Who can apply

• music industry representative organisations whose primary activity is providing continuous services to key areas of the contemporary Australian music industry in one of the following groupings:
  • a specific musical genre
  • diverse representation (e.g. gender equity)
  • geographic representation (e.g. a specific fixed regional area)
  • a specific music industry membership group.
• The activity of the organisation must meet the Music Australia Council’s agreed definition of contemporary music, as follows:  

“Australian contemporary music is any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. For the purposes of Music Australia’s investments, the focus is on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”  

• Australian organisations that are registered under Australian law (for example – an incorporated association or company limited by guarantee) or created by law (such as a government statutory authority).  

Who can’t apply

You can’t apply for this grant if:  

• you are an individual or group
• your organisation is a trust or partnership
• your organisation is currently in receipt of multi-year investment from Creative Australia through the National Performing Arts Framework, Four Year Investment and Delivery Partnerships
• you are an education or training institution (government or private)
• you are a local council
• you are a radio station (community or commercial, terrestrial or digital)
• you are a record label, distributor, or music publishing company
• you are an artist management, booking agent or publicity company
• you are a music recording studio or rehearsal room
• you are a music media organisation, platform or website
• you are a live music venue, concert promoter or festival
• or you are a combination of any of the above.

What you can apply for

This investment will support your organisation’s core operational needs, providing stability and building capacity in the contemporary music sector.   

This can include:     

• staffing costs including wages and fees 
• administration and other operational running costs 
• professional skills development for artists and/or arts workers 
• sector development or capacity building 
• promotion and marketing
• market development activity
• event costs (such as conferences, symposiums and awards).  

Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work is accessible to everyone. Therefore, budgets may also include costs associated with making activities accessible to a wide range of people (e.g. Auslan, translation to other languages, captioning, audio description, temporary building adjustments, and materials in other formats).    

If you are a d/Deaf applicant, an applicant with disability, or are working with d/Deaf artists or artists with disability, you may apply for access costs associated with the use of an interpreter, translation services, specific technical equipment, carer, or support worker assistance. Please contact Music Australia to discuss your specific needs.   

What you can’t apply for

• artistic project costs such as creating new work, artistic and/or creative development, production, performing, recording, touring or festivals – if you are seeking funding for these activities, please apply to Arts Project for Organisations 
• the presentation of live music
• staffing or wage costs for international personnel 
• operations or other activity that do not have a contemporary music focus 
• expenses that have already been incurred 
• activities engaging with First Nations content, artists and communities that do not adhere to Creative Australia’s First Nations Cultural & Intellectual Property Protocols.

Your application must comply with the following Protocols. We may contact you to ask for further information during the assessment process, or if successful, as a condition of your funding. 

Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts 

All applications involving First Nations artists, communities or subject matter must adhere to these Protocols, provide evidence of this in their application and support material.

 More information on the First Nations Protocols is available here. 

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework 

All successful applicants must comply with all Australian law relating to employing or engaging people who work or volunteer with children. This includes working with children checks and mandatory reporting. Successful organisations who provide services directly to children, or whose funded activities involve contact with children, will also be required to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. 

Assessment criteria 

We will review your proposal against three selection criteria listed below. 

Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what may be considered when reviewing your proposal. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed. 

Viability 

Industry Advisors will review your organisation’s track record of delivery and assess the viability of your proposal and your organisation’s demonstrated capacity to deliver its vision. We may consider: 

• value for money as evidenced in your responses and budget to deliver services to the sector
• organisational structure and the experience of the people leading and governing your organisation
• the financial health of your organisation, including the effective use of resources
• the diversity and scale of income and co-funding you generate and receive (e.g. earned income, grants, memberships, sponsorship, and in-kind contributions)
• whether your work is supported by meaningful evaluation
• how you demonstrate cultural competencies and adherence to relevant cultural protocols, particularly if your organisation works with diverse artists, audiences or communities. Where relevant, evidence that the Protocols for First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts have been adhered to
• factors that have impacted your organisation’s financial health, planning and priorities
• appropriate governance arrangements. You may wish to refer to our Governance Hub for governance information and resources.
• capacity to deliver the proposed services or activities
• relevance and timeliness of this opportunity for your organisation
• realistic and achievable planning
• the safety and wellbeing of people involved in the activities
• where relevant, evidence that you have considered and addressed any access issues associated with your project
• where relevant, evidence of an environmental impact plan which may include cost-benefits. 

Impact 

Industry Advisors will assess how your activity contributes towards building a sustainable and diverse contemporary music sector. They may consider how your proposed activity: 

• contributes to building capacity in the contemporary music industry in Australia, with a focus on organisations representing:
  • a specific musical genre
  • diverse representation (e.g. gender equity)
  • geographic representation (e.g. a specific fixed regional area)
  • a specific music industry membership group
• demonstrates collaboration and/or leadership on industry-wide issues
• contributes to increasing diversity (including First Nations, disability, gender, LGBTIQ+, age and cultural diversity) within the contemporary music sector
• the diversity of stakeholders that may be beneficiaries of the services to be provided
• benefit for and impact on careers, artistic or cultural practice. 

Alignment 

Assessors will consider how your organisation’s vision and plan aligns with one or more of the principles and actions of the five pillars identified in the National Cultural Policy – Revive, Creative Australia’s Strategic Plan and the goals of Music Australia. 

This may include: 

• First Nations arts and culture are self-determined
• the creative workforce has the skills, capability and networks needed to maintain sustainable careers and businesses
• supporting the development of original music
• growing the market for contemporary Australian music. 

You must submit additional support material with your application. Industry Advisors will review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your organisation and its activities. 

You must provide: 

• up to 3 URLs (weblinks) that best demonstrate your organisation’s activity as it relates to this Core Contribution Fund application. These URLs may include website links, video, audio, images and written materials
• the organisation’s last 2 years of audited financial accounts, or equivalent financial data. 

For organisations who report on a calendar year basis this should be for 2024 and 2025; for organisations who report on a financial year basis this should be 2023-24 and 2024-25.  

You may also provide:  

• existing business, operational or strategic plans
• biographies or CVs of key personnel – these should be presented as a single document not longer than five A4 pages in total
• letters of support.

Individuals, groups or organisations can write letters in support of your application.  

If relevant to your organisation, letters of support must provide evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities, and Elders. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.  

You can include up to five letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page. 

We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post. Application-related material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact us.  

Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks).  

You can provide up to three URLs that link to content that is relevant to your proposal. This may include video, audio, images, or written material.  

Please note: Our industry advisors will not access any URLs that require them to log in or sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to Spotify or other applications that require users to log in or pay for access.  

If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected like Vimeo, please provide the password in the password field on the application form. 

Other accepted file formats   

If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:   

• video (MP4, QuickTime, and Windows Media)  
• audio (MP3 and Windows Media)  
• images (JPEG and PowerPoint) 
• written material (Word and PDF).   

The strongest applications: 

• demonstrated that the primary activity of the organisation provides services to key areas of the Australian contemporary music industry
• used evidence and analysis to show that they already know, or demonstrated how they will discover, the wants and needs of the part of the sector they represent
• used statistics and evidence to demonstrate their reach and impact within the sector
• benefited, represented, or provided services to a significant number of people
• followed First Nations cultural protocols, including providing relevant letters of support from First Nations partners and communities involved with the organisation
• clearly detailed what the funding will be used for
• were realistic in their plans, and not overly ambitious
• demonstrated the timeliness of the investment - why the funding will be impactful within the funding timeframe
• illustrated how they will engage with diverse groups, and meet and deliver on diversity aims or actions included in the application
• were from organisations that were nationally representative, and demonstrated a membership or cohort of proportionate scale
• included letters of support from members and stakeholders, to demonstrate the impact of the organisation
• included relevant support material - video, and spotlight articles were well received
• demonstrated a plan for evaluation
• ensured weblinks were functional and easily accessed by the advisors. 

Other general feedback 

The use of unedited AI generated text may be obvious to the advisors and sometimes includes language that is less effective in conveying a clear message that speaks in the voice of the organisation. 

Eligible organisations must represent a part of the music industry or a group of individuals who benefit from the activities of the organisation from the areas below: 

• a specific musical genre
• diverse representation (e.g. gender equity)
• geographic representation (e.g. a specific fixed regional area)
• a specific music industry membership group.

Previous recipients are:  

• Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN) 
• Australasian Music Publishers’ Associated limited (AMPAL) 
• Australian Festival Association (AFA) 
• Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) 
• Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) 
• Australian Music Association (AMA) 
• Australian Women in Music 
• Black Music Alliance Australia (BMAA) 
• Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) 
• CrewCare 
• Electronic Music Conference (EMC) 
• Folk Alliance Australia (FAA) 
• Home Grown Musicals Australia
• Major Minor Music Australia (MMMA) 
• Music Producer and Engineers’ Guild (MPEG) 
• One of One 
• Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA)