The Tasmanian Government has unveiled an Australian-first proposal to offer pubs, hotels and clubs a 50 percent rebate on verified spending on live music, with music industry body APRA AMCOS urging the Federal Government to back the pilot and expand it into a national scheme.

Announced by Acting Premier Bridget Archer, the proposed Live Music Excise Rebate Pilot would provide participating venues with a financial incentive to book live performers, creating more paid opportunities for artists and encouraging audiences back into grassroots venues.

Photo © Jack Moran

APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston described the initiative as a landmark for Australian live music policy.

“This is a national first and Tasmania should be applauded for it,” Ormston said. “For the first time, a government in Australia has put a concrete live music rebate incentive on the table, one that rewards venues for investing in artists.”

Ormston said the proposal responded directly to industry concerns. APRA AMCOS recently surveyed almost 3,000 live music venues, nightclubs and promoters, with more than 70 percent citing financial pressure as the reason they had stopped presenting live music. More than 70 per cent also identified a tax rebate or financial incentive as the single most effective measure to encourage them to resume programming.

The proposed scheme aligns with the recommendations of the Federal Parliament’s Am I Ever Gonna See You Live Again? inquiry, which called for the Commonwealth to partner with a state or territory on a live music tax offset trial.

APRA AMCOS also pointed to independent modelling by Oxford Economics, which estimated that a national live music incentive could generate up to $920 million in additional economic activity annually, support up to 10,800 jobs, create more than 320,000 extra performances each year and increase musicians’ incomes by up to $294 million.

The organisation has called on the Australian Government to support the Tasmanian pilot and use it as the foundation for a nationwide live music incentive scheme.