Should Australian music quotasbe abolished?

Fri 3rd Feb, 2012 in Features

We all know that the FL Forums love a good “impassioned discussion”, so each Friday over the last five weeks we have been fuelling that chatter with five controversial music debates. Thanks to Hyundai’s new Veloster will be giving away prizes each week for the best debaters.

This week we enter the final debate – and it features Kyle and Jackie O, so we know you are going to have a lot to say. Commercial Radio Australia, are currently calling for the abolition of music quota that require them to play 25% Australian content from 6am to midnight. We want to know what you think about it – and just for getting involved you could win $350 worth of Australian albums.

Should Australian music quotas be abolished?

Ok. I’m just going to call this: no. The answer to this question is a resounding NO. No, no, no, no. This is a stupid, culturally irresponsible idea. But as we are reasonable adults, let’s lay out both sides, after which point we can all agree that it is a monumentally stupid idea to abolish these quotas. But only after, not now.

For the quota abolition: Commercial Radio Australia

Current regulations stipulate that radio stations must play 25% Australian content from 6am to midnight. That doesn’t mean just new music, either – only a quarter of that quarter has to have been released in the last 12 months, equalling a massive 6.25% new Australian music getting airplay on commercial networks. Plenty of room left over to bludgeon listeners with Lana Del Rey. Stations must meet the quota in order to fulfil the broadcast services act charter and earn their right to a broadcast license, the terms of which stipulate the promotion of “Australian identity, character and cultural diversity.”

Australian digital radio stations have however, been granted an exception on the quota until 2014. This has lead CRA to argue that will result in an uneven playing field. CRA are concerned they will lose listeners to digital radio stations that don’t have to play six songs out of every hundred that were produced locally in the last year. Even though CRA posted annual profits of $683 million in that last year, which makes their reasoning look especially specious.

So, Commercial Radio Australia’s argument is that essentially, listeners don’t want to hear Australian music. So much so that they will abandon their stations cowed by the threat of accidentally hearing a Gotye track and run to the safety of the internet where they will never listen to a piece of Australian music ever again. Worryingly, this assertion appears to be backed up by data: 2011’s most played tracks on commercial stations did not feature even one Australian artist.

Which is of course, a classic chicken/egg predicament…