Community radio drives $153m into Australian music – new study

Australia’s community radio sector contributes an estimated A$153.1 million to the country’s struggling music industries each year.

Our new research findings show community radio airs an estimated 390,960 hours of Australian music each year. This is more than double commercial radio’s 160,000 hours.

And for every $1 invested in the community radio sector, up to $5.55 is returned to the music industries – a direct financial benefit to musicians, record companies, live venues, agents, songwriters and other industry stakeholders.

The community radio sector as a whole boasts 450 not-for-profit stations across the country that hold “community radio” licences, and we assessed stations that were identified as music intensive. These included well-known stations such as 3RRR in Melbourne, FBi in Sydney, and the popular youth station 6RTR-FM in Perth.

These findings come as one of the nation’s oldest community stations, Sydney’s 2SER, faces closure. One of its university partners, Macquarie University, has indicated it will withdraw funding over the next few months.

Supporting artists

Our research was based on financial and interview data from ten case study stations, coupled with a net value analysis of the 292 community radio stations identified as being “music-intensive”.

We also added some questions into the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia’s National Listener Survey, to survey about 9,900 Australians over the age of 15. This sample, which was representative of the general population, suggests every year about five million Australians tune in to community radio each week (about 25% of the population over 15).

In recent years, the music industry has experienced fundamental changes around music consumption. Consumers are moving away from purchasing music to streaming it through apps such as Spotify. These platforms return relatively little to artists and recording companies.

And while more Australians than ever are attending live music, they are increasingly spending their money on expensive international touring acts, rather than local venues and artists.

Previous research by Creative Australia has honed in on this problem and the complex dynamics that underpin it. According to the agency’s report on music discovery and engagement, two-thirds of survey participants indicated they would seek out more Australian music if they could. At the same time, North American and British artists dominated participants’ favourite artists and songs.

But our research found community radio stations offer a gateway to Australian music. Based on listener data, we found about 1.6 million Australians (or about 30% of weekly community radio listeners) said they had discovered a local or emerging artist by listening to community radio.

One million Australians (19% of weekly listeners) said they had recommended a local Australian musician to a friend or shared their music online after discovering them on community radio. And a further one million (19%) said community radio was the only broadcaster that played the Australian music they wanted to listen to.

In addition, airplay on community radio produces direct consumer action. Every year, about 1.3 million (24%) Australians either purchase a ticket to a gig or buy artist music or merchandise after hearing it on community radio.

And 1.5 (28%) million said they looked up an artist on Spotify or another digital music platform after hearing them on community radio.

‘Lifeblood of the scene’

Indigenous community radio is also punching above its weight in its contributions to local music, comprising one-third of the top 39 “most intensive” Australian music stations.

These community radio stations are licensed to predominantly serve Indigenous audiences. However they often attract a wider audience to their specialist music programming.

They are run by Indigenous organisations and/or boards, and usually play more First Nations music than other stations. Some examples include Triple A Murri Country in Brisbane, 3KND in Melbourne, Koori Radio in Sydney, CAAMA in Alice Springs and Noongar Radio in Perth.

Community radio music stations play an important role in unearthing, encouraging and promoting Australian artists. And this means it can be part of the solution in ensuring local artists are heard, valued and supported in an era of digital streaming and global live touring acts.

Hip hop artist L-Fresh the Lion (Sukhdeep Singh Bhogal) was one of eight artists we interviewed for the project. Bhogal said community radio was

the lifeblood of the scene in the sense that for many artists, it’s a stepping stone, but not just a stepping stone, it’s consistent, it’s there. And it’s always accessible and full of people so passionate about music that I’d struggle to see a music scene without a strong community radio ecosystem, because it does hold the rest of the industry up.

Investing in passion

Community radio stations do a lot more than simply play music. For listeners, they provide informed, curated music content connected to their local communities.

For artists, they create space for new talent and music, by providing airplay, on-air interviews, promotions, and helping coordinating gigs at partner venues.

Australia’s music industries have lost some ground in recent years. But our research suggests more investment in community radio, along with enhanced digital listening options, could help recover some of this.