Australia's top brass introduce 'Michael's Rule' to help promote local music

Australia's music community has reached a “crisis” point, with a myriad of factors contributing to the closure of grassroots venues and popular festivals, and a generation of homegrown artists effectively being overlooked and locked out of the sales charts.

Artist managers propose a solution.

It was announced on Friday (May 3), the Artists Directors Association (AAM) unveils “Michael's Rule,” a policy that would ensure at least one local artist would be among the support acts on any international tour in these parts.

The campaign is named after Michael McMartin, the late great artist manager who guided the career of the Hoodoo Gurus for more than 40 years, and breaks down into three key principles: every international artist must include an Australian artist among their opening acts; the Australian artist must appear on the same stage as the international artist using reasonable sound and lighting. and the Australian artist should be announced at the same time as the tour so they can benefit from all the marketing and promotion.

The rule arose out of a discussion among some senior members of the artist management community ahead of the 2024 AAM Awards in Sydney, and is born out of frustration with the limited options for artist discovery in Australia.

These challenges have been recognized by governments across Australia in recent years, notes Maggie Collins, executive director of AAM, the trade body representing more than 300 artist managers.

“The organizers received significant public funding during the pandemic and it is understood that they continue to receive public support for some of their major events,” he explained in a statement. “We think it only makes sense that, in return, they should 'do their bit' to help Australian artists to help Australian artists by simply including at least one local show on every international tour.”

Collins used his platform AAM Awards 2024 to introduce “Michael's Rule”.

“If there's one overarching issue that managers have highlighted time and time again, it's this: we need more Australians who love more Australian music. We have a big traceability problem and if we don't solve that issue, which is both economic and cultural,” he explained to a packed house at Sydney's Crowbar.

If only there was a “Michael's Rule” for major international tours like Taylor Swift's recent seven date The Eras tourwho visited Sydney and Melbourne in 2023, “how many more fans could we have introduced to a local artist and start creating our own mega star of the future”.

The backing act rule was once a widely accepted industry code following pressure from artist managers in the early 2000s. With the launch of 'Michael's Rule', a voluntary code, senior artist executives are calling for its reintroduction 'in this crisis for Australian music,” the AAM said in a statement.

If promoters are unwilling to agree, the trade body insists on making formal statements for the federal government to step in and make it a visa condition that international artists touring Australia must comply with.

ARIA label body welcomes 'Michael's Rule'. “Doing everything we can to get our local artists in front of new audiences is the most important issue facing our local industry,” says ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd in a separate media release, “and as therefore Michael's rule is a fantastic initiative, which we are confident can be implemented in a way that does not affect the viability of international tours.”

ARIA's latest year-end charts explained the problem. Just four Australian albums made the top 100 last year, topped by INXS' hits collection The best (at No. 58) and only three Australian-produced singles impacted the top 100, none of which were released in 2023. The top Australian track was The Kid Laroi's 2021 collaboration with Justin Bieber, 'Stay'.

Other initiatives such as “expanding venues like sports stadiums into multi-use facilities in NSW is a really important step in increasing the availability of entertainment for everyone outside of sport,” adds Herd, “and continues to increase opportunities to see local artists next to global images”.

The disclosure of the industrial code closely follows the announcement that Brisbane Zooone of the country's longest-running grassroots music venues, would close its doors due to crushing financial pressures, and a number of music festivals, including Splendor in the Grass, would be scrapped this year – or closed for good.