The likes of Paul Kelly, Bernard Fanning, Courtney Barnett, Missy Higgins, Stella Donnelly, Lime Cordiale, The Presets and Midnight Oil have signed the document.

In it, they say extending JobKeeper or providing direct industry support to thousands of vulnerable workers will keep the show on the road.

“This doesn’t just make cultural sense, it makes economic sense,” the message continues.

The numbers tell part of the story. The arts and entertainment sector contributes around A$15 billion ($11 billion) per year in GDP, employing close to 200,000 highly-skilled Australians, the open letter continues.

Also, Australia Institute research has found that for every million dollars in revenue, arts and entertainment produce nine jobs while the construction industry only creates around one.

Australia’s live industry is starting to wake from its COVID-induced slumber, but the damage is done. And the recently completed five-day snap lockdown in Victoria, which contributed to the postponement of next month’s 5 Seconds of Summer tour, is another sign of these fragile times.

The live economy remains very much at the mercy of COVID-19.

According to new figures released today by APRA AMCOS, a signatory to the open letter, live music is operating at under 4% of the level compared with this time last year.

Since March 2020, the PRO notes, there has not been a single national tour completed by an Australian artist, no festival has operated at full capacity, and the venues that are trading are doing so at an average of 30 per cent due to social distancing protocols.

“We can’t afford to lose the skills and businesses of our industry,” the letter warns. “The result for Australian music and live entertainment would be catastrophic.”

Read the full letter here and below.

NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO TURN OFF MUSIC’S LIFE SUPPORT

The music and live entertainment industry will be the last to be able to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. We call on the Australian Government to extend JobKeeper, or provide an industry specific wage subsidy, to be continued beyond March for those who work in music and live events.

We applaud the work of local, state and federal authorities, as well as the community and acknowledge the situation in Australia is much different to most nations around the world. But Australia remains in a cycle of lockdowns and border closures to keep on top of the insidious COVID-19 pandemic.

Each time there is another COVID-19 cluster or a quarantine breach, any plans to trade again are halted. Musicians, sole traders, venues, clubs, festivals, music businesses and the industry remain out of work. Billions of dollars for hospitality and tourism generated from Australian music remains stifled. We are an industry in crisis.

At present, live music alone is operating at under 4 per cent of pre-COVID levels as a result of continual border closures and social distancing regulations. Since March last year there has not been a single national tour undertaken by an Australian artist and there has not been a single festival run at full capacity. The music and live entertainment industry remains in lockdown.

The ability for musicians to generate meaningful income was shut down overnight in March last year. Every live music venue and festival in a city, town centre or regional area is part of an intricate network that supports our industry. Sitting behind these venues and events is an army of musicians, DJs, managers, agents, promoters, crew, technicians, music teachers and many other industry professionals.

It’s all completely understandable. But for music and live entertainment the last twelve months has devastated our industry. Bureau of Statistics data shows that arts and entertainment related industries have seen some of the largest pandemic business shutdowns.

We acknowledge the Australian Government’s response package for arts and entertainment announced last year – $10 million in critical funding to Support Act for crisis relief and mental health & wellbeing support and $250 million in grants and loans to stimulate the restart of the arts and entertainment sector. But a restart can’t happen while borders remain closed and audience capacity limits are in place.

Looming at the end of March is the end of the JobKeeper program, the single most important policy intervention by the government. It has provided some certainty and helped keep a large number of individuals, sole-traders and businesses in the music and live entertainment industry alive so they are ready to restart.

As Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last year: “[It] has been important for us to really get a full appreciation of the serious business of entertainment and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are here and we want to keep that capability together. Those jobs will come back into those businesses when the show starts again and we need to keep them, we need to keep the show together when it comes to the people who make that up.”

Extending JobKeeper, or providing an industry specific wage subsidy package, will keep the show on the road. This doesn’t just make cultural sense, it makes economic sense. The arts and entertainment sector contributes around $15 billion per year in GDP, employing close to 200,000 highly-skilled Australians. Australia Institute research has found that for every million dollars in turnover, arts and entertainment produce 9 jobs while the construction industry only produces around 1 job.
We can’t afford to lose the skills and businesses of our industry. The result for Australian music and live entertainment would be catastrophic.

Also, Australia Institute research has found that for every million dollars in revenue, arts and entertainment produce 9 jobs while the construction industry only produces around 1 job.

Australia’s live industry is starting to wake from its COVID-induced slumber, but the damage is done. And the recently completed five-day snap lockdown in Victoria, which contributed to the postponement of next month’s 5 Seconds of Summer tour, is another sign of these fragile times.

The live economy remains very much at the mercy of COVID-19.

According to new figures released today by APRA AMCOS, a signatory to the Open Letter, live music is operating at under 4% of the level compared with this time last year. showing the devastation that has hit Australia’s live music industry and on the thousands of people who work to make live music happen.

“We can’t afford to lose the skills and businesses of our industry. The result for Australian music and live entertainment would be catastrophic.”

Since March 2020, the PRO notes, there has not been a single national tour completed by an Australian artist, no festival has operated at full capacity, and the venues that are trading are doing so at an average of 30 per cent due to social distancing protocols.