{"id":864365,"date":"2026-08-22T12:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T12:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/864365\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T12:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T12:46:10","slug":"australias-keep-music-live-campaign-launched-to-protect-live-musicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/864365\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s Keep Music Live Campaign Launched to Protect Live Musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) union in Australia has announced its Keep Music Live Campaign, a petition<\/a> to support live music as the use of live musicians in productions have been declining, the MEAA reports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This comes after the Australian Ballet began using pre-recorded music on its regional tours, citing logistical reasons for the move. In April<\/a>, the AFR reported that the Australian Ballet was entering its fifth year operating on a loss since the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, musicians claim that the company\u2019s cost-cutting strategy is \u201ccompromising artistic integrity and its duty to provide employment,\u201d the AFR explains<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the past year, the Australian Ballet touring program also used recorded music for its shows in Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Darwin \u2014 among the works featured included The Nutcracker. Similarly, the West Australian Ballet started using recorded soundtracks for its performances, says the MEAA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most of the venues on the Australian Ballet\u2019s latest regional tour had orchestra pits suited for around 20 to 40 musicians. However, the pre-recorded track was also used for the tour\u2019s four shows at Adelaide Festival Centre, which can seat up to 200 musicians, the AFR reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The recordings used for the shows were made in advance by the company\u2019s wholly-owned subsidiary, Orchestra Victoria, which comprises over 40 full-time musicians who perform around 150 mainstage opera and ballet performances each year in addition to its chamber music and outreach engagements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The MEAA\u2019s subsequent Keep Music Live<\/a> petition is calling for safeguards to allow the continued experience of the \u201cirreplaceable value\u201d of live music and to protect and sustain the careers of live musicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The petition requests that live musicians be hired wherever a live orchestra or band can and should be used, that recorded music or digital technologies do not substitute live performance where it might displace professional musicians, and that companies are transparent about when and why recordings are used.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additionally, the petition asks that audiences are valued, and are not asked to pay more for productions \u201cthat deliver less artistic authenticity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Australian Ballet\u2019s new Executive Director Claire Spencer<\/a> explains that pre-recorded music had been used for some regional tours since before its recent shows, for logistical rather than financial reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe On Tour program is designed to travel to a broad range of venues across Australia, many of which do not have the infrastructure required to accommodate a live orchestra, including venues without an orchestra pit or with pits that are not large enough to accommodate an appropriate ensemble,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Orchestra Victoria\u2019s bespoke recording] ensures the musical accompaniment is tailored to the choreography and artistic vision of the work, while enabling us to bring ballet to regional and outer-metropolitan communities that we would otherwise be unable to reach through our main stage touring model.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian Ballet’s decision to replace live musicians with recorded music on many of its touring productions is deeply disappointing,\u201d the MEAA writes<\/a>. \u201cBallet is the collaboration between dancers and musicians, creating a live artistic experience that cannot be replicated by a soundtrack. When live music is removed, audiences lose an essential part of the art form and professional musicians lose vital opportunities to work and create. We cannot allow recorded music to become the new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPublicly funded institutions such as the Australian Ballet have a responsibility to present ballet with artistic integrity, and that requires live musicians,\u201d adds violinist Lachlan Bramble, the MEAA president for South Australia and the Northern Territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reject the notion that recorded music should become the default option whenever producers face financial or logistical challenges,\u201d Bramble continues<\/a>. \u201cThe choice is not between recorded music and no performance. The challenge is to find solutions that preserve the live artistic collaboration at the heart of performance. We have outstanding musicians in every state and territory. Producers should be looking for ways to engage them, not bypass them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAudiences deserve to know whether they are buying a performance featuring live artistic collaboration or one relying on a soundtrack. Transparency is the minimum standard \u2026 The future of live performance depends on valuing live music as an essential artistic and cultural contribution, not an optional extra.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) union in Australia has announced its Keep Music Live Campaign, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-864365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}