Beyond the bright lights, a struggle for indie artists

By Daniel Williamson

Packed venues and the sweaty band rooms of Melbourne’s thriving live music scene mask a quieter reality for many of its performers. 

Behind the cheers and calls for ‘one more song’, artists like the indie band Champ Ruby are faced with a more pressing concern: how to make a living. For them, the applause fades quickly when faced with rent payments, rising living costs, and the relentless balancing act of side jobs and late-night gigs. 

“I’d love for music to be my main, and only source of income, but unfortunately I don’t see that ever being the case,” says William Trigila, frontman of Champ Ruby, who juggles his music career with a bar job to make ends meet. 

“You hope to at least be able to afford the minimum living from making and performing your music, but that isn’t the reality.” 

For musicians like Trigila, their dreams and hopes of making basic income from their craft are often undermined by economic hardship. 

The rising cost of living in Melbourne, has made it increasingly difficult, and borderline impossible for artists to survive on their music alone, forcing them to take up part-time and full-time jobs. 

Trigila isn’t alone. Melbourne indie rapper Samuel Anderson, better known as Sumi, vents a much similar frustration. 

“It’s a scary position to be in,” he said. 

“Being an independent artist, there is even more responsibility and tasks that I must do myself to pursue my goal and ambition as a creative. However, rent, bills, and studio costs, tend to cancel out the fulfilment and joy that you would think comes with being an artist.”

Samue Anderson (Sumi) dreams of spending more time in his studio. (Photo: Daniel Williamson)

According to a report from the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), 49% of Australia’s working musicians earned less than $6,000 in 2023, and over half of musicians are claiming that the lack of pay is the most contributing barrier to working full-time in music. 

The ‘Artists as Workers; An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia’ report from Creative Australia has found that only 9% of Australian artists work full-time solely on their creative practice, with majority of artists working on a self-employed or freelance basis. 

“I’ve played more unpaid gigs than paid gigs, just in hopes that I can meet new people and network as a means to find new opportunities to make money,” Anderson said. 

“You love what you do, but it shouldn’t be this hard to survive.” 

Enter Gabrielle De Vietri, a Greens MP with a vision to change that. 

Recently, De Vietri launched ‘A Living Wage for Artists’ campaign, aimed at ensuring Australian creatives can earn a sustainable income.

“I was an artist before I became a politician, and I know firsthand how difficult it’s been for artists in Australia to make ends meet and to be paid properly for the work that they do,” De Vietri said. 

“We know that four-fifths of artists in Australia are unable to meet their minimum income needs from their artistic work alone, and more than half of Australia’s creatives are making less than $10,000 a year.” 

The ‘Living Wage’ proposal draws on inspiration from a similar program in Ireland, where selected artists receive a basic wage for three years. 

According to De Vietri, the trial will offer up to 2,000 Australian artists a wage of $55,392 per year.

“Artists will have stability,” she said. 

“It allows artists to have more time, more flexibility, and more security to be able to experiment and create interesting work that will define us into the future.” 

De Vietri also points out that this initiative isn’t about rewarding artistic excellence, but about giving every artist a chance to keep creating. 

“It would be a non-competitive selection process,” she stated. 

“It’s about acknowledging that artists have downtimes and are not being paid properly, so if you meet certain eligibility criteria to prove that you are a working artist, you would be eligible.” 

Sebastian Mangone, guitarist of Melbourne indie band The Swells, believes this could be transformative. 

“I think that particularly here in Melbourne, we have such a thriving scene of young indie bands that contribute so much to the culture, but we’re the last ones to get paid,” he said. 

Sebastian Mangone of The Swells is hopeful the campaign will make a difference. (Photo: Daniel Williamson)

“Unless you’re playing shows a couple nights a week, every week, I don’t think there is an incentive to pursue music as a career. So, I think a living wage would take a humongous amount of pressure off needing to churn out just to make a living.” 

Mangone, who also works full-time in sales, sees the initiative as a potential game-changer. 

“It would mean less burnout and more energy to dedicate to our music, and we wouldn’t have to pick and choose between being a full-time musician and being able to afford to live.” 

The proposal has generated excitement, but De Vietri acknowledges the challenges in securing government support and funding. 

“I don’t think that the government is going to jump to fund it straight away,” she said. 

“But what we do know with a lot of the policies that the greens bring to the government is that first we get ignored, then they laugh at us, and then they adopt them.” 

De Vietri is also quick to point out that this initiative is just one piece of a much larger puzzle, stating that “successive government cuts” are damaging the cultural sector. 

Beyond financial support, De Vietri emphasises the importance of affordable spaces for artists and creatives to work. 

“When I was training as an artist, one of the most important things was artist run spaces,” she said. 

“But these spaces are disappearing because of the rising cost of living and rent prices.”

Rent freezes and government regulation on insurance premiums for live venues are also part of her broader plan to support artistic spaces for creatives. 

Despite the hurdles, De Vietri’s campaign has already gained traction. 

“Since launching a few weeks ago, we’ve received almost 800 signatures on our petition, and I’ve got so many emails and DMs from artists who are really excited about it,” she said. 

Samuel Anderson (Sumi) is cautiously optimistic. 

“It’s a game changer, for sure,” he said.

“But I hope it reaches everyone, from small indie artists to the bigger names, because the music industry needs reform across the board.” 

For William Trigila, the proposal represents hope. 

“I want to focus on the band full-time, and this campaign seems like a gateway to being able to put all my efforts into my craft.”