Sexual harassment widespread in Australia's music scene, independent report finds

The 78 page Raising Their Voices review, released on September 1, found of the 1271 music industry workers it surveyed, 55 per cent alleged they had experienced sexual harassment or harm during their careers.

Music venues, festivals and tours were the most common areas where sexual harassment were reported to have occurred.

The data also found almost three quarters of perpetrators were men and it was rare for abusers to be held to account as 82 per cent of participants did not report incidents of sexual harm due to being fearful speaking out would jeopardise their career or wellbeing.

Ballarat-based Mick Trembath, who is also a live music advocate and musician, has been involved in the Australian music scene since 1987 and said it is clear sexual harrassment is rife in the industry.

"Live music sits in a really interesting place, because it's seen as an art form, but treated as a service industry," Mr Trembath said.

"Artists are completely alone and afforded very little protection.

"I have had a number of young female artists that just say the whole culture of getting your first gig is so isolating, is so confronting, and so unsupportive, and is so debilitating that they don't want to play."

He said he believed the issue of sexual harm, while a responsibility of venues, stemmed largely from audiences particularly when factoring in alcohol sales and in some cases, illicit drug consumption.

"I think largely, you know, Ballarat is not so bad but the audiences are really tricky," Mr Trembath said.

"When you play in a licensed venue your goal is to sell beer; that's what your job is.

"If the patrons are buying beer and drinking beer, you'll be invited back for a gig but if the patrons are buying beer and drinking that makes the gig slightly more dangerous. So it's an incredibly fine line to work."

Mr Trembath said particularly for upcoming and young musicians being subject to abuse was not viewed as concerning but rather as "industry experience" for the performer.

"There's a weird understanding that you should go through that process on your way to becoming a successful musician that unless you can cop that abuse and apathy and ignorance and all those sort of things, well, then you shouldn't be in the game," he said.

Open conversations between performers and venue organisers are part of the solution to addressing sexual harassment and harm Mr Trembath said.

"There needs to be negotiations between artists and the venue saying that if something happens that the artist is not comfortable with that the artist can stop the show," he said.

"There needs to be security on stage, CCTV camera footage and more proactive approaches."

For Ballarat in particular he said while sexual harassment was a delicate topic to touch on for the region, it needed to be addressed.

Mr Trembath, who also helped create the City of Ballarat Live Music Strategic Plan 2016-2021, a strategy formulated to strengthen Ballarat's live music scene, said it failed to touch on how sexual harm could be reduced.

"This is something where I think the strategy is a bit incomplete," he said.

"I think it isn't addressing those things because it was formulated by some older musicians. I don't think there was enough female input into this."

The Raising Their Voices review also found musicians who were Indigenous, a person of colour, disabled or from the LGBTQIA+ community often experienced discrimination and were denied opportunities.

Gelareh Pour, an Iranian-Australian musician, who has called Ballarat home since moving from Melbourne last year, said she could attest to this statistic.

"There is seemingly a bit of distance between old Ballarat and new Ballarat," Ms Pour said.

"I've studied both in Iran and Australia. My work in Australia has definitely been influenced by Australian culture and what is happening here musically.

"Having an accent should be seen as a benefit. I often think when I hear an accent that this person knows at least one more language than me."

Ms Pour said she felt she had also been discriminated against by the City of Ballarat in terms of performance opportunities.

"I performed at Harmony Week 2021, and to be honest it didn't feel right, it felt like a token gesture and wasn't in the spirit of true interculturalism," she said.

"It doesn't make sense that as an artist in Australia I am often only invited to perform at 'multicultural' events or refugee week, kind of misses the point of interculturalism.

"I'm definitely proud of my heritage, and identify as Iranian-Australian, I just feel the 'Australian' part of that is often glanced over."

Ms Pour said more cross cultural art events are needed in Ballarat to help improve the working conditions for musicians and artists from diverse backgrounds.

"Events need to be more inclusive and marketing for these events needs to be well researched. The language used in these campaigns needs to be mindful of the way they communicate to the community," she said.

"Everyone should be exposed to music from across the world. It's like when you put pasta on the table you don't think about Italy all the time, the same goes for art."

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