Creative Industries Add $3.5B To GDP

The four also employ 14,918 authors, publishers, musicians, actors and writers directly.

The figure rises to 30,599 with the indirect impact of the sectors. New Zealand’s total workforce numbers 2.3 million.

The music industry’s contribution is NZ$205 million ($180.6 million) directly and a total impact of NZ$452 million ($398.3 million).

It provides 1,670 full-time equivalent jobs directly and a total 4,077. The most jobs in music were in radio, with 846 jobs, and 2,158 in total. WeCreate.org.nz was launched July 10 by 20 associations to champion all its creative industries, also covering games, photography and visual arts.

Founder members included Recorded Music NZ, Copyright Licensing NZ, The NZ Screen Association, the Publishers Association of NZ (PANZ), the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA), the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Artists Alliance.

“This is the first time we have been able to truly demonstrate the real value New Zealand’s creators deliver to our economy,” said chair of WeCreate.org.nz, Paula Browning. “Based on four areas alone, we can already see the creative sector is thriving.”

She said it was important that the Government and other agencies know of the sector’s economic impact, and that future reports would include the other sectors.