‘A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats’: On a Musician’s Minimum Rate, Cultural Labour, and the Live Music Sector

As part of their 2022 submission to the Australian federal government’s national cultural policy, the relatively new union branch Musicians Australia (a division of MEAA, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance) called for a minimum rate of pay for musicians, set at $250AUD per musician per performance. Such a demand seems reasonable, but resistance from smaller live music venues and other industry stakeholders reveals the complex tensions involved when questions are raised regarding the value of cultural labour, especially in creative sectors where hobbyism is the norm. However, legislating this change could potentially be the fundamental change the live music industry needs to raise the bar for all stakeholders, and its implications should be taken seriously. This chapter will explore the complexities inherent in this debate, including the bargaining power of musicians, the role of government as a significant powerbroker, the impact of macroeconomic factors, and what the sector stands to gain from such a policy. It will also consider alternative policy models, and how other jurisdictions (i.e., Ireland, France, and the UK) have approached the problem of resourcing cultural labour, providing bargaining power to artists and musicians. This discussion will include the current global campaign for a Basic Income for Artists, with a minimum rate of pay for musician’s serving as an interesting point of comparison. The chapter seeks to critique the dominant market mechanisms used to decide the value of live music, advocating for a political economy approach to understanding cultural labour that treats it as a public good. It offers practical policy recommendations towards introducing a minimum rate of pay for musician’s and envisions a future for the music industries where every musician is paid for their work.