DEFINITION OF SECTOR
Business environment has direct influence on operations which provide dynamic environment to achieve objectives of organization (Cherunilam, 2021). External business environment is composed by seven key environments such as political, economic, competitive, social, technological, global and demographic environment. Music and production sector of Australia is very vast and a growing sector of the country. As per statistics, 2145 music and theatre production business was operating in Australia which shows 11.1% increase in 2022 as compare to 2021 (IBISWorld, 2023). It shows high public interest in music and theatre so that this sector has grown positively over past five years between 2017 and 2022.
Tired of academic stress? Access free, high-scoring coursework samples from the Best Assignment Writing Service Australia.
Music industry of Australia made revenue of $8.78 billion which contributed in economy by $2.82 billion gross value added in 2023-24 (Creative Australia, 2025). It reflected high demand of Australian music exports in world. Ticket attendance and revenue report shows of $3.1 billion revenue from 30.1 million attendances of live performance Australia’s 2023. Report also shows that 12 million people came for contemporary music shows which made revenue of $1.5 billion in 2023 (Live Performance Australia, 2024). Live music sector has significant role in social and cultural fabric which is key part of economy. However, music and live performance industry got disturbed due to COVID-19 which resulted in loss of $1.4 billion in 2020.
PEST ANALYSIS OF MUSIC AND PRODUCTION SECTOR
Political Factor
This element focuses on government policies which affect the music and production sector. Key areas of policy may impact tax and property law of businesses. Music and production sector requires particular intellectual property right law to protect their music and theatre culture of country. Businesses need to ensure effective compliance of rule of law to protect rights of sector. Australian government believes in rule of law where everybody is equal before the law and everyone have to obey the law. Western Australian (WA) government developed an Intellectual Property (IP) policy in 2015 which includes works, designs, artworks, images and software. Intellectual property could be described as creation of human mind which need to be protect from misuse and exploitation. Government reviewed 2015 policy and introduced new WAIP policy 2023 to protect rights of businesses of music and theater sector (Taylor and Homan, 2022). Further, indigenous cultural and intellectual property (ICIP) refers to protect cultural heritage of aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia. But this ICIP rights are not legal rights to protect.
Government made new natural cultural policy in 2023 to protect ICIP. Government’s new WAIP policy undermines ICIP because WAIP is based on ownership of western concepts and not align to protect cultural heritage of aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Government has significant role to influence business environment by regulating activities of business. Government made regulations related to labor law, taxation laws, consumer protection law and environmental laws which influence business environment of music and theatre sector. Government has regulatory and promoter role to influence any business environment. For example, if organisation exploits the rights of labor to take minimum wages and face discrimination at workplace then government can take actions against organisation and protect the right of labors (Dubal, 2023). Government needs to ensure that businesses applying ethical practices to provide healthy work environment. Further, to protect the right of customer, government can conduct audit and assessment to understand performance of industry.
Live Performance Australia, music council of Australia, Australian music association are major regulators of sector to monitor the performance of music and theatre businesses of Australia. These regulators play significant role to monitor finance and other regulations of sector to ensure growth of sector. Contemporary government faces challenges to maintain stability which is important for effective compliance of regulations. If government is unstable, might face challenges to take decisions because people have less trust on them. Contemporary government show less interest to take decisions of serious issues because they know it might create problem for them. Government engages with music and theatre sector through financial assistance programs, policy development, strategic initiatives and dedicated bodies. Performing arts, theatres and cinemas assistance program is financial assistance program for Australian government to provide funding for sector. Live performance Australia introduced 40% offset for costs of production for live theatre (Live Performance Australia, 2024). Social license to operate defines to ongoing acceptance of activities of organisation by public. It may create issues for music and production sector by demanding legal permits, ethical practices and require transparency. Australian music and production sector is raid growing industry which requires positive support from government and other organisation. Effective compliance of regulations is necessary for growth of industry because when it ensure that organisation follows legal regulations.
Economic Factor
Economic elements include GDP, inflation rates, unemployment rates which impact music and production sector. Music sector of Australia contributed $2.82 billion in gross value added (GVA) to economy of Australia in 2023-24. Live performance of music contributed $1.44 billion in GVA and music retail contributed $515 million in total GVA of Australia. Besides of this, music recording, production, label services and distribution gives $350 million in GVA to growth of sector (Creative Australia, 2025). This data shows that music and production sector has major influence on economy of Australia. If contribution of sector is high then it attracts more people to become the part of industry. On the other hand, low contribution of industry might demotivate people to take participation in activities of sector. Besides of this, when sector is contributing high amount in GVA of country, always be focus point of government. Government tries to develop the sector to boost the growth of sector by providing funding and implementing strategic initiatives. Growth of sector impacts demand of customers, profit of businesses, investment and overall economic environment of business. When GVA is rising, demand of businesses also increased which lead to high profits. Inflation rate of country has major impact on purchasing power of customers, cost of labor and overall environment of business. High inflation rates create uncertainty in economy of country which discourage for long term planning and investment.
On the other hand, stable inflation rates encourage to makes long term planning and investment because now it is not risky. It lead to increase labor cost and purchasing power of customers which positively affect demand in market. For example, when inflation rates are low then it encourages more customers to take tickets of live music shows. On the other hand, high inflation rates discourage customers to do extra expenses like attending music and theatre shows. Music and production industry has major role in GVA of country which lead to offer more jobs for people. Growing sector has more capacity to create more jobs opportunities for public to reduce unemployment rate of country. Market side of music and theatre production industry is $2.1 billion in 2023 which offers employment to 10,614 employees in Australia (IBISWorld, 2023). It shows that this sector has high capacity to provide employment to new artists of music and theatre.
However, as per statistics, unemployment rate of Australia is 4.2% which shows high demand of jobs in market (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2025). When sector creates more jobs opportunities for people, make people economically independent which increase their purchasing power. For example, employed people are more interested to spend money on entertainment. On the other hand, unemployed person is not capable to expand money on entertainment because they have limited money to survive. Economic growth of individual helps in growth of sector and overall economic growth of country. If sector is providing sufficient job to people, always attracts attention of government because they also want to reduce unemployment rates of country. Growth of sector has typical relation with inflation rates and unemployment rates which contributes to build positive business environment.
Social Factor
Social elements include population, economy, demographics, employment, social attitudes and trends in life satisfaction. Australia is diverse country where people of different culture and backgrounds live together to promote their culture. Now Australia is shifting toward higher skilled and service based economy which positively impact business environment of music and production sector. This sector has high capabilities to generate skill based and services based job opportunities because entertainment is also one kind of service for public. Music and production sector Australia has diverse demographic which includes young adults, GenZ, older adults (McCrindle, Renton and Leung, 2021). Everybody has different taste of music which impacts the demand of music in sector. Demographic changes may affect business environment by savings of customers, resource allocation, labor supply and flow of capital.
47% people from age 15 years and over attended music events in 2022 which shows their interest in music events. Further, men are more interested to attend live music as compare to women of Australia. 42% of aged 15-34 Australian people attend contemporary, which is more than other age group (Creative Australia, 2022). When demographic of sector changes, it impacts the business environment to fulfill the demand of particular age group. Australian generation cohorts divided in four groups like baby boomers, generation X, millennial and zoomers. Different generational cohorts have values on the bases of shared viewpoints, guiding principles, ideals. These all generational cohorts work together to enhance the capabilities of music sector of Australia. Changes in socio-cultural environment have significant impact on business environment by influence customer demand, determine marketing strategies, and shape expectations of society. Public choices in music are different from each other so their demand impacts the business environment because businesses have to ensure to fulfill the demand of market. Social culture and music have strong interconnection with each other because music represents the culture of society. According to reports, Australian people are now more interested in live music because of their social connection and Fear of Missing out (FOMO).
Nowadays, social media plays a major role to influence attitude of listeners and attracts their attention towards cultural music. Social and emotional value of music is key motivator for people to attend live shows because music is main source for healing and relaxation. Social attitude to Australian people is drastically changing toward music and theatre which has positive impact on business environment of sector. Music and production sector has many job opportunities in different areas such as artist management, digital marketing, music production and distribution. This sector has capacity to create more jobs in digital marketing and music production by integrating new digital tools in businesses. Many music artists face challenges to get frequent work because they are most likely in freelance work which impact their regular income. Digitalization increases the productivity and efficiency of workers in music production and artist management but also decrease the requirement of high number of employees in management. Every business needs high employee retention rate which create stability in business environment and increase productivity. Further, if company is able to provide good work environment then automatically employee retention rate get high. Globalization is another socio-cultural factor which impact business environment of music and production sector (Dhali, and Mandal, 2023). Globalization offers stage for global artists to perform in any country which impact the local culture of country.
Technology Factor
Integration of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in music and production sector help to revolutionize the way to create and produce music. Companies are now using AI tools like AIVA and hamper music and ML to compose new music, create melodies, and enhance design of music and mixing by using audio data. Besides of this, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are advance tools to enhance the experience of music performance. It can revolutionize live music performance by providing real experience to audience from anywhere (Murphy and Hume, 2025). Further, block chain technology is helpful to transform rights of music and management of royalties. This technology ensures secure, fair and transparent compensation for work of music artist. Integration of smart devices like smart phones, speakers and tablets help to control equipment while performing to enhance creativity and accuracy. New technology integration is helpful to make process easy of ticket bookings, live show performance and other services to enhance the experience of visitors.
Students analyzing public sector administration, policy implementation, and organizational frameworks in Australian welfare systems can explore Management Assignment Help for strategic academic guidance.
New technologies adaption in music and production business has positive impact on business environment. As compare to outdated technology new technology produce less carbon footprint which is sustainable option for any business. Outdated technology is now less productive and more time consuming that decrease the level of production (Dastane, 2020). On the other hand, artists have fear to loss real meaning of their music by excess use of technology. For example, by use of auto tune any person can make their own music audio which devalued the hard work of real artists. VR and AR may decrease the interest of audience to take tickets of offline shows because now they have option to attend show from anywhere. Excess use of technology impacts the social connection of artist and listeners. Technologies increase the frequency of change in trends of music which decrease the value of classical and traditional music.
Companies need high capital to integrate new technologies in production of music. It is not possible for small businesses to do high investment on technologies. They are not able to adapt all technologies that are trending in music market. They need to prioritize technologies as per their need and demand of work. Further, old artists and workers of companies are used to old technologies, new technologies learning is quiet challenging for them. Technology adaptation impacts business environment in both ways positive or negative (Cherunilam, 2021). On side it increase productivity, performance experience and accuracy of work and another side it require high investment and training which impact interest of workers. Further, every artist has right to protect their music by copyright but digitalization increase the risk of data breaches. Data protection is major concern for the sector because new technology integration increases the risk of misuse the data of artist and customers. If company is able to effectively adapt new technologies, it contributes to provide positive business environment. Now music is easily available free on various platforms for all listeners which impact the revenue of music production companies. Company requires a new data protection regulation to protect their music from piracy.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
- Cherunilam, F. (2021). Business environment. Himalaya Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.
- Dastane, D. O. (2020). The impact of technology adoption on organizational productivity. Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business, 11(4), 7-18.
- Dhali, K. K., & Mandal, T. (Eds.). (2023). Socio-Cultural and Economic Aspects of Globalization. Concept Publishing Company.
- Dubal, V. (2023). On algorithmic wage discrimination. Columbia Law Review, 123(7), 1929-1992.
- McCrindle, M., Renton, S., & Leung, K. (2021). Australian towards 2031: The demographic, consumer and behavioural trends shaping the nation. environment, 60, 57.
- Murphy, S., & Hume, M. (2025). The new digital music marketing ecosystem: artist direct. Creative Industries Journal, 18(2), 172-204.
- Taylor, S., & Homan, S. (2022). Australian popular music policy. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Policy, 199.
- Australian Bureau Of Statistics. 2025. Labour Force, Australia. Online. Available Through: <https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/latest-release>
- Creative Australia. 2022. Creating Value. Online. Available Through: <https://creative.gov.au/sites/creative-australia/files/documents/2025-03/NAPS-2022_Fact-Sheets_Artform_Music.pdf>
- Creative Australia. 2025. Charting the Bass Line: New report details the economics of Australia’s $8.78 billion music industry. Online. Available Through: <https://creative.gov.au/news-events/news/charting-bass-line-new-report-details-economics-australias-878-billion-music>
- Creative Australia. 2025. The Bass Line: Charting the economic contribution of Australia’s music industry. Online. Available Through: < https://creative.gov.au/research/bass-line-charting-economic-contribution-australias-music-industry>
- IBISWorld. 2023. Music and Theatre Productions in Australia - Market Research Report (2013-2028). Online. Available Through: < https://www.ibisworld.com/australia/industry/music-and-theatre-productions/649/>
- IBISWorld. 2023. Music and Theatre Productions in Australia - Number of Businesses (2008–2030). Online. Available Through: <https://www.ibisworld.com/australia/number-of-businesses/music-and-theatre-productions/649/>
- Live Performance Australia. 2024. Australians support live performance in record numbers in 2023. Online. Available Through: <https://liveperformance.com.au/australians-support-live-performance-in-record-numbers-in-2023/>
- Live Performance Australia. 2024. Live Theatre Tax Offset to support creative future made in Australia. Online. Available Through: <https://liveperformance.com.au/live-theatre-tax-offset-to-support-creative-future-made-in-australia/>
