Thursday 23 April, 2026
Music Data & Insights Summit 2026
Program Schedule
Day One - Monday May 18
8.30 am: Doors Open
9.15 am: Welcome to Country
9.30 am: Supporting First Nations-Led Music Business
Kaleena Smith (First Nations Development Manager, MusicNSW)
This report was an important opportunity to engage directly with First Nations–led music businesses, creatives and industry leaders to listen, learn and better understand what meaningful support looks like from a First Nations perspective. Grounded in community consultation and lived experience, the findings emphasise the importance of creating spaces where First Nations voices are not only heard but actively shape the design of programs, resources and industry pathways.
At its core, the report highlights the need for deeper ongoing conversations, with cultural authority at the forefront.
10.15 am: Why Is Gender Still An Issue in Australian Music?
Associate Professor Catherine Strong, Freya Linke-Langley, Hannah Fairlamb, Jeri Karmelic
Despite regular periods of outcry on the subject, attempts to increase women and gender-diverse people’s participation and safety in music in Australia have had limited success. What is standing in the way of real change in this area? This panel brings together researchers from three universities whose work uses qualitative data to understand different aspects of how gender impacts people’s experiences of music making in Australia. These include how gender limits opportunities for women and gender-diverse instrumentalists and within local music scenes, as well as how and why attempts to bring about change – either in DIY spaces or at higher industry levels – can be limited in their effectiveness. Taken together, this research offers new insights into what industry norms, practices, and actors are holding back progress on this issue, and what might be done to challenge these.
* This panel is supported by MIRC
11.00 am: Break
11.15 am: Hiding in Plain Sight: The Economic and Cultural Contribution of Community Music Radio
Associate Professor Shane Homan (Monash University) and Professor Susan Forde (Griffith University)
Shane Homan and Susan Forde discuss the findings of the Australian Research Council project examining the cultural and economic contribution of Australian community music radio to the Australian music industries. This includes revealing the economic value of the nine activities central to community radio, including (for example) airplay, music curation, artist interviews and outside broadcasts that generate value for Australian artists and the wider ecosystem. The project researchers will unpack the ways that community stations are both a cultural asset and economic driver for local music scenes, particularly for emerging and First Nations artists.
11.45 am: The Future of Radio as a Discovery Tool
Panellists: Dave Houchin (Station Manager, RRR), Kristin Paterson (Station Manager, PBS), Lachlan Macara (Head of Triple J & Double J), Lance Cheney (AMRAP First Sounds) Moderator: Sosefina Fuamoli
Radio broadcasting is one of the most important pieces of Australia’s cultural infrastructure, holding a special place in the broader radio ecosystem with its focus on discovery, community and diversity.
Recent ACMA data shows overall weekly radio reach, including commercial and the ABC network, has stabilised at 66% of Australians. After years of decline, this signals resilience, but also potentially a ceiling. Meanwhile, the 2025 Listening In report says Australians want to hear more local music. In a time when algorithms have been shown to favour music from overseas, this resilience offers an opportunity to ensure Australian stories can be heard.
What role can the music industry play in preserving this key driver of local content discovery and future proofing it against rising technological challenges?
12:30 pm: Short Term Plays Could Kill the Music Industry
Chris Carey (Founder, FFWD Group)
FFWD founder Chris Carey follows up on last year's MDIS talk on slow money to look at the disruptive role of shareholders. The need for quick wins, improving margins and reliability stand in stark opposition to music's long term development, high cost investments and volatility.
12.45 pm: Lunch
1.30 pm: Marketing to Gen-Alpha in the Age of Social Media Bans
Marlen Hüllbrock (Director of Marketing & Strategy, Music Ally)
Everyone is talking about Gen Z, but the savviest music marketers are already looking at Gen Alpha. The landscape is changing fast: four months into the world's first social media ban for under-16s, Australian artists, managers and labels are preparing to navigate a potentially new reality for fan-building and marketing. In this presentation, Music Ally dives into the latest data on this audience and guidance on how to navigate this shift.
2.00 pm: The Social Media Ban: Disruption or Reset?
Moderator: Paige X. Cho (Media Director, Bolster Group), Marlen Hüllbrock (Director of Marketing & Strategy, Music Ally), Rose Riddell (Head of Content, Laneway Festival), Mardi Caught (Founder and Head of The Annex), Ixaras (Artist)
Australia’s youth music economy is being reshaped in real time. With a world-first social media ban for under-16s disrupting discovery pipelines and platforms like TikTok and YouTube driving up to half of youth music discovery, the industry faces a critical question: how do you market music to young people when the primary channels are shifting to alternative channels, such as gaming or live or disappearing?
2.45 pm: The Push’s National Plan for Young Australians and Music
Jamison Kehl and Abby Flett (The Push)
For 40 years, The Push has backed young Australians to find their sound, their people and their future in music. The Push's new ten-year national plan sets out to ensures that every young person can participate and thrive in Australian music. Currently, for too many young Australians, particularly in outer-suburban, regional and remote communities, participation in music depends on luck - but it shouldn't. This presentation will explore the National Plan for Young Australians and Music and examine the systems and infrastructure required to build a music ecosystem shaped by young people, for young people. Bringing together the Youth Leads at The Push, this session invites audiences to imagine, and help build, a future where participation in Australian music is not determined by postcode, privilege or chance.
3.00 pm: Break
3.15 pm: The Reality of Independent Music: Data-Driven Insights for the Industry
Matthew Rogers (Chief Commercial Officer GYRO.Group)
Presented by GYRO.Group, this session offers a rare opportunity to explore the patterns, strategies and choices that are truly driving the independent music ecosystem today. Independent artists are constantly shaping and redefining the Australian music landscape, yet many of the narratives about “what works” in streaming, release strategy and audience engagement can be based on assumption rather than evidence. This session uses GYRO.Group’s unparalleled dataset of independent Australian releases to provide a clear view of how artists are actually behaving. The discussion reveals where industry thinking aligns with real-world activity, where it misses the mark, and how artists are quietly innovating outside the spotlight.
4.30 pm: Keynote - Data is the New Oil
Dean Ormston (Chief Executive, APRA AMCOS)
5.00 pm - 7.00 pm: APRA AMCOS Mixer @ Runner Up
Day Two - Tuesday May 19
9.00 am: Doors & Coffee
9.30 am: Cultural Power is Political Power
Kate Ben-Tovim (Founding Director, Turning World)
In our increasingly turbulent world, can (and should?) the music sector better leverage its role as a force for good in Australia’s national interest? Reflecting on her recent Churchill Fellowship, Kate Ben-Tovim considers whether music has a stronger role to play in Australia’s cultural diplomacy arena, and what’s holding us back in areas of policy, coordination and funding.
10.00 am: AI and the Future of the Australian Music Industries
Associate Professor Jake Goldenfein (Melbourne Law School), Dr Sophie Freeman (RMIT/Melbourne University)
Generative AI is rapidly disrupting music industries globally. AI can write songs, compose scores, master records and generate music for ads. Chart-topping AI-generated songs exist. Markets for ad music, game music and social media content are dissolving. New commercial arrangements between major labels and AI companies are radically shifting how artists monetise their work. Australia's October 2025 rejection of the TDM exemption bucked a global trend, providing a unique opportunity to lead in AI innovation aligned with our National AI Ethics Principles. But copyright is only part of the story. This session introduces a national industry-research collaboration creating a destination for knowledge sharing, critical inquiry and future speculation on AI and Australian music at the intersection of cultural and technology policy. We address two fundamental questions: (1) How is AI impacting Australian music industries, both now and in the future? (2) What policies will Australia need to foster a thriving music ecosystem in the age of AI?
10:45 am: Pricing is messed up, and we need to talk about intangible value
Chris Carey (Founder, FFWD Group)
There is a lot of data science in pricing. A lot of energy goes into optimisation, or squeezing the most out of fans and moments. The challenge with music is that much of the value isn’t measurable and can’t be monetised.
We need to talk about the intangible value music has for the individual, the hard to measure value it has for society and how price maximisation risks both.
11.00 am: Break
11.15 am: Music Tech Australia: Data, Discovery and the Future of Australian Music
Merida Sussex (MetaGen), Sophie Freeman (AI Research), Nick Thorpe (Live Music Locator) and Andrew Cullen (AI/ML/Security)
Australian music is underperforming in a growing global market. The question is why and what we can do about it.
This panel brings together researchers and founders working at the intersection of music, data and technology. From streaming discovery and live show connection to metadata quality and the tangle of generative AI provenance, use and consent. Each contributor is solving a different piece of the same problem: how do we ensure Australian artists are discovered, credited and paid for their work?
Good data makes good strategy. When data is rich, accurate and easy to share, creativity thrives. That's always been the tension when a new music right is commercialised: how does the creator get credited and paid so they can keep creating? It's never been more urgent than now.
11.45 am: Data After Dark – Unlocking Insights via Data Collaboration
Dr. Xiangyi Kong, Emily Collins (Head of Sound NSW)
Data After Dark is a world-first, innovative data platform delivering integrated, near real-time insights into NSW’s night-time economy. Developed and operated by the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner, the platform brings together diverse datasets to provide a comprehensive view of after-dark economic activity.
In this session, we will explore the core capabilities of Data After Dark, showcase insights relevant to the sound and music sector, and discuss opportunities for deeper insights sharing and data collaboration.
12.30 pm: A Barometer, not a Scorecard – Music Ecosystem Mapping for Australian LGA’s
Bronwyn Adams (Morph Consulting, Live & Local Program Manager)
Across Australia, local music ecosystems are under pressure with venue closures, loss of creative spaces, regulatory complexity and fewer pathways for emerging artists. Local councils are highly sensitive to changes in the night-time economy and often are aware of them well before they appear in national data, yet little data surfaces or connects with the industry policy decision makers.
This session explores a new approach to make this knowledge visible. Gathering the data from the Live and Local program and designed by highly skilled analyst, Bronwyn Adams, this session looks at a practical barometer for local music systems. It focuses on helping councils track change over time, make their work visible, and better connect on-the-ground realities with the policy and investment decisions shaping the sector.
1.00 pm: Lunch
1.45 pm: Why Music Matters for the Australian Games Industry
Professor Dan Golding (Monash University)
Here goes the headline: videogames now make more money than music and film combined (BBC, 2019). By now, it's a familiar refrain - but in setting creative forms against each other, it's not telling the whole story about what is going on here. The games industry is as complex, as dominant and as precarious as any other, and its workers just as reliant on global platforms, local communities, big data and small audiences as the music sector. In fact, there is a convincing affinity between the videogames and music industries. In this presentation, drawing on recent surveys and studies of Australian games and their audiences, Dan Golding will chart the surprising similarities between games and music, outline the opportunities in games for the music industry, and think about what it means to look at Australian games with a musical eye.
2.15 pm: Sound Fair? - On Listening, then Acting
Cameron Lam (Musician and researcher)
The Sound Fair? report (conducted by Cameron Lam, in partnership with Music Australia and Creative Australia) draws on dual surveys to collect data on Australian art music commissioning practices and rates from both music creators and music commissioners. The report is an important snapshot of industry conditions (the first in 10 years) highlighting ongoing structural issues. But, importantly, it informs the creation of a 'Best Practice Guide for Art Music Commissioning' this year - the first Australian guidance on the topic since 2011.
Musician and researcher Cameron Lam highlights and connects the importance of research informing action, and action being the impetus for research. Action alone would suggest an updated rate card, research alone would show the status quo and highlight inequity. Together they produce a practice guide that addresses knowledge gaps, gives clear pay guidance and reframes the methodology of commissioning into something more reflective of the intention, labour and licensing involved.
2.45 pm: Qualification Trends and Occupational Shortages - Are Music Training Systems Doing What Industry Needs?
Rachel Simoons (Research & Analysis Manager, SaCSA) and Bronwyn Coulston (Stakeholder Engagement Manager - Arts, SaCSA)
Service and Creative Skills Australia presents insights into vocational and higher education patterns, and their alignment with labour market trends and emerging occupational shortages. We will explore how training pathways are adapting alongside what employers say they value most in a rapidly changing industry. Join us to take a closer look at the future of skills development and how to support a resilient music workforce.
3.15 pm: Afternoon Tea Break
3.30 pm: Music Australia: The Bass Line 2
Following the launch of The Bass Line: Charting the Economic Contribution of Australia’s Music Industry, Music Australia will present the second edition at the VMDO's Music Data and Insights Summit. Building on the foundation of the inaugural report, the second edition provides a comprehensive snapshot of the industry’s economic contribution and impact for FY2024-2025, undertaken in collaboration with McAtamney & Advisors. The session will guide attendees through The Bass Line – Edition 2 and feature a discussion unpacking the report’s key findings.
6.00 pm: Mixer @ Runner Up