More than 1,300 live music venues and stages across Australia have been lost permanently since Covid restrictions began, shrinking the live music scene for small to medium gigs by one-third over the past three years, according to Apra Amcos’s annual report.
Australian music fans flocking to large-scale concerts by huge international acts such as Ed Sheeran, Elton John and Harry Styles has delivered a record year in licensing fee earnings for Australasia’s music rights collecting agency Apra Amcos. However, recovery at the grassroots level of the local music industry has been shackled by a dearth of venues, said the agency’s chief executive, Dean Ormston.
