On Wednesday June 18 at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, former Recorded Sound Industry Executive Michael Smellie offered some fresh ideas to boost the Australian Music Industry as he delivered the inaugural Thomas Rome lecture.
In his lecture “A Sound Recording Industry in Australia”, Smellie identified some familiar concerns and challenges facing the Australian Music Industry and went on to offer some key ideas to boost the industry.
Speaking before an audience of representatives of the music industry, cultural institutions and arts bodies, Smellie proposed a “whole-of-industry” approach including the establishment of a peak body for Australian music and the Government’s declaration of a National Music Day as means for helping the industry move evolve.
He also suggested establishing a “digital accelerator” focused particularly on music which would generate an “Australian Silicon Valley” to stimulate innovation by the music industry in the online and digital environment and advanced a plan to integrate music education into the industry’s value chain” and encouraged Australia “to stake out some intellectual property in the digital music arena”.
The Thomas Rome lecture is named after Thomas Rome of Warrnambool, who made the first sound recordings in this country in 1896. It has been established by the National Film & Sound Archive as an annual lecture, providing a platform for a leading figure in the Australian Sound Recording industry to generate ideas, debate and discussion about the state of the sound industries, relevant public policy issues and the role of sound in society.
NFSA’s Executive Director, Paolo Cherchi Usai said, “We want the Thomas Rome lecture to be a lively forum for open ideas and innovation about directions for the sound recording industry in Australia. Michael Smellie’s ideas are a contribution to a debate that interests all involved in the future of music and cultural activity in Australia more generally.”
[Release by Avviso]