Aussie acts lose out in ACMA's digital radio ruling

02 July 2010

by Lars Brandle

Australian artists won’t have any divine right to airplay on the digital radio platform for at least the next three years after the broadcast authority temporarily scrapped the content quotas.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has ignored the music community’s pleas and registered an exemption in the Commercial Radio Codes of Practice, which means minimum quotas for locally-sourced music won't apply to digital-only stations.

The ACMA's change to Code 4 will be in place until a tri-annual review, which would next happen in 2013.

Australia’s music community was unanimously opposed to changes made to the quota system, a proposal for which was floated by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) by way of an advertisement in the Australian newspaper earlier this year.

The CRA reckoned it had a case when the government waved local content quotas for new digital-only TV channels until 2013, when the digital TV switchover occurs. Exempting new digital-only radio services would also “encourage diversity,” explained CRA CEO Joan Warner.

The ACMA concurred. “In these early days of digital radio, licensees should be afforded the opportunity to experiment with programming formats, including the programming of niche services such as 'event channels' like Pink Radio and Radio GaGa," comments ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman in a statement issued Thursday.

The exemption came as “a surprise” and a “disappointment” and it’s “certainly not setting a good precedent,” ARIA CEO Stephen Peach tells TMN. “We're obviously concerned that, at the next review date in three years, CRA will push to retain the exemption,” he says. In the meantime, ARIA plans to contest the ACMA’s exemption.

The broadcast authority’s decision may ultimately have “serious repercussions for Australian artists and labels," warns Nick O’Byrne, the GM of independent music companies’ trade body, Association of Independent Record Labels (AIR).

Australia’s quota system is widely seen as a rod in the back for the country’s homegrown ranks. Across the traditional radio stations, quotas vary by genre. The stiffest minimums are imposed on formats like mainstream rock and contemporary hits radio, which must play at least 25% locally-sourced music.

Despite the quotas, international artists still rule Australia’s airwaves. Nine of the 10 most played songs on commercial radio last year were by American acts, according to data published by broadcast monitoring company AirCheck. Eskimo Joe was the only Australian act to crack the list, at No. 4. “We know there is a direct link between sales and exposure from commercial broadcast,” adds O’Byrne, “and this ruling has the potential to damage the financial viability of the Australian music industry significantly."