We are losing Australia's soundtrack. And with it, part of our soul.
Australian music is being crowded out of Australian lives. Without a new generation of champions, meaningful local airplay and government intervention, we risk losing more than an industry. We risk losing part of our national identity.
An economy can be measured in dollars. A society is measured in the stories it tells itself.
And few things tell those stories more powerfully than music.
Music captures who we are, what we celebrate and what we are ashamed of. It challenges governments, exposes injustice and gives ordinary people a voice. It entertains us. It makes us feel good. Sometimes it makes us sad.
Music helps turn an economy into a society.
That is why the latest figures from APRA AMCOS should alarm Australians well beyond the music industry.
Its 2025–26 Year in Review reveals that Australian members' share of domestic music streaming has fallen by 37.5% in five years, from 13.6% to 8.5%.
More than 91% of the music Australians stream now comes from overseas.
At the same time, APRA AMCOS has reported record revenue of $857.4 million, including record international earnings.
Australian music is succeeding overseas while losing its audience at home.
That is a serious cultural problem, and we need to do something about it.
Music that made us Australian
Think about what Australian music has meant to this country.
Midnight Oil challenged our political complacency and put Indigenous land rights into mainstream conversation. Yothu Yindi's Treaty confronted an unfulfilled promise. Goanna's Solid Rock questioned the mythology of settlement.
Archie Roach's Took the Children Away gave the Stolen Generations a deeply personal voice, while Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody's From Little Things Big Things Grow brought the Gurindji struggle into Australian homes.
Cold Chisel captured working-class Australia. Skyhooks exposed suburban life. The Angels, Australian Crawl, The Living End, Missy Higgins and countless others helped us recognise ourselves.
Not every song needed a political message. A song about a broken relationship, a Saturday night or life in an Australian town could be equally important.
These artists entertained us, but they also explained Australia to Australians.
And they did not become part of our national identity by accident.
Molly Meldrum gave Australian artists a national audience through Countdown. Michael Gudinski backed them with his money and built careers around their talent.
Arnold Frolows, Richard Kingsmill and others at Double Jay and triple j discovered artists commercial radio often ignored. Kingsmill helped increase triple j's Australian music content from 30% to 60%, despite being told that Australian music was bad for ratings.
Community radio stations such as Triple R, PBS, FBi and RTRFM continue to discover and support local musicians.
But discovery is only half the job.
Molly could put a band in front of millions. Gudinski could turn that exposure into a career. Radio could take an emerging artist and make their music part of everyday Australian life.
We need another Molly Meldrum. We need people with the influence, courage and enthusiasm to make Australian artists matter to mainstream Australia.
We also need commercial radio to accept that supporting Australian music is part of its responsibility, not an inconvenience to be managed through quotas.
And triple j needs to rediscover its Australian mojo.
Since Kingsmill's departure, the station appears increasingly influenced by the international mainstream rather than defining an alternative Australian one. Its role should be to discover Australian music, champion it and challenge the commercial stations to catch up.
There are still people within triple j doing that work, and Unearthed remains an important pathway. But the station needs a clear commitment to making Australian music central to its identity.
Some of the music it once championed was alternative. Some became spectacularly mainstream, such as Silverchair.
That was precisely the point.
It was possible to be mainstream and unmistakably Australian.
Where is that mainstream Australia today?
The market won't fix this
I have nothing against American music. America has produced some of the greatest artists in history, and Australian music has been enriched by those influences.
But where is the Australian mainstream to balance it?
Streaming platforms increasingly determine what people discover, and their algorithms operate in a global market dominated by international artists, record companies and promotional budgets.
Australian music is competing for attention against an enormous international industry.
The algorithms are not obliged to care whether Australians hear Australian stories. They are designed to keep people listening.
And risk-averse commercial radio is hardly rushing to fill the gap.
Without intervention, the decline risks becoming self-perpetuating. Fewer Australian songs reach audiences, fewer artists build sustainable careers, fewer venues can afford original music and fewer young Australians grow up hearing contemporary music that reflects their own country.
We cannot afford to let that happen.
Government needs to step in
We already accept that Australian television and film need cultural protection. Music deserves the same consideration.
The answer is not to tell Australians what they must listen to. It is to ensure Australian music has a reasonable chance of being heard.
First, mandate meaningful Australian content across commercial radio and streaming services.
The quotas must include a substantial requirement for recently released Australian music, rather than simply allowing broadcasters to meet their obligations by playing Cold Chisel and INXS records from 40 years ago.
Heritage and gold-formatted stations create an obvious complication, and the system should recognise legitimate differences in format. But those complications should not become an excuse for the wider industry to avoid supporting contemporary Australian music.
I love those bands, and many others of their era, but we cannot build tomorrow's Australian music industry entirely on yesterday's hits.
A portion of Australian content requirements must be dedicated to new and emerging artists, and the music must be played when people are actually listening.
The same principle must apply to streaming services, with requirements to feature Australian music in recommendations, playlists and discovery systems.
APRA AMCOS is already calling for minimum Australian music requirements for streaming platforms. Governments should act on that proposal and ensure the obligations are measurable and enforceable.
Second, keep our live music venues alive.
APRA AMCOS reports that Australia has almost 12% fewer licensed live music venues per capita than in 2018.
The pubs, clubs and small venues where Australian music develops are struggling with rents, insurance, operating costs and increasingly difficult economics.
These venues are the breeding grounds of Australian music.
Without them, where does the next Cold Chisel learn its craft? Where does the next Midnight Oil build an audience? How does the next AC/DC build enough of a following to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world?
A national live music tax incentive, targeted assistance with regulatory costs and better planning protections would help. Support should favour venues that regularly provide opportunities for original Australian artists, particularly emerging performers.
We don't need to prop up every failing business, but we do need to recognise that live music venues provide cultural value beyond the drinks they sell.
Third, spend public money developing Australian talent, not congratulating ourselves for attracting international superstars.
I understand the economics of major international concerts. Taylor Swift, the Foo Fighters and other global acts bring visitors, fill hotels and restaurants and generate substantial economic activity.
There is a legitimate argument for governments supporting major events on those grounds.
But don't pretend that attracting an international superstar is the same thing as supporting the Australian music industry.
It isn't.
If governments want to spend money attracting major concerts, call it tourism or economic development spending. Judge it on those outcomes.
Music industry funding should have a different purpose: developing Australian artists, supporting local venues, building touring opportunities and helping Australian music reach Australian audiences.
That investment should come with measurable outcomes.
How many emerging musicians gained audiences? How many original Australian performances were staged? How many venues remained viable? How many artists developed sustainable careers?
And, most importantly, did more Australians actually listen to Australian music?
We need our own voice
This is not an argument for musical nationalism or against international artists.
It is an argument for cultural balance.
Australian music should reflect the country we are today, with its Indigenous heritage, multicultural communities, regional experiences, urban life, politics, humour and contradictions.
It should challenge us, entertain us, annoy us and occasionally make us uncomfortable.
That is what music does when it belongs to a society rather than simply being consumed by it.
We need broadcasters willing to champion it, industry leaders prepared to invest in it and governments willing to protect the conditions in which it can thrive.
We need the next Molly Meldrum. We need commercial radio to play Australian music when Australians are listening. We need triple j to be proudly and unmistakably Australian again.
And we need governments to stop treating Australian music as an optional extra.
Because this is about considerably more than songs, streaming numbers and concert tickets.
A country that cannot hear itself will eventually struggle to recognise itself.
Andrew Clarke is the author of Songs That Changed the World, a book examining the songs that became catalysts for social, cultural and political change around the world.
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