Live Music Office and Live and Local wind up after 13 years

The Live Music Office and trailblazing local music program, Live and Local, will be wrapping up on Wednesday 1 July after 13 years of championing live local music

Live and Local has partnered with more than 40 local councils across Australia and supported more than 1,000 live music events

APRA AMCOS is now directing its live music advocacy energy towards a federal live music tax incentive scheme

APRA AMCOS has announced that the Live Music Office (LMO) and trailblazing local music program, Live and Local, will be wrapping up on Wednesday 1 July after 13 years of championing live local music.

When the LMO opened its doors in 2013 alongside the release of the National Cultural Policy and Creative Australia, the live music landscape looked very different. Regulation was the dominant threat with liquor licensing frameworks, building codes and planning laws placing pressure on the ability of venues to remain viable and open.

The LMO was established by the Australian Government in partnership with the Ministry for the Arts and APRA AMCOS to tackle that challenge head-on, reviewing policy frameworks, building best practice resources and advocating for reform at every level of government.

13 years later, regulatory barriers have been substantially dismantled across every jurisdiction. A national architecture of government bodies, industry organisations and funding programs now supports Australian live music in ways that simply did not exist in 2013. 

These include state music development offices, the establishment of Music Australia, night-time economy commissioners and dedicated live music funding streams. Industry bodies including the Australian Live Music Business Council, the Nighttime Industries Association, Live Music Venues Alliance, and the Australian Festival Association give the sector a durable, independent voice.

APRA AMCOS CEO, Dean Ormston, explains: "In the 13 years since the Live Music Office was established, the landscape has changed dramatically. With government bodies at a federal and state level now doing such an incredible job for live music, and local councils empowered to continue the good work, now feels like the right time to hand back the mantle.

“By doing that, it also allows us to focus more on other important priorities for our members and the broader industry by advocating the Australian Government for a broad-based tax incentive for live music venues to help build the long-term sustainability of the live ecosystem."

The Live and Local program, the community and local government facing arm of the LMO, has partnered with more than 40 local councils across Australia, supported more than 1,000 live music events and demonstrated to governments at the most local level the cultural, social and economic value of live music in their communities. That work transferred real capability to councils: the strategies, the knowledge and the confidence to keep the music going independently.

APRA AMCOS expects that kind of hyper-local programming to continue and grow, not from a national office, but from the councils, communities and local champions the program spent a decade supporting.

Ormston adds: “We acknowledge the incredible work of outgoing Live and Local Engagement and Program Manager Lucy Joseph and National Program Manager Bronwyn Adams, whose commitment made the program what it became. 

“We also want to acknowledge the founding Live Music Office Director John Wardle, whose work reforming live music regulation across every jurisdiction in the country has been transformational. We are also grateful to the many policy experts who contributed to the Live and Local program over its lifetime.

“A special shout-out to Brisbane City Council's Frank Henry, who worked to establish Australia's first special entertainment precinct in Fortitude Valley, which went on to become a national model, first legislated in QLD and then through the support of the Live Music Office adopted in NSW in 2021, as well as the ACT, WA and SA.

“To all of them, and to the many artists, venue operators, state and territory governments, councils, researchers and advocates who contributed over 13 years, thank you.”

While regulation has receded as the sector's primary concern, the economics of grassroots live music have become far more tenuous. A 2024 APRA AMCOS and OneMusic survey of nearly 3,000 venues found that more than 70% had stopped programming live music for financial reasons and more than 70% said tax rebates or incentives were the intervention most likely to bring them back.

APRA AMCOS is now directing its live music advocacy energy towards a federal live music tax incentive scheme. The 2025 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts made it their first recommendation. Oxford Economics modelling commissioned by APRA AMCOS establishes the economic case - $636–920 million in GVA uplift, up to 10,800 jobs and 322,500 additional live performances annually. The policy challenge that animated the Live Music Office has been met. The next one is already waiting.