If you thought young Aussies had simply stopped giving a shit about live music, a new report suggests the reality is a whole lot more complicated. Young people still overwhelmingly value gigs for everything from their mental health to their friendships and sense of belonging – but increasingly, they’re struggling to afford them, access them or even figure out where to find them.
Australia’s youth music charity The Push has released its 2026 Young Australian Music Audiences Report, surveying 1,025 Aussies aged 16 to 25 about what live music means to them – and what’s stopping them from participating.
“Young Australians have told us what music gives them, what is getting in their way and what needs to change”
And one thing seems pretty clear: the appetite is still there.
For the third year running, almost two-thirds (63%) of young Australians surveyed said attending music events was important to them.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) also ranked wellbeing and happiness among the top three benefits of going to music events, while half said gigs help them deal with stress, anxiety or depression.
Then there’s the social side. More than half (53%) said live music helps strengthen their existing relationships and friendships, while 43% valued the sense of community and 42% the sense of belonging it provides.
So if young people still want gigs, what’s keeping them away?
Money, for starters.
Cost remains the single biggest barrier to attending music events, nominated by 45% of young Aussies surveyed. Among those with just $0-$50 per week available for all forms of entertainment and activities, that jumps to 57%.
And the amount of disposable cash young people actually have to play with is heading in the wrong direction.
More than a third (37%) now have $50 or less per week to spend on entertainment and activities, up from 33% in both 2024 and 2025.
At the other end, just 19% have more than $100 per week available, down from 25% last year and 31% in 2024.
In other words, the proportion of young Aussies with more than $100 of weekly fun money has fallen pretty dramatically in just two years.
And young women appear to be feeling the squeeze particularly hard. More than two in five (43%) young Australian women surveyed have less than $50 per week available for entertainment and activities, compared with 31% of young men.
A whopping 71% of young women have less than $100 per week to spend – up from 57% in 2025.
Of course, cash isn’t the only thing standing between young people and the pit.
Location (26%), interest (25%) and time (25%) were among the other major barriers identified, while young women were more likely than young men to nominate both location (31% vs 21%) and safety (21% vs 12%) as things stopping them from attending.
And for teenagers, there’s another pretty massive problem: being under 18.
Almost half (45%) of 16 and 17-year-olds surveyed said licensing restrictions prevent them from attending live music. Exactly the same proportion said there simply aren’t enough events available to people under 18.
Cost is an even bigger issue for this group, affecting 57%, while 36% said getting permission from a parent or guardian was a barrier – up from 23% in 2024.
It paints a picture of young music fans being shut out during the exact period when many of us first started forming lifelong relationships with music and discovering the scenes and artists that would become part of our identities.
And that brings us to another pretty interesting part of the report: young people actually seem to be very keen on Aussie music.
Two-thirds (67%) said they feel proud when listening to Australian music, while 69% said they want to hear even more of it.
The problem is turning that enthusiasm into actually discovering artists and showing up to their gigs.
More than two in five young Australians said they rarely or never attend performances by Australian artists touring through their area (43%) or artists from their own local area (42%).
Perhaps even more tellingly, 59% said they’d like to see more local artists live, but don’t know where to find information about their shows.
That’s a pretty significant discovery gap at a time when the local music industry is desperately trying to build sustainable audiences for homegrown artists.
Among young people who only attend music events once or twice per year, international artists are also more likely to get that precious gig spend: 36% attend international artists at that frequency, compared with 25% for touring Australian artists and 24% for local hometown acts.
For The Push, the findings point to a problem much bigger than young people simply deciding they’d rather stay home.
“This research isn’t about changing tastes or a tough live music market,” the organisation said. “It’s a clear message about what young Australians need to take part in cultural and community life.”
So, what do young Aussies reckon should be done about it?
Two-thirds (67%) support government funding for live music events and programs that help young people connect and support their wellbeing. Just 8% oppose it.
The Push itself is calling for a suite of measures aimed at knocking down some of those barriers, including more investment in all-ages and under-18 events, grants to help venues, festivals, artists and promoters make those shows financially viable, and changes to licensing and compliance settings that make alcohol-free events easier to stage in existing venues.
It’s also floated programs such as a live music pass or subsidised ticketing scheme to help young people afford gigs, alongside partnerships with broadcasters and digital platforms to make Australian artists and their shows easier to discover.
The organisation argues the findings point to a fairly straightforward conclusion: young Australians haven’t fallen out of love with live music. A growing number are simply finding it harder to participate in it.
“Young Australians have told us what music gives them, what is getting in their way and what needs to change,” The Push CEO Kate Duncan wrote in the report.
“We now need to listen and act.”
The 2026 Young Australian Music Audiences Report was commissioned and authored by The Push, with polling conducted by YouGov. A nationally representative sample of 1,025 Australians aged 16 to 25 completed the survey between 11th and 24th May 2026.
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