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Listening In research series

Apr 29, 2025
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Overview 

Australians love music and Australia has a vibrant music industry. In recent years, however, Australians’ engagement with Australian music has been declining. Over the past decade, social, economic and other technological transformations have played a strong hand in reshaping music engagement. These shifts have had immediate and lasting impacts, and we are now seeing new trends in the ways Australians engage with music – how they attend, what they listen to and how they spend their money. 

Understanding the ways in which Australians are responding to transformations to the music industry is critical for the work of Music Australia. Especially important is a better understanding of how Australians are engaging with Australian music, along with the opportunities for increasing that connection to and support for local artists. 

Listening In 

From April to June 2025, Music Australia is releasing a series of three reports on Australians’ engagement with music. The series is titled Listening In. 

As a series, Listening In provides insights into how Australians discover and consume music along with audiences’ wider attitudes, behaviours and preferences . It also seeks to better understand how Australian music sits within the overall music diet, as well as how people feel about Australian music, and their current access to it. 

Listening In will provide critical information to inform Music Australia’s work and valuable intelligence for the sector as it seeks to enhance local audience engagement. It will also inform government policy that aims to support the Australian music industry. 

Listening In: Insights on live music attendance

As the first in the Listening In series, this report focuses on Australians’ attendance to live music events. This first report follows on from Creative Australia’s research into music festivals in 2024: the Soundcheck reports. This report on live music adds important insights on audience preferences, motivations and needs. 

  • Music is important to the majority of Australians. Younger music-engaged participants, in particular, recognise the positive impact live music has on their relationships, a sense of community and belonging, and on their mental health and wellbeing.
  • Cost is the primary barrier for Australians to attend live music events. Audiences say the cost of tickets is not the only financial barrier, but also that associated expenses (including travel, accommodation and food and drinks at the venue) all add up and reduce the accessibility of some live music events.
  • Australian music is highly valued and may be easier to see live than international acts. But while there is a keenness to see more Australian live music, many may be prioritising rare international acts as they are seen as a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity.
  • Attendance is increasing for live music at major venues and festivals. At the same time, there is declining attendance for live music at pubs and clubs, which are fertile grounds for local musicians to grow their audience.
  • While cost of living is concerning many young Australians, there is a willingness to spend money on the things that matter to them, and some are prepared to ‘break the bank’ to attend live music gigs. Despite feeling less financially secure, young Australians are spending larger sums on entertainment and leisure in 2024 than they were in 2019. Findings from our research with music-engaged participants show that most people from this group are saving up to attend live music events that are important to them, prioritising these costs over other expenses.
  • There are other more subtle trends that seem to be sitting behind a lot of behaviour, including lack of interest, limited awareness of events and sentiment that some areas are served better live music offerings than others. Those living outside the major centres are feeling underserved when it comes to live music offerings in their area.
  • High costs for alcoholic drinks at live music events are compelling some of the music-engaged to alter their drinking habits. While most music-engaged participants often or always drink alcohol at live music events, a proportion are choosing to only drink beforehand or find other ways to heighten their experience. Most say this is because alcohol is too expensive these days.

The second and third reports in the series will add to the discussion and help paint a more holistic picture of Australians’ engagement with music across the themes of music discovery and consumption. These reports are scheduled to be published in June 2025. 

Download the report (PDF)