New Zealand's music industry has, like the recorded music sector worldwide, experienced repeated and often disruptive change in the past 25 years.
NZ On Air funding of music for broadcast has been a constant through that time, and has played a significant role in the development of skills and infrastructure in the sector. In a generally collegial industry, NZ On Air is also seen as a valuable facilitator of relationships between a range of actors – broadcasters, labels, artists, managers, audio and video producers and others.
The single most significant change in the way the music business works – the move from sales to streaming as the primary source of revenue in the past decade – has had an impact on the way NZ On Air funding is structured and its impact measured. Various other changes have also influenced the way funding schemes work and the scope of industry support.
Not all of these are in the music business itself – the broadcast sector has also evolved in significant ways. For instance, first music television and more recently the importance of conventional music video have receded. This has obviously been significant for an agency which entered the music sector as a funder of music videos.
NZ On Air has restructured its music funding schemes several times in the past decade and a half, and it seems certain that further adjustment will be required in years to come. This review aims to assess the fitness for purpose of the current New Music funding schemes, which were introduced three years ago, along with key adjustments to those schemes since. It also ventures on the overall role of the agency and its relationship to the two sectors it serves; music and broadcasting.
The full review is available to read below.