years. The music scene is small and built on relationships and that means people don’t want to rock the boat. And the only consequence of that is getting exploited and underpaid.
All publically funded events should pay a living wage to performers and funding pools should be resourced to enable this.
04Increased Quota For Local Music On Radio, Film And TV
Right now there’s a voluntary quote for radios to play local music. Many of the ones that do meet the threshold aren’t exactly supporting up and coming music.
We need to see a mandatory local music quota that requires at least 35% New Zealand music.
05Public Funded Events Should Feature Local Talent
We’ve all heard of big-name artists and festivals receiving government subsidies to play here. That’s bad enough, when local festivals and musicians are struggling or falling under. But it’s even worse that there’s no requirement to feature local talent. There should be a standard requirement of at least 50% local performers for any public funded music or cultural events.
06Break Up Ticketing Monopolies
Global corporations like Ticketmaster run an effective monopoly on the live music scene. They set unaffordable prices for tickets, take most of the revenue offshore, and the artists and independent venues and festivals suffer.
Around the world, people are pushing back on these companies through legal action and regulations. Let’s do the same.
07Safe Spaces For All
Like in any workplace, workers deserve to be safe. That means being protected from physical injury but also from harassment and discrimination.
We can have a music scene where everyone is safe and valued. We should be using the legal and industrial mechanisms we have to hold all accountable to that standard.
08Artist Income Support
Follow the Irish model for the Basic Income for Artists. This is a scheme where 2000 artists and musicians would be given a no-strings attached income of around $750 NZD a week for three years.
The flow on financial and social benefits are enormous. There’s really every reason to pursue this, and we need to build the mass movement to win it.
09Fair Streaming Revenue
Streaming platforms like Spotify suck up huge profits from our artists and take it overseas - and they don’t even pay proper taxes. We could be regulating them to ensure artists are paid fairly for their work, and that a decent portion of those profits are reinvested into the local music economy.
10Sustainable Arts Funding
This speaks for itself. Decreasing government funding is devastating for all levels of art - from large art organisations to bedroom producers.
Art is a fundamental public good and should never be dictated by a profit motive. We need sustainable funding so people have the support to actually make art, and we'll all be better off for it.
11A $20K Tax-Free Threshold
A tax-free threshold for income below $20,000/year to ease the cost-of-living pressures for musicians and low-income earners. The UK, France, Australia, Finland and others already have this.
12If It’s Filmed Here, It Should Use NZ Music
International film and TV productions that film in NZ should have to use 20% NZ music in their productions as part of the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate criteria (this is where international films get up to 20% cash back - and NZ films get up to 40% cash back - on what they spend on production costs making a film in NZ).