SLAM Seeks Council Investigation

Lobby group SLAM (Save Live Australian Music) called on the Australian Government to hold an investigation into how its arts funding body, the Australia Council, has awarded more than $7.25 million to classical record label Melba Recordings since 2004.

Melba received $750,000 in 2011 alone, and released just three albums.

“As members of the contemporary music sector, we are outraged that this amount of funding should be provided to a single organisation outside of the peer review process,” SLAM said. “The sheer size of the initial grant provided to Melba Recordings is equal to the entire budget of the music board of the Australia Council.”