Most Americans love the stuffing out of Australians and Australian artists, when clearly identified as such (or sometimes even not, as evidenced by the influx of male "bro-country" singers and American football players in the specific position of "punter"). This is from a combination of good niche-fitting and a certain air of "exoticism" that Australians carry when over here, that Americans remain enthralled by.
Platforms like TikTok homogenize, and often decontextualize; and presenting culture (like music) devoid of context (like origin) just doesn't work.
Triple-J needs to "triple down" on the "Australian-ness" of its playlists and offerings; become the beacon of "Brand Australia" that the big worldwide labels look to. Whether that's by Canadian-style regulated "Can-Con" quotas or more informal ones, whatever works politically; but find the artists who light up the room and Send Them Up Through America.
Hook them into the specific infrastructures of their genres and niches, yes, but Send Them here.
Many will do well, if they know how to lean into their Oz-ness enough to distinguish themselves from the pack. Those that do, can bring that success as credibility to use back home.
Awesome read, I really enjoyed the perspective. It’s such a thought-provoking subject and something I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on trying to understand, especially from a psychological point of view.
If you take localisation out of the equation (talking about the frequency of Australian based artists achieving global success), my bet is that the surge in platforms has led to a behavioural shift in how people encounter and feel about music. It's a different value proposition to what it was back pre-platforms. You hear a song, it makes you feel a certain way, you don’t care if it’s popular or not, but you save it because it means something to you. You’re choosing to invest into a song and an artist because of the way they make you feel, the product is the feeling. The country or location really doesn’t mean anything.
There was a super interesting quote from Gustav Söderström on a product podcast I enjoy: “The internet started with curation, often user curation. So you took something, books or music, you digitise it and put it online and you ask people to curate it. That was Facebook, Spotify and so forth. After a while the world switched from curation to recommendation, where instead of people doing that work, you had algorithms. That was a big change that required us and others to actually rethink the entire user experience and sometimes the business model as well. And I think what we’re entering now is we’re going from your curation, to recommendation, to generation”.
It’s interesting in the context of the article in that traditionally Triple J (and friends) would curate music that I had a high chance of enjoying. Since I valued the source, I perceived the music to be more enjoyable or “worth” more to me. It was exclusive, it held meaning outside of the music itself (social ties, or being informed), and because I had it, it was part of my collection. It felt personal. This unconscious bias was the differentiator in my view.
That might have been the 2010s. Since then the job that radio serves for me is a stop gap between travelling, being in an environment where I have to listen to it, and actually being able to listen to the music I care about. If I am looking to find something new, it’s an explicit choice, genre driven, hyper personalised, within proximity to an artist I already know (think Matisse and Sadko to Third Party). We collect songs that are given to us based on the songs we’ve saved in the past because it’s the product of probability. I trust my listening history and past behaviour to know more about my taste and what I want to hear vs. a random presenter on the radio.
When you look at the initial quote from Gustav, the curation > recommendation > generation is just full circle. We’re going back to having access to track lists that are made for us, except we’ve removed the human curation aspect, and recommendation has become generation for an audience of me. It’s personal.
What platforms are doing, when done well, is creating the perfect execution of the behavioural model from Dr. BJ Fogg. A combination of a motivation (do I like the music), an ability (can I become a fan or connect at some level) and a prompt (the platforms provide this, i.e. saving or liking). Traditional radio offers none of this, yet there’s significant opportunity to identify what the latent demand is for those who do listen to radio and invest in more in what does deliver real value to listeners.
Great read- I agree with the criticism of JJJ and the charts but I do think streaming is by far the biggest issue here- both in reducing the value of music and encouraging people to get comfortable listening to music they are already familiar with.
What are your thoughts about the Govt mandating a certain percentage of local music to be played in the algorithm of streaming services? It's far from a silver bullet but I genuinely think it would make a noticeable impact at least locally.
Government imposed quotas would almost certainly work. This is obvious when you look at non english speaking markets, their local artists dominate and do incredible business.
I think it’s important to note the Tiktokification of triple j as part of its downfall as well. You used to listen to Triple J to get music you weren’t hearing on mainstream radio but when the majority of tracks they play now are just pulled from whatever sound is trending, it pushed a lot of people away. Just look at the most recent hottest 100s - what used to be an eclectic mix of all genres, home grown talent and big name internationals has become a barren wasteland of TT music that everyone’s already been hearing the entire year. Its homogenous and boring and not what Triple J used to be about
Thanks for an interesting article. We need more focus on that passive streams v active listener issue - I simply don't understand the reticence of ARIA to explore this within the chart system. Australian music is very popular - it's just that the charts are shining the light elsewhere
Such a reminder of the enormous impact of Richard Kingsmill. I started listening to JJJ when it went national ahem in around 1990 and my music taste suddenly went from American pop to Aussie indie and rock overnight. He and all at JJJ was a huge part of it. Even now aged 48 I semi regularly listen to my Live at the Wireless collection! Not to be all nostalgic, but for my kids, it is a shame how they don’t have that collective thrill of shared discovery of music via the radio, where a passionate DJ tells you why this is awesome and why you should love it. Anyway - thanks for a great read.
1. How much do you think covid has played in all of this? Lack of ability to tour/promote globally etc.
2. With the lack of global 'superstars' I guess the 'one hit wonders' stand out a bit more, but I would suggest they have always been there.
3. I agree with you that streaming skews the numbers. Super fans back in the might wear out a CD & buy another, however 60% got 2 -3 plays & that's it, we never counted 2nd hand CD's in charts & yes generated playlists are basically radio.
So what's the solution?
Can algorithmic Playlists be recatagorised as radio play?
Can government create laws to gaurantee spotify etc plays local content?
How would this affect trade agreements like the TPPA? Or do we just accept a loss to artistic sovereignty?
This is definitely, a timely published article nailing the issues at hand accurately. 35 years in the biz, a billboard #1 hit, nearly 500,000,000 streams, and yet ZERO ARIA recognition. Heck, I'm even the global #1 indie artist this week on mega indie music site reverbnation (owned by bandcamp), still, crickets.
Well done on a thoroughly enjoyable article, which elucidates some important points in an entertaining way. The obligatory compliments out of the way, here are my comments:
1. That's not what begs the questions means.
2. You have predicated this article by saying Australia hasn't produced a global superstar since 2020 but you yourself identify Masked Wolf (AitO reached #6 in the US, higher than anything Troye Sivan or Vance Joy has achieved), and you don't include Joji on your list at all, even though he is clearly a global superstar. There's also Luude (two UK Top 10 hits) and Royel Otis (several hits on the US genre charts alongside some decent virality).
3. Agree one million per cent that the first minimum requirement for presenters must be competence. Then try to fill out diversity checkboxes. For too long now there has been a abundance of presenters who are simply not intelligent enough to be on national radio (Ben and Liam was a shameful low point).
Masked Wolf has had an enormous viral hit but couldn't back it up and do any meaningful business internationally outside of that one track - it was a colossal achievement, but still, it is hard to categorise him as a global superstar.
The other artists you mentioned are doing fantastic but are yet to be global stars, hopefully soon.
Hi. American musician here.
Most Americans love the stuffing out of Australians and Australian artists, when clearly identified as such (or sometimes even not, as evidenced by the influx of male "bro-country" singers and American football players in the specific position of "punter"). This is from a combination of good niche-fitting and a certain air of "exoticism" that Australians carry when over here, that Americans remain enthralled by.
Platforms like TikTok homogenize, and often decontextualize; and presenting culture (like music) devoid of context (like origin) just doesn't work.
Triple-J needs to "triple down" on the "Australian-ness" of its playlists and offerings; become the beacon of "Brand Australia" that the big worldwide labels look to. Whether that's by Canadian-style regulated "Can-Con" quotas or more informal ones, whatever works politically; but find the artists who light up the room and Send Them Up Through America.
Hook them into the specific infrastructures of their genres and niches, yes, but Send Them here.
Many will do well, if they know how to lean into their Oz-ness enough to distinguish themselves from the pack. Those that do, can bring that success as credibility to use back home.
Awesome read, I really enjoyed the perspective. It’s such a thought-provoking subject and something I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on trying to understand, especially from a psychological point of view.
If you take localisation out of the equation (talking about the frequency of Australian based artists achieving global success), my bet is that the surge in platforms has led to a behavioural shift in how people encounter and feel about music. It's a different value proposition to what it was back pre-platforms. You hear a song, it makes you feel a certain way, you don’t care if it’s popular or not, but you save it because it means something to you. You’re choosing to invest into a song and an artist because of the way they make you feel, the product is the feeling. The country or location really doesn’t mean anything.
There was a super interesting quote from Gustav Söderström on a product podcast I enjoy: “The internet started with curation, often user curation. So you took something, books or music, you digitise it and put it online and you ask people to curate it. That was Facebook, Spotify and so forth. After a while the world switched from curation to recommendation, where instead of people doing that work, you had algorithms. That was a big change that required us and others to actually rethink the entire user experience and sometimes the business model as well. And I think what we’re entering now is we’re going from your curation, to recommendation, to generation”.
It’s interesting in the context of the article in that traditionally Triple J (and friends) would curate music that I had a high chance of enjoying. Since I valued the source, I perceived the music to be more enjoyable or “worth” more to me. It was exclusive, it held meaning outside of the music itself (social ties, or being informed), and because I had it, it was part of my collection. It felt personal. This unconscious bias was the differentiator in my view.
That might have been the 2010s. Since then the job that radio serves for me is a stop gap between travelling, being in an environment where I have to listen to it, and actually being able to listen to the music I care about. If I am looking to find something new, it’s an explicit choice, genre driven, hyper personalised, within proximity to an artist I already know (think Matisse and Sadko to Third Party). We collect songs that are given to us based on the songs we’ve saved in the past because it’s the product of probability. I trust my listening history and past behaviour to know more about my taste and what I want to hear vs. a random presenter on the radio.
When you look at the initial quote from Gustav, the curation > recommendation > generation is just full circle. We’re going back to having access to track lists that are made for us, except we’ve removed the human curation aspect, and recommendation has become generation for an audience of me. It’s personal.
What platforms are doing, when done well, is creating the perfect execution of the behavioural model from Dr. BJ Fogg. A combination of a motivation (do I like the music), an ability (can I become a fan or connect at some level) and a prompt (the platforms provide this, i.e. saving or liking). Traditional radio offers none of this, yet there’s significant opportunity to identify what the latent demand is for those who do listen to radio and invest in more in what does deliver real value to listeners.
Apologies for the manuscript.
Epic response Scott, thanks for this. Love your thinking.
Great read- I agree with the criticism of JJJ and the charts but I do think streaming is by far the biggest issue here- both in reducing the value of music and encouraging people to get comfortable listening to music they are already familiar with.
What are your thoughts about the Govt mandating a certain percentage of local music to be played in the algorithm of streaming services? It's far from a silver bullet but I genuinely think it would make a noticeable impact at least locally.
Government imposed quotas would almost certainly work. This is obvious when you look at non english speaking markets, their local artists dominate and do incredible business.
I think it’s important to note the Tiktokification of triple j as part of its downfall as well. You used to listen to Triple J to get music you weren’t hearing on mainstream radio but when the majority of tracks they play now are just pulled from whatever sound is trending, it pushed a lot of people away. Just look at the most recent hottest 100s - what used to be an eclectic mix of all genres, home grown talent and big name internationals has become a barren wasteland of TT music that everyone’s already been hearing the entire year. Its homogenous and boring and not what Triple J used to be about
This is a problem a lot of radio stations have. They need to find a point of difference away from the platforms.
Thanks for an interesting article. We need more focus on that passive streams v active listener issue - I simply don't understand the reticence of ARIA to explore this within the chart system. Australian music is very popular - it's just that the charts are shining the light elsewhere
Such a reminder of the enormous impact of Richard Kingsmill. I started listening to JJJ when it went national ahem in around 1990 and my music taste suddenly went from American pop to Aussie indie and rock overnight. He and all at JJJ was a huge part of it. Even now aged 48 I semi regularly listen to my Live at the Wireless collection! Not to be all nostalgic, but for my kids, it is a shame how they don’t have that collective thrill of shared discovery of music via the radio, where a passionate DJ tells you why this is awesome and why you should love it. Anyway - thanks for a great read.
A couple of points,
1. How much do you think covid has played in all of this? Lack of ability to tour/promote globally etc.
2. With the lack of global 'superstars' I guess the 'one hit wonders' stand out a bit more, but I would suggest they have always been there.
3. I agree with you that streaming skews the numbers. Super fans back in the might wear out a CD & buy another, however 60% got 2 -3 plays & that's it, we never counted 2nd hand CD's in charts & yes generated playlists are basically radio.
So what's the solution?
Can algorithmic Playlists be recatagorised as radio play?
Can government create laws to gaurantee spotify etc plays local content?
How would this affect trade agreements like the TPPA? Or do we just accept a loss to artistic sovereignty?
I think for artists who peaked right before covid it hurt their global growth the most, Tones and I comes to mind for this.
RE algo playlists, yes I think they should be treated as radio plays rather than purchases, and the goverment should step in with quotas too.
This is definitely, a timely published article nailing the issues at hand accurately. 35 years in the biz, a billboard #1 hit, nearly 500,000,000 streams, and yet ZERO ARIA recognition. Heck, I'm even the global #1 indie artist this week on mega indie music site reverbnation (owned by bandcamp), still, crickets.
Well done on a thoroughly enjoyable article, which elucidates some important points in an entertaining way. The obligatory compliments out of the way, here are my comments:
1. That's not what begs the questions means.
2. You have predicated this article by saying Australia hasn't produced a global superstar since 2020 but you yourself identify Masked Wolf (AitO reached #6 in the US, higher than anything Troye Sivan or Vance Joy has achieved), and you don't include Joji on your list at all, even though he is clearly a global superstar. There's also Luude (two UK Top 10 hits) and Royel Otis (several hits on the US genre charts alongside some decent virality).
3. Agree one million per cent that the first minimum requirement for presenters must be competence. Then try to fill out diversity checkboxes. For too long now there has been a abundance of presenters who are simply not intelligent enough to be on national radio (Ben and Liam was a shameful low point).
Masked Wolf has had an enormous viral hit but couldn't back it up and do any meaningful business internationally outside of that one track - it was a colossal achievement, but still, it is hard to categorise him as a global superstar.
The other artists you mentioned are doing fantastic but are yet to be global stars, hopefully soon.