It seems that one of the hardest struggles in the way to make it big for Australian artists is the issue of $$$$. In an article sourced from the ABC (2003) and titled: “Hitting the Big Time in the Australian Rock Scene: “4 cents an hour if you’re lucky””, the hard road to success is explored.
The article begins by talking about the renewed interest in signing Australian artists due to the overseas success of bands such as The Vines & the Avalanches. While this may sound all good, it has turned out to be somewhat deceptive. Kirileigh Lynch, Triple J’s Assistant Music Director, states in the article:
“A million dollar deal looks good on paper but the reality is this thing called re-couping. That basically means when the record company gives you a million dollars, you’re welcome to live on that million dollars and use that million dollars to record your album but when the album starts selling you have to pay that advance back before you make a cent.”
It is this hidden cost of ‘pay-back’ that the public and even some artists are ignorant to. Solicitor John Kelly, of Kelly & Co in Adelaide specialises in media and entertainment law and represents Mushroom Records and several local music artists. In the ABC article he states,
“The advice I give to clients is that if you sign a record deal, it’s a good opportunity. It’s a great start but you have to work really hard and you have to be comfortable that you’ve got a good relationship with the party you’ve signed with and you believe in each other.”
This issue can be reflected by the experiences of Australian band Machine Gun Fellatio, who have calucalated their average hourly wage. Band member and manager Chit Chat says, “Some of us have been doing this for 15 years. It’s ridiculous that it’s taken this long. If you put it down to an hourly rate we’re making 4 cents an hour. In the last year and a half we’ve been able to make a decent living. We are in the top ten bands in Australia … it’s crazy that you’ve got to get to that level before you can support yourself.”
As was discussed in Cassidy’s post below, it is crucial for emerging artists to establish a local fan base and following before they start dreaming of the $$$$.
posted by Hannah
Hidden Track 
May 25, 2008 at 5:11 pm
That is so sad! $0.04 an hour is crazy – you have to REALLY love what you’re doing to work for that! And as was discussed in another post, it won’t help things that bars and clubs are starting to close earlier and thus are less likely to hire live bands to play (or if they do it will be for 2 or 3 hours less than before). It seems like now more than ever people will have to be driven by passion (not money) if they want their music to be their career.