SYDNEY, Australia — The registration of Australia’s new radio code has hit such a bum note with the domestic music community, multiple trade bodies have referenced the situation as disappointing, a “missed opportunity” and an end-result that should’ve gone the way of the dinosaurs.
At the heart of the issue is local radio content quotas. Commercial, contemporary music-led radio stations in Australia are generally required to play a minimum of 25% domestic content, as stipulated in the Commercial Radio Code of Practice.
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Some programmers, the industry has argued, haven’t played fair. Various leading broadcasters have consistently struggled to meet these targets, advocates have warned, and others have met them by playing golden oldies during the small hours, when audiences peter out.
ARIA and APRA have issued separate, strongly worded statements after the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) registered the new Code, claiming the update doesn’t tighten the loopholes.
The Commercial Radio Code of Practice 2026 is “like Jurassic Park and doesn’t reflect the opportunity that’s right in front of commercial radio right now,” says Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS.
With CRA and ACMA “not doing anything meaningful through this code,” he continues, “we’re calling directly on stations to seize the opportunity and join the Australian music renaissance.”
Australian artists are hot, but they need all the help they can get. Content quotas is one part of the solution.
According to APRA AMCOS, international revenue for local songwriters and composers hit a record A$98.8 million ($70 million) in the last financial year, a result up nearly 15% year-on-year, and more than double the corresponding figure in 2019.
Separately, Music Australia’s Listening In research series, published in 2025, found that 71% of music-engaged Australians feel a sense of pride when they hear Australian music, two in three want to hear more, and one quarter of music-engaged audiences still turn to radio to discover new music.
Several recent national polls and charts, however, have shed light on how, in today’s an all-access streaming landscape, local recording artists are increasingly overshadowed by major label signings from the United States and United Kingdom.
“We are extremely disappointed that despite all the evidence put forward showing that these quotas aren’t working, the ACMA has not pursued any reasonable or practical changes,” comments ARIA and PPCA CEO Annabelle Herd.
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) Code reviews “don’t happen very often and yet this has become another instance of Australian radio policy failing the country’s homegrown culture and artists in the very market where they should have a natural advantage.”
Under the current framework, Herd explains, “stations are meeting their obligations while relegating Australian music to overnight and off-peak slots. The practical effect is that the quota exists on paper but delivers little for artists or the Australian listeners it was designed to serve.”
ACMA states that a significant number of submissions to the review called for strengthened rules around the broadcasting of Australian music. As a result, changes were made to the station categories that determine how much Australian music must be played to “better reflect contemporary broadcasting practices and music genres,” with ACMA, CRA and the commercial radio industry working closely on compliance and teething problems over the coming year.
That’s not the full picture, remarks ARIA’s Herd. For the ACMA “to agree to changes to important music genre categories without any input from the music industry,” she continues, “is baffling.”
And despite lobbying from the music industry, the ACMA didn’t review the application of local music quotas to digital radio services, addressed in “Revive,” the National Cultural Policy.
“At a minimum we are simply are asking for Australian music to be played when Australians are listening,” Herd says. “That is a modest and reasonable expectation, and it is disappointing that the opportunity to deliver on it has been rejected by the ACMA.”
CRA has welcomed the registration of the code, which is effective from July 1, 2026, applies to all commercial radio broadcasting licensees and introduces “substantial enhancements” to the existing community safeguards. Those upgrades include a requirement for AI transparency for programs — including news spots — hosted by synthetic voices.
“Over the course of the review we’ve worked closely with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, our members, and the Australian public who shared their views during consultation,” remarks CRA CEO Lizzie Young. “The result is a new Code that reflects what matters most to the communities that commercial radio connects with every day, and we’re committed to continuing our work with the ACMA as it takes effect” concluded Young.
The music business is promising to continue the fight for creatives. “It now falls to government to recognize this gap and examine the ways in which it can ensure Australians are hearing local music in their own country,” Herd reckons. “Our artists carry Australian stories to the world: they deserve a framework at home that gives them a genuine foundation to build on.”
Read the Code here.
