Great Southern Land: Australia Health Check
Jack Revell performs a health check on the live market Down Under
Feature By IQ | 1 July 2025
Australia has always been tough. A vast brown land at the far end of the Earth, its inhospitableness is matched only by the tenacity of its people. That same grit runs through its music industry – a fiercely resilient ecosystem battered by recent challenges.
As Jack Revell reports, it’s not a place to find yourself without a guide.
After pandemic disruption, cost-of-living shocks, and high-profile festival collapses, Australia’s live music industry was feared to be in freefall. Paradoxically, while the eulogies were being penned, the country bought more tickets than ever. Attendance hit 30.1m, contemporary music generated AU$3.1bn, and the average ticket price of AU$128.21 was one of the highest in the world. Select Music’s Stephen Wade sums it up by saying the model isn’t…
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