Local Music Share Slips to 8.5% of Streams
Music Australia launches a second-year campaign urging listeners to publicly back Australian artists as local streaming share declines.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Music — General
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Local music accounts for 8.5% of all audio streamed in Australia, according to APRA AMCOS's FY26 Year in Review, down 37.5% over five years from 13.6% in FY21. Music Australia launched its month-long Ausify campaign on 2 November 2026 to encourage listeners to support Australian music.
Why it matters
The campaign frames the decline as a discovery problem rather than a lack of demand, pointing to availability, discoverability and algorithm-driven listening habits. APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston has warned the local share could fall to about 5% within five years without intervention.
The 8.5% local share is measured against 13.6% in FY21, a fall of 37.5% over five years, while Australian music's share of user-generated content platforms stands at 3.6%. The source does not indicate whether the projected fall to about 5% is a central forecast or a scenario, nor how the figures will be revised after the campaign.
The players
Music Australia
Music Australia is the contemporary music body within Creative Australia that runs the Ausify campaign to promote local music to listeners.
APRA AMCOS
APRA AMCOS is the Australasian performing rights and music copyright collective that reported the decline in local music's streaming share in its FY26 Year in Review.
Dean Ormston
Dean Ormston is the chief executive of APRA AMCOS who has warned that the local music share could fall to about 5% within five years without intervention.
The details
Ausify, run by Music Australia within Creative Australia, asks supporters to make their backing of Australian music visible through social posts, tour merchandise and singing along in public. The campaign launched with seven Australian artists performing a karaoke version of "Love Is in the Air."
Timeline
FY21: local content streaming share stood at 13.6%
2021 to 2024: Australian artists' share of the top 10,000 acts fell from 12% to 8%
October 2026: APRA AMCOS released its Year in Review with the 8.5% figure
2 November 2026: Ausify's second-year campaign launched
FY26: APRA's international revenue topped $100 million for the first time
Industry Dynamics
The 8.5% figure continues the downward path from 13.6% in FY21 recorded in APRA AMCOS's Year in Review series, placing Australian music's streaming decline within a five-year trend. Over the same period Australian acts' presence in the 10,000 most-streamed list fell from 932 to 773, pointing to a narrowing of local representation at the top of streaming charts.
The campaign asks listeners to make their support visible through social posts, tour merchandise and singing along in public, with the survey finding only 27% of Australians have streamed a local artist in the past year. Listeners who want to act can start by adding Australian artists to their playlists and attending local shows.
The takeaway
Most Australians already connect local songs to major life moments, so the gap is one of discovery rather than affection. Making a point of streaming and sharing Australian artists is a direct way to help close it.
Further reading
Explore more coverage in Music — General for the wider context of Australian music.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Billboard.
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