ABS: Arts and Culture in Australia Statistical Overview 2011

Recently the Australian Bureau of Statistics released their statistical over view of arts and culture in Australia for 2011 which actually covers the period of 2009 to 2010. Some interesting points from the report include:

• Overall Australian households spent 4% of their overall expenditure on cultural goods and services
• In total $402.9 million was spent on recorded music
• In total $827.6 million was spent on concert fees and charges
• Exports of cultural goods in 2009-10 totalled $539.8m, or 0.3% of all goods exported from Australia, while cultural imports totalled $2,436.6m, or 1.2% of all goods imported into Australia
• Total music sales in Australia for the year ending 31st December 2009 were $446,112,000. $366,868,000 was made on physical products and just $79,244,000 was made on digital products.

Further Reading

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2011 (19 December 2012) < http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/E8C6AA6F556D72EBCA257968000CB1E0?opendocument> at 22 February 2012

Australian Political Satire

Here is a fantastic new clip about leadership tensions in Australian politics. A great parody of the Gotye song 'Somebody I Used to Know' - and worth remembering that parody and satire have only been legal in this country for less than a decade - pure gold, check it out!

ALRC Copyright Review

News this week that Professor Jill McKeough, the Dean of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney, has been appointed as the head of the Australian Law Reform Commission review on copyright law. The Australian Copyright Council advise that the review is to examine copyright in the digital environment with a particular focus on exceptions to copyright infringement.

The press release from the ALRC states:

"The ALRC expects to receive final Terms of Reference once the Government’s process of stakeholder consultation on the draft Terms is completed by the end of March. The ALRC will publish a regular e-newsletter with news and updates throughout the inquiry and people can subscribe to this newsletter or find further information about the Copyright Inquiry on the ALRC website. The ALRC also uses Twitter to update followers about the ALRC’s work."

Further Reading
Australian Copyright Council, UTS Dean of Law appointed head of ALRC review into copyright in the digital environment (8 February 2012) < http://www.copyright.org.au/news-and-policy/details/id/2034/ > at 9 February 2012

Australian Law Reform Commission, Professor Jill McKeough appointed as ALRC Commissioner for the Copyright Inquiry (8 February 2012) < http://www.alrc.gov.au/news-media/media-release/professor-jill-mckeough-appointed-alrc-commissioner-copyright-inquiry > at 9 February 2012