Australian senior managers create code to support local music.
Australia’s music community is facing a critical situation, with the closure of grassroots venues and popular festivals, leading to a generation of homegrown artists being overlooked and excluded from the sales charts.
Artist managers have come up with a proposal to address this issue.
Recently announced on May 3, the Association of Artist Managers (AAM) introduced “Michael’s Rule,” a policy aimed at guaranteeing that at least one local artist will be included among the support acts for every international tour in Australia.
This campaign is named after Michael McMartin, a renowned artist manager who managed Hoodoo Gurus for over 40 years. The rule consists of three main principles: every international artist must have an Australian artist as a support act, the Australian artist must perform on the same stage as the headlining artist with reasonable sound and lighting, and the Australian artist must be announced simultaneously with the tour to benefit from marketing and promotion.
The concept for this rule emerged during discussions among senior members of the artist management community leading up to the 2024 AAM Awards in Sydney. It addresses the frustration surrounding the limited visibility of Australian artists.
Recognizing the challenges faced by artists in recent years, Maggie Collins, executive director of AAM, emphasizes the need for promoters, who received significant public funding during the pandemic, to include local acts as a way of supporting the growth of Australian artists.
“Michael’s Rule” was unveiled during the 2024 AAM Awards as a response to the overarching issue of the discoverability problem facing Australian music.
The absence of such a rule for major international tours like Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in 2023 highlights missed opportunities for introducing local artists to new fans and nurturing future megastars.
This support act rule was previously a common industry code, endorsed by artist managers in the early 2000s. The reimplementation of “Michael’s Rule” as a voluntary code urges senior artist managers to bring it back during this critical period for Australian music.
If promoters do not agree to the rule, AAM plans to urge the federal government to enforce it by making compliance a requirement for issuing visas to international artists touring Australia.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has expressed support for “Michael’s Rule,” acknowledging the importance of showcasing local artists to new audiences, which is key to strengthening the local music industry.
ARIA’s year-end charts underscore the current challenge, with a limited number of Australian albums and singles making it to the top 100 lists in the past year. This reinforces the urgent need to implement initiatives like “Michael’s Rule” to boost the visibility of Australian talent.
Additional strategies, such as expanding venues like sports stadiums into multi-use facilities in New South Wales, aim to provide more entertainment options for the community while creating opportunities for local artists to share the stage with global icons.
The introduction of “Michael’s Rule” comes at a critical time, following the closure of Brisbane’s The Zoo, one of Australia’s longstanding grassroots music venues, and the announcement of music festivals like Splendour in the Grass either skipping this year or closing permanently due to financial pressures.
