This project is now closed October 2011 Musicians and technicians - performance opportunities through improved skills Research undertaken by Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) supports recent findings into the live music industry and estimates that live music in smaller venues generates $988.5million in revenue per year. This confirms that the small venues live performance workforce is large enough to deliver an independent economic benefit to Australia’s arts economy. The workforce development and training needs of practising musicians and technicians involved in the production of popular live music were also considered as part of the research. Economic contribution of live performance in small venues Live music is important to the business models of smaller venues such as pubs, clubs and hotels and survey findings suggest that venues, on average, profit $3,000 per night. This contrasts significantly when compared with musicians’ income of generally less than $10,000 per year. While this research did not seek to accurately determine the dollar value of live music to venues, the revenue estimate of $988.5million per annum closely aligns to recent research undertaken by APRA|AMCOS and Arts Victoria. Workforce development and training needs of musicians and technicians While largely self-taught, the study found that both musicians and technicians could advance performance opportunities through improved skills. For musicians this includes stagecraft and communication skills whilst technicians could benefit from better understanding and practice in sound diagnostics. Findings from this report will be taken into account when updating related Training Packages as well as informing IBSA’s Environment Scan (Escan) which underpins advice to government and other stakeholders on skills and workforce development for musicians and technicians. To view and download a copy of the report and appendices please click below: Thank you to all those who provided responses to Stage One of the project: The Casual Music Workforce Discussion Paper and the musicians, technicians and venue owners who completed surveys in Stage Two. Congratulations to the winner of $250 Allans / Billy Hyde gift voucher, David Hall from Western Australia. Update - July 2011 IBSA has conducted a research project to identify the size, characteristics and economic contribution of casual, informally contracted musicians and technicians that work at venues that offer live music in Australia. The data from the project will be used to identify the specific workforce development and skill needs of this sector and these will be reported in Escan 2012. Thank you to all those who provided responses to Stage One of the project: The Casual Music Workforce Discussion Paper and the musicians, technicians and venue owners who completed surveys in Stage Two. A research report, incorporating survey findings, will be available shortly. May 2011 Survey Stage Two of the project consists of National Surveys to be completed by 8 June 2011 by musicians, technicians and venues offering live music. We are particularly interested in the views of venue owners and musicians and technicians working at pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants and/or student unions over the past twelve months. These venues offer live music, but not as their main source of revenue; places like festivals, weddings or concert arenas are not part of this study. We are asking associations and stakeholders to forward the survey links below to relevant networks that include casual musicians, technicians, and venues using this workforce. The survey will take only 5-10 minutes to complete and as a way to thank everyone who responds, each survey respondent can enter a draw to win a $250 gift certificate to Allan’s/Billy Hyde Music Retail Stores. Responses to the surveys were to be in by June 8th 2011, and are now closed. April 2011 As part of its commitment to understanding skilling needs in the cultural and creative industries IBSA is conducting a research project to identify the size, characteristics, and economic contribution of the casual, informally contracted musicians workforce and the specific workforce development and skills needs of this sector. We are currently seeking feedback on the following discussion paper on the casual music workforce skills needs.
This paper asks you to consider the following four questions: Question 1: For this project, are the definitions for the workforce target group, live venues, economic contribution and characteristics adequate and reasonable? (pg 5) Question 2: For this project, are there any other reports or networks/contacts that would be helpful in informing the research, particularly those in each state or territory? (pg 7) Question 3: Are there any other characteristics/questions that are central to the intention of the project that need to be included? (pg 9) Question 4: Are there any general additions you can suggest for the project methodology? (pg 9) Comments on the paper are now closed. General enquiries regarding this project can be forward to the escan team at escan@ibsa.org.au. |