Labor has announced a new music policy ahead of the next election. For an industry that has been struggling for decades, it’s well overdue
The Australian music industry has been ignored by successive federal governments. Unlike the film industry, where tax concessions are offered for the development of product, the music industry has struggled over two decades. With the invention of the MP3 and Fanning and Parker’s Napster, the industry fell on its arse as the fight against piracy was waged. Artists lost revenue from the oldest and most lucrative right, the right of reproduction, when revenue from sales disappeared as peer-to-peer networks ballooned. Anti-protectionist cults swelled, and people who never considered copyright before were suddenly experts. For them, information should be free to use.
The music industry sent many of our wisest to Canberra to entreat governments to pass legislation to impede piracy and maintain protections. But there was no economic relief, and the industry staggered on: condemning piracy, fighting in the courts and establishing the streaming services. Organisations were founded inside and by the industry to advocate and mentor.
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