SOUNDS AUSTRALIA funding – An Open Letter To Our Australian Government – #SaveOurSounds.

I am writing to you as a small business owner, member of your electorate and as a concerned member of the Australian music industry regarding the recent funding cuts to SOUNDS AUSTRALIA, our national music export office.

Now, as I’m sure that you’re aware*, SOUNDS AUSTRALIA is Australia’s export music market development initiative, established to provide a cohesive and strategic platform to assist the Australian music industry access international business opportunities.

Since 2009, Sounds Australia have supported literally hundreds of Australian artists in their endeavours to build their profile and international audiences beyond our shores, so that they can continue to bring joy to the masses and ultimately build successful careers doing something they love.

Courtney Barnett, Chet Faker, Flume and Vance Joy, all played Sounds Australia showcases in their first year of export, and all benefitted from repeat Sounds Australia performance opportunities in the year following.

It’s also not just the musicians impacted by these government budget cuts. Business owners who work digital media, PR & publicity, photographers, bloggers, management companies, booking agents, festivals and even independent Australian record labels, all benefit from the efforts of Millie Millgate, Glenn Dickie, Esti Zilber and the Sounds Australia team, with significantly increased reach and brand new networks in markets around the world through the showcases and opportunities created by Sounds Australia.

Indeed, Sounds Australia have been a special part of my own journey. In 2013, I assisted with sponsorship, provided photography and social media leading up to/during SXSW for The Aussie BBQ and other Sounds Australia events, which lead me to returning to SXSW and Texas again in 2016 under my own steam, where I recorded a number of podcasts, shot photos of Michelle Obama’s keynote speech with Queen Latifah and Missy Elliot on #LetGirlsLearn, Vance Joy at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie,  Wolfmother’s SXSW packed house at Easy Tiger and much, much more.

In my past 3 months in the USA, I regularly heard the music of Australian artists supported by SOUNDS AUSTRALIA playing in bars, restaurants, airports, radio and more around the country, and you should see the volume of Aussie artists now able to live and tour regularly in the USA… Vance Joy recently wrapped a tour of North America and Australia supporting Taylor Swift, Hermitude and Henry Wagons played Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee this past weekend, The Griswolds have been on tour in the USA for weeks if not months and my good friends, Simon and Melinda, from Falls have been living in the USA since 2013, released their debut album through Verve/Interscope late last year and premiered the first single off that album through the Wall Street Journal!

As it stands, without a funding solution SOUNDS AUSTRALIA will not be able to operate at the current level past December 2016, negatively impacting my business and the wider music industry.

The expert service provided by SOUNDS AUSTRALIA bolsters economic activity and job creation, contributes directly to the local economy and enriches our cultural identity. There are few initiatives that actively seek to fuel the growth of small business in our electorate the way SOUNDS AUSTRALIA has done for the past eight years.

• 620 Australian artists supported, at 48 different international events in 52 cities across 19 countries.
• 1292 new performance opportunities. 
• 1593 business outcomes for Australian artists (signing record deals etc).
• 97 networking/B2B events and 158 unique showcase presentations.
• 300% compound annual growth in individual earnings within three years of the first SOUNDS AUSTRALIA (and first international) appearance, for top tier artists.

Adam, I urge you to see SOUNDS AUSTRALIA as the critical service it is, and engage with your party and Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield to develop a direct government and industry investment solution. 

• Copy & Paste whatever’s relevant to you from the above.
• Address your letter to your local MP (find your local MP here: http://bit.ly/1WFQa5c)
• And CC: senator.fifield@aph.gov.au – Senator The Honorable Mitch Fifield (Minister for Communications, Minister for the Arts)
• Kindly forward a copy to info@soundsaustralia.com.au
• You can also use social media to alert your local MP that you have written to them. It’s up to you whether you want to post your actual correspondence.

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