The collapse of Australia’s live music industry, which is operating at less than four per cent of pre-COVID levels, has led artists and music workers to call on the federal government for an extension of the JobKeeper subsidy.
“Each time there is another COVID-19 cluster or a quarantine breach, any plans to trade again are halted,” the letter reads. “Musicians, sole traders, venues, clubs, festivals, music businesses and the industry remain out of work.“Billions of dollars for hospitality and tourism generated from Australian music remains stifled. We are an industry in crisis.
“A restart can’t happen while borders remain closed and audience capacity limits are in place,” the letter read.“We can’t afford to lose the skills and businesses of our industry. The result for Australian music and live entertainment would be catastrophic.” We applaud the work of local, state and federal authorities, as well as the community and acknowledge the situation in Australia is much different to most nations around the world. But Australia remains in a cycle of lockdowns and border closures to keep on top of the insidious COVID-19 pandemic.
Heck yeah, why not just have the Government pays all the salaries, we can just borrow more money. We need to take the pain and get over it, there is a recession.
Is this only in the non-indigenous Australian music industry given the European-Australian shown?
Terrifying death figures out of the UK. Source: BBC