Update: Friday 29 May, 2026

The AAM submitted to the Office for the Arts in response to the National Cultural Policy Public Consultation 2026. Read the full submission HERE.

Music runs through Australian life. It is in the classroom, the regional pub, the stadium, the community station, the rehearsal room, and the streaming queue. It is in the treaty ceremonies and the language recordings and the debut albums and the festival stages. And at every point in that ecology, an artist exists and operates against all odds (and there are a lot). Behind some of the country’s most promising artists, there is an artist manager - absorbing risk, investing before any return is guaranteed, building the infrastructure through which Australian creative culture reaches its audiences.

The positions in this submission are not a wish list. They are a diagnosis and a prescription. The market conditions that have made artist management structurally unsustainable did not arise by accident. They are the product of policy decisions, regulatory gaps, and investment patterns that the next National Cultural Policy has the opportunity to address.

The case for sustained and expanded investment in Music Australia, the infrastructure of Australian artist development, and the regulatory frameworks that protect creators in the digital age is not speculative. It is documented in the evidence assembled here. Australia has the talent. The next Cultural Policy can give it the conditions to flourish.

AAM thanks the Office for the Arts for the opportunity to contribute to this consultation and commits to active participation in the policy development process that follows.

For any further queries, please contact AAM Executive Director, Maggie Collins on maggie@aam.org.au.