Welcome to SWOT by Sound Story, your inside track on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats looming for the creative industries.
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⚡ Trending: In a real meeting of the minds, controversial rapper Kanye West was interviewed by eternally cranky British journo Piers Morgan and as you can imagine, it did not go very well. Words by Matt Galea. Source: Pedestrian.
🎵 Music: Music festivals are a threatened species that could die out if they fail to adapt to the climate crisis. Words by Kelly Burke. Source: The Guardian.
📰 Media: Foxtel has made 100 staff redundant, less than a month after being acquired by British firm DAZN, but confirmed it intended to keep supporting its streaming aggregation business Hubbl. Words by Calum Jaspan. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald.
💰 Advertising: Trumpet of Patriots fails to win lower house seat despite texts and millions spent on ads. Words by Samantha Dick. Source: ABC News.
📲 Tech: TikTok has tripled its profits and doubled its revenue in a single year in Australia, but the short-form video platform’s rapid growth could soon slow as it stares down the barrel of a social media ban on young people. Words by Sam Buckingham-Jones. Source: The AFR.
📜 Government: ARIA and PPCA have congratulated the Albanese Government on their election win. Words by Sarah Downs. Source: The Music Network.
🌶️ Spicy: Controversial radio broadcaster Kyle Sandilands vowed to pull his radio show from Melbourne if its ratings did not improve by the end of the year, as the station’s parent company prepared to inform staff of more redundancies and an offshoring of several functions. Words by Calum Jaspan. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald.
Strength: Aussie Artists Rule
Some local musicians (and their managers) are celebrating this week, as New South Wales becomes the first state to (mostly) adopt ‘Michael’s Rule’.
👉 The rule is named after the late artist manager Michael McMartin, who was passionate about seeing Aussie talent included on the stadium tours of visiting international artists, informed by the belief that this would give them invaluable experience, expose them to new audiences, and help their careers reach new heights.
👉 There was a push in May last year to get the idea off the ground again, with Aussie artists – including Missy Higgins and Paul Kelly – and the Association of Artist Managers (AAM) throwing their weight behind the cause.
👉 Now, one year later, the NSW Labor Government has announced it will incentivise the biggest international musical touring acts to add a home-grown support act to their bill via reduced venue hire fees for Accor Stadium, Allianz Stadium, CommBank Stadium, McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle Entertainment Centre, the Sydney Cricket Ground, WIN Stadium and Entertainment Centre, and the Sydney Opera House.
👉NSW Premier, Chris Minns, said: “We want more Australian musicians to have that opportunity, performing on the biggest stages in NSW alongside the best international artists. Giving Aussie artists their first big break in front of thousands of locals will help them get high rotation on playlists and increase their chances of becoming the next big act.”
👉The incentive will be available for an initial two-year period (which started on 5 May). To be eligible, at least one Australian artist must perform as a support act on an international artist’s headline tour, the Aussie act must appear on the same stage as the headliner, and the local must be announced at the same time as the tour is launched.
Weakness: ‘Worst Campaign in Living Memory’
Well, that’s one way to put it.
👉 “Worst campaign in living memory” was how former Labor Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described Peter Dutton’s unsuccessful attempt to become Prime Minister. (Having said that, Bill Shorten knows a thing or two about an unsuccessful Prime Ministerial campaign himself).
👉 The fallout has continued this week as the Liberal National Coalition oscillates between shifting blame, taking responsibility and accountability, pondering what to do next, and looking at how they can better communicate with and for the Australian public.
👉 The communications lessons and thinkpieces have been coming thick and fast from insiders and observers including: ‘On Saturday night, the Liberal Party looked like a train wreck’ (from former Liberal powerbroker, Senator and Federal Attorney-General, George Brandis), ‘This has exposed the true depth of the Liberals’ crisis – and all but exiled them from the cities’, and ‘Dutton was never a Trump clone. But he fell for the trap of MAGA-style politics’.
👉Perhaps one of the most important lessons from the disaster – for those of us outside the political elite – is to stress test our messaging, something which Dutton did not do, according to The Sydney Morning Herald’s David Crowe.
👉He argued: “Dutton and the Liberals argued for three years that the media was too hard on them. In fact, the media was too soft. Dutton was not placed under enough scrutiny during the term – mostly because he dismissed the “hate media” and spoke to friendly media instead. He avoided questions from the media he did not like. This made it astonishingly easy for the Liberals to convince themselves they were a gift to voters, because Sky News and others told them so. Dutton achieved much by keeping the Coalition together in the past three years. But he never faced the “stress test” he needed, and it showed during the campaign.”
Opportunity: Can the New Government Fix Our Arts and Entertainment Sectors?
The reinvigorated Albanese Government now has an opportunity to make some bold decisions and investments into our vital arts and entertainment sectors.
👉 But will they do it?
👉 ArtsHub ran this piece as a preview to what we can expect from this term, noting that aside from a few announcements throughout the campaign “specific promises and commitments were minimal for the arts portfolio in the lead-up to the national election”.
👉Just prior to the election, current Arts Minister Tony Burke, made this pitch to the publication: “Reviving Australia’s arts sector is not optional for Labor. The work of the Australian creative sector is essential. Arts workers are real workers.”
👉 He added: “Shortly after the election, if re-elected our government will again begin consultation with the sector, to help inform Australia’s next cultural policy. A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will ensure our stories are told through all forms of art.”
Threat: Trump Tariffs (Again)
Speaking of the arts sector, one thing the Arts Minister (and indeed Foreign Minister and probably Prime Minister) will have to tackle is Trump’s latest tariff decision.
👉 The wayward US president has said he will impose a 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the United States.
👉 His reason (does he think he needs one?): “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death … Hollywood, and many other areas within the USA, are being devastated”.
👉 The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, had this to say in response: “We all know how many films we see, made in Australia, made between Australia and American filmmakers. We know how many Australian actors are beloved by American audiences. We obviously will be pressing our view about this to the US administration.”
👉 Some might argue that’s not a definitive enough comms response, especially given workers in the sector are saying it would be “cataclysmic” for the local Australian industry.
👉 Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner added: “For the Australian industry, it reinforces the need for the Government to focus immediately and swiftly on building a resilient local industry that can withstand global shocks like this.”
The Fun Stuff
Quote of the Week: “The chicken ain’t squawking. The chicken is on the block. It’s drumsticks and legs,” former Opposition Leader and one-time wannabe Prime Minister Bill Shorten, on election night as some Liberals gave poor chicken analogies and avoided admitting defeat.
✅ Quiz of the Week: Still looking for more election content and LOLs? Try this quiz from Crikey’s Cam Wilson, which asks: Did News Corp’s talking heads say this after the Coalition’s 2022 or 2025 defeat?
