It runs on the smell of an oily rag, but community radio is worth $153 million to the Australian music industry, report finds

Community Radio and Australian Music: Building the music-media ecosystem is the first report ever to have quantified the economic, social and cultural value of community radio in an academic, evidence-based way, according to a Monash University media release.

The report found that Australia’s community radio music stations generate an estimated $153 million in value for the music industry each year, playing more than double the volume of local music broadcast by commercial networks.

“Our findings prove that community radio is not just a broadcasting platform; it is the vital infrastructure holding up the broader Australian music industries,” said the report’s lead author, Associate Professor Shane Homan from Monash University’s School of Media, Film and Journalism.

For Australian artists and bands battling the international algorithms, community radio provides a vital avenue to local listeners.

“As digital streaming platforms dominate and local music struggles for visibility, these stations act as the ultimate champions for grassroots talent,” Homan said. “They are the essential link connecting local artists with passionate audiences who are eager to discover new music and actually show up to support it.”

Community radio runs on passion and volunteers, with subscribers keeping many stations afloat. The study used social return on investment (SROI) methodology to map volunteer hours, local airplay and artist promotion against commercial sector benchmarks; tapped into a national survey by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA); studied financial and airplay data from 10 case-study stations; and conducted interviews with station staff, Australian musicians and listeners.

The research found that more than one million Australians say community radio is the only broadcaster that plays the Australian music they want to listen to, but the value of this sector is overlooked by the broader music industry, Homan said.

In 2023, 30 per cent of weekly listeners (or 1.6 million Australians) said they had discovered a local or emerging artist thanks to community radio. Twenty-eight per cent looked up an artist on a digital streaming platform after first hearing them on community radio, 19 per cent said they recommended an artist to friends or shared them online, and more than 1.3 million listeners said they had bought merchandise, music or tickets to gigs because of community radio content.

“These listeners aren’t just passive consumers,” Homan said. “They are a dedicated audience that the commercial platforms are failing to serve. Community radio is filling a gap, providing the essential support for Australian artists that is increasingly absent elsewhere in the industry.”

The study found that in an average year, volunteers worked 136,687 hours across the project’s 10 case-study stations, highlighting the community radio sector’s importance as a training ground, and potentially giving hosts and producers the skills they need to work in commercial radio.

The report also says that First Nations community stations made up a shade under one third of Australia’s top 40 most music-intensive community radio stations. First Nations listeners told researchers that the high volume of local content on Indigenous community stations fostered a sense of ownership and belonging, with 60 per cent of weekly listeners saying local music directly enriched their cultural experience and deserved financial support.

Australia’s top First Nations community radio stations:

Radio Larrakia

Triple A Murri Country

6NME 100.9 FM

PAKAM Satellite radio Network

Waringarri Media

6DBY Larrkardi Radio

TEABBA Radio

Koori radio

Umeewarra Radio

4K1G FM 107.1

Radio Goolarri 99.7 FM

PRK Radio

Radio MAMA