Victoria's music community is backing a push to lift contemporary music investment to at least $9 million a year, aimed squarely at the artists behind it all.
It’s the second commitment in Vote Victorian Music, the industry-led platform launched at the Victorian Music Assembly at Melbourne Town Hall, and it starts from a simple premise: every venue, label, export and screen score depends on someone being able to keep making music in the first place.
So this ask is about backing that work directly.
On 23 September the state government committed to a run of live music measures: designated Live Music Precincts, better protection for venues facing noise complaints, a permanent Live Music Desk and a new Live Gigs Fund, alongside a rule that Victorian music feature in government advertising. Music Victoria welcomed the package, noting much of it answered what they’d already asked for via their Vote Victorian Music campaign that launched back in August.
One of the pieces left untouched is this one – money for artists themselves.
Backing Victorian artists
- Lift contemporary music investment to at least $9 million a year, committed over multiple years
- Fund creative work such as writing, recording and releasing, not only projects with an immediate commercial return
- Add a dedicated business development stream for managers, labels, publishers and agents
- Introduce a Music Career Sustainability Pilot: two years of predictable support for a defined group of mid-career artists, openly selected and independently evaluated
- Commission Victorian artists, composers and musicians first for government-funded campaigns and events (the new advertising mandate is a start, though the platform wants it extended across events too)
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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The missing middle
Demand is already outstripping what’s available.
Music Works, the state’s open funding program for contemporary artists, drew 1,344 applications in 2026, up from 460 the year before. It wants the program funded at a scale that matches both the size of Victoria’s music economy and that surge of interest, and committed across multiple years so artists and businesses can plan beyond a single budget.
The pilot targets what the sector calls the missing middle: artists that are too established for emerging artist programs, but too independent for the commercial routes that might otherwise carry them. Lots of these musicians self manage every part of their careers alongside day jobs, so the idea is to offer a stretch of certainty rather than another competitive grant round.
Alongside the creative support sits a focus on the businesses that turn music into income. Managers, labels, publishers and agents are the ones converting a finished track into monetary outcomes like touring and commercial rights, and the platform wants that part of the industry resourced too.
Opportunity rather than triage
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There’s a really strong base to build on. Victoria accounts for 34 per cent of the membership of songwriter and publisher body APRA AMCOS, is home to 40 per cent of Australia’s music managers, and hosts the country’s largest independent label sector, with more than 120 labels. The argument is that steadier funding lets that concentration of talent convert into more recordings, more touring and more work across screen, games, rights and export.
A multi-year commitment announced in an early budget would let artists, managers and labels plan release cycles, tours and investment beyond a 12-month window, and the $9 million sits within a broader package worth around $114 million over four years.
For scale, New South Wales has committed $103 million to contemporary music across a comparable span, suggesting that $114 million is not just aspirational but totally achievable.
Victoria is already home to a deep pool of songwriters, composers and independent labels, and the platform positions steadier artist funding as the thing that lets that base grow.
Music is one of Victoria’s defining creative exports, and this ask is essentially a bet on keeping the people who make it here and working. With the state election set for 28 November, Vote Victorian Music is inviting candidates from every party to spell out how they’d support the artists at the base of it all.
Labor has answered on the venues. Whether Labor or Liberal will do the same for the people making the music is a question still hanging over the campaign.
To see the full policy paper, head here. To add your voice, head here.
