New South Wales has passed the Contemporary Music Act 2026, establishing legal protections for live music venues, concerts and festivals and changing rules governing their operation.
Announced on September 24, the legislation addresses venue support, dispute resolution, event classification and noise assessments.
The measures include:
- A three-tier venue recognition scheme to tailor support, including grants and extended trading hours.
- Free mediation for eligible venues.
- A prohibition on state agencies and local councils making live music decisions solely on the basis of musical genre.
The legislation also changes the criteria used to classify concerts. A lineup featuring more than four acts will no longer, on that basis alone, place an event in the large-scale music festival category.
That change removes the number of acts as a standalone trigger for the regulations associated with that category.
Outdoor events at specified government sites will use noise assessments that measure sound averaged over time.
The New South Wales Government expects the venue recognition scheme to launch later in 2026.
