If the Australian music industry wasn’t concerned enough about the lack of local acts appearing on our own music charts, it definitely should be now.
The top 20 of this past weekend’s ARIA Singles chart includes just one song featuring an Australian artist; Jonas Blue’s Mama, featuring Sydney’s William Singe at #11.
The next local artist to appear on the chart comes at #21 with Jessica Mauboy’s Fallin’.
The result is shocking to say the least, especially when you can say that there are more songs featuring Justin Bieber in the top 20 (Despacito, 2U, I’m The One), then there are any Aussie artists.
It’s even more damning when compared to the latest US Billboard Singles Chart, which currently features songs from 14 locals in the top 20 alone.
The figures are slightly healthier on the ARIA Albums chart, where seven Aussie recordings appeared in the top 40 this week (Boo Seeka #8, Dan Sultan #13, Judah Kelly #18, Vera Blue #24, The Ten Tenors #34, Meg Mac #36, Travis Collins & Amber Lawrence #40).
Things were looking at its worst earlier this year when just two Australian artists featured in the top 40 and though the number has increased to currently stand at six, the situation is dire.
Speaking to The Music in May, music mogul Michael Gudinski said ARIA including streaming data in its chart figures has hurt locals acts.
"… It's a situation that, if something is not dealt with, it's going to make it even more so that Australian artists have got to work internationally before they break their home country and that's not a good thing," he said.
Meanwhile Managing Director of SGC Media, Stephen Green, said the industry needs to accept that “the system is broken” and find a way to fix it.
"It's not about blaming streaming or radio - people in there want Australian music to thrive as much as anyone,” Green told The Music.
“It's also not about re-weighting the chart to pretend like our songs are being heard when they aren't.
"What we need is to find a solution that is born from a coalition across the stakeholders that stand up and say that Australian music is important and that we have a complex structural problem that's worth solving."
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