SYDNEY, Australia — Several members of Spotify’s top brass, including the streaming giant’s founder and CEO Daniel Ek, made the long haul down under in recent days to meet with the domestic music industry and to present a new, multi-year grassroots music initiative.
The cornerstone of Spotify’s good-news week in these parts was the unveiling of a first-of-its-kind partnership with The Push, the national youth music organization dedicated to creating safer, fairer and more inclusive music communities for young people. Through the three-year arrangement, Spotify has donated A$200,000 ($142,000) to help create pathways for young people into music, a sum that’s said to be the largest-ever single donation received by The Push, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.
That package, presented before an industry gathering on Wednesday evening, Feb. 25 on Sydney’s Oxford Street, on the eve of the colorful Mardi Gras parade, marks one of the digital platform’s “most significant partnerships,” explains Mikaela Lancaster, managing director for Spotify Australia and New Zealand, “one focused squarely on supporting the next generation of Australian artists and industry leaders. It’s one that’s close to my heart.”
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Also on hand was Spotify’s chief public affairs officer Dustee Jenkins, who announced the initiative to a room that included senator Sarah Hanson-Young, UNIFIED Music Group founder and CEO Jaddan Comerford, and Moshtix managing director Harley Evans.
“We’re super proud of our contributions to the industry. And this market is so so important to us,” Jenkins remarked. “Australia is the second most-engaged market for us in the entire world.” Roughly 50% of Australia’s 25 million population is on Spotify, she continued, and they’re “using Spotify on a regular basis. And so we want to be sure that they continue to enjoy their experience, that they think about that experience as time well spent.”
Jenkins also shared the results of Turn Up Aus, a booster project that generated 223 million more streams of domestic music in Australia for the year 2024-25.
The investment in the Turn Up Aus campaign can be measured in “millions of dollars,” she explains, and isn’t being made in most countries.
Separate data published by Spotify last May found that Australian artists generated over $300 million in royalties for the previous year, a 14% increase year-on-year gain. More than 80% of those royalties were from listeners outside of Australia; “exciting export numbers,” reckons Jenkins, and a result that places Australia in the top 10 exporters of music worldwide. That despite Australia being bumped from the IFPI’s top 10 recorded music markets for the first time last year.
From the outside looking in, Australia has it all. Cold beer, hot coffee, warm weather, hard-to-beat beaches, and a culture where sporting champions are lauded with statutes. The country’s music community has produced countless heroes, too, from AC/DC to Sia, Kylie Minogue and INXS, who were this week nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
Homegrown artists, however, are struggling to be seen and heard above the galaxy of music that’s available on-demand. And the avalanche of new music isn’t slowing.
In Australia, “there’s no question that there has been a lot of talk about the important of ensuring that Australians are still listening to Australian music,” Jenkins tells Billboard, “that Australian artists have a chance at success in their home country.”
Turn Up Aus addressed the creeping dread through a combination of efforts, from a dedicated editorial hub to industry-focused events, youth music education efforts, fan experiences and more. Those additional 223 million homegrown streams, “this is significant,” Jenkins remarked. “But we know that’s not enough.”
That’s where The Push comes to shove. The donation will directly support the organization’s new ten-year strategy, A National Plan for Young Australians and Music, a blueprint, a call-to-action for government, industry and communities to ensure all young people, regardless of postcode, income or identity, can participate and thrive in Australian music.
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Spotify and The Push got talking about 12 months ago, explains The Push’s CEO Kate Duncan, as both sides explored the effects of the federal social media ban for under-16s, an enforceable rule that came into effect last December. Youngsters love their music, and they to find it on their socials. A national YouGov poll, published last year by The Push, found that 70% of young Australians were discovering new music via social media platforms.
“A lot of those conversations we’ve been having with Spotify over the last six months have been about how we could be supporting on another,” Duncan tells Billboard.
With the cash injection, The Push will be rolling out a suite of initiatives that “give young people a sense of purpose and connection,” she continues. “So, positively impacts their mental well-being.”
The partnership launch at Appizza wrapped with a performance by Robert Baxter, previously spotlighted through The Push program, and a set by Spotify’s latest RADAR artist MAY-A, whose sang cuts from her debut album Goodbye (If You Call It That), and her hit collaboration with Flume, “Say Nothing.”
“The youth, the pool of talent coming out the market,” says Spotify’s Jenkins, “we need that to remain really healthy and strong.”
