By Barney Chunn

There is no denying NZ Music Month (NZMM) has had positive effects on the exposure of New Zealand music within New Zealand. The statistics show that there has been a huge jump in NZ content on commercial radio over the last 10-15 years.

There are also increases in the sales of NZ music in the month of May, with over 100 percent increase of NZ music sales from April to May 2009 (Statistics from the NZMM website, and the fact that they’re three years old could be seen as significant.)

These are notable advances in the promotion and availability of NZ music, and in the fostering of a public that isn’t afraid to like music from New Zealand. While it shouldn’t be about supporting music from New Zealand blindly, if there is or was a suggestion that the public finds music less credible because it comes from NZ, that is something that needs to be addressed.

Given that there was 2 percent NZ content on commercial radio in the 1990s, that seems like a pretty clear indication that something was awry. So the NZ music industry in the form of the Kiwi Music Action Group (KMAG) came together to create NZ Music Week in 1997, with the goal of increasing NZ content on commercial radio. A highly successful week, it evolved into NZ Music Month, a heftier platform from which to achieve the same goal. However, 20 percent local content on commercial radio was reached in 2006, and with 18-19 percent NZ content now a regular level, what is it that NZ Music Month actually does?

The NZ Music Commission runs NZMM, along with a selection of other NZ Music based companies; NZ On Air, RIANZ, APRA, Independent Music NZ, and the Radio Broadcasters Association. The stated goal of NZMM is to “help you get to great gigs, make new musical discoveries, and get excited about your faves from the past”. The NZ Music Commission states that it is “spreading the word about key releases and live shows directly to the public and also to relevant media nationwide.In addition to this the Commission stages official NZ Music Month events and works with brands and sponsors to integrate as much relevant activity into May as possible”.

It’s so vague it sounds more like: ‘We established a brand to push a goal, unfortunately we reached that goal and now have a marketable brand with nothing focused to market. Bugger.’

The NZ Music Commission to their credit has acknowledged the fact that their primary goal has been achieved: “For some years now commercial radio has been playing significantly more local content than they were a decade ago, and the focus of NZ Music Month has changed accordingly.” Of course, nowhere is there any mention of specifics to that altered focus.

NZ Music Month feels as though it has become a brand in itself. There is this entity now, NZ Music Month, which has a self-serving purpose; whose self-promotion has superseded the promotion of New Zealand music itself. There are massive posters bearing the black and white targets all over the country, but are we aware of the music, the artists, the bands, more than we are any other month, or do we become accustomed to the firing range our inner city is transformed into? What does this entity, that is very successful when it comes to the public knowing about the fact that May is NZMM, actually DO for NZ bands and artists and performers?

The quota, or NZ Music Code, is not specific to May, and is a voluntary code that has been in existence since 2002. Is there any funding for local bands, maybe for advertising gigs? NZMM surely has an advertising budget, but it seems it is all spent on its own self-serving agenda. Wouldn’t it be more to the point to fund advertising in some way for shows featuring all NZ artists during May?

I would imagine this would be much more beneficial to NZ bands, across a broad spectrum of artists, for anyone who meets the simple requirement of being a NZ musician, and they could get a base foundation for the advertising of their show. This seems like it would get the actual NZ artists attention, with much more ease than the public realising it is May and therefore NZMM, but not knowing anything other than it’s time to fork out another $40 for a t-shirt.

This is not an anti-NZMM piece - at all. We are a small country, with a strong history of cultural cringe, but also with a fantastic broad range of talent to be proud of. There was and is a need for this talent to be given every opportunity to be encountered, to find a place for great music within our culture to be heard and appreciated, and not because its made by New Zealanders but because it is good and that’s why we like it.

The figures for the increase of NZ music played on radio since the campaigns of the mid-1990s are enough to portray that there is a sea change towards appreciating music from New Zealand. However, it seems that NZMM has been less about NZ music, and more about NZMM and the large commercial bands being able to play a mid year show. I can’t see how NZMM benefits the vast majority of NZ musicians, and this could be something that the NZ Commission could focus on rather than their promotion of the Music Month brand itself.