Shihad Launches NZ Music Month

The shows began at midday at CPIT in Christchurch, then Wellington’s Meow at 4:30 p.m. and, despite the cancellation of its commercial flight, the band made it to Auckland’s Powerstation at 9 p.m. as scheduled.

“All three cities were important to us when we were starting out,” says singer Jon Toogood. “We wanted to make a statement for New Zealand Music Month. When we started out, there was hardly any local music on radio and gigs were hard to get if you played original music.”

New Zealand Music Month sees labels, venues, radio and TV team up to focus on local music through May and help find wider audiences. In 2015, there were 1,300 live music events of all styles where 1,800 artists and bands performed across 65 cities and towns. The impact of the initiative was quick.

According to government figures, airtime for local acts rose from 10 percent in 2000, when it was introduced, to nearly 23 percent four years later. The amount of New Zealand music sold grew from 5.45 percent of the total market in 2000 to more than10 percent by 2004 and in 2013 accounted for NZ$9.6 million ($6.55 million) of retail’s turnover of NZ$83.3 million ($56.8 million).

In 2013, covering the last available official figures, NZ$44.4 million ($30.3 million) of radio broadcasting’s NZ$216.6 million ($147.9 million) was made from New Zealand music, NZ$27.1 million ($18.5 million) of the live sector’s revenue of NZ$96.9 million ($66.1 million) were attributed to local acts, and domestic music accounted for NZ$10.6 million ($7.2 million) of public performance’s turnover of NZ$33.9 million ($23.1 million).