FIRST IT WAS FILM, NOW MUSIC COMES UNDER FEDERAL SPOTLIGHT

Blue Mountains musicians and music industry participants are running out of time to have their say on the future of the industry as part of a national inquiry.

Federal member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, said the Commonwealth Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts, of which she is a member, is running  the inquiry.

“If you work as a musician, compose, teach, operate a venue or have any involvement in the journey people take from being students to professional musicians, then your input is welcome,” Ms Templeman said.

“And the terms of reference are intentionally very broad, so that they include all music from contemporary to classical, the live performing industry, the recording industry, copyright issues, music exporting and music education. There may well be other issues that you feel are relevant to the federal arena.

“The Mountains is full of people working in this industry, and when I held a roundtable with Labor’s Shadow Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, there were great ideas.

“Now is the time to share them with the Parliamentary Committee, which includes MPs from both sides of politics.”

The inquiry is the second one for the Committee in the current Parliament, with the first one on the film industry, which held hearings in Katoomba.

Ms Templeman said some recommendations from the film industry inquiry were adopted by the Government in its last budget.

“So this really is a chance to influence policy now a