NZ Music Month 2020 Encourages Kiwis To Support Aotearoa’s Music Industry

NZ Music Month kicks off on Friday, May 1st and the theme for this year is simple: Support local. Stream local. Follow local. Buy local.

This May marks the twentieth NZ Music Month, and while a big month of live events and retrospection was planned, the world has changed a lot in the past month – so NZ Music Month 2020 is set to look a little different to usual. While we are in our homes, there are still plenty of ways Kiwis can support local music, the people who create it, and the people who make it possible.

NZ Music Month’s Rodney Fisher commented: "So much has changed in the past few weeks and this May will be unlike any NZ Music Month we’ve seen before. However, one thing that has absolutely not changed is the fantastic music being made by artists right across Aotearoa. May is the perfect time to support your favourite New Zealand acts, and make some new local music discoveries.” 

Initiatives planned for NZ Music Month 2020 range from digitally streamed events, radio specials, online seminars and hui. Below is a snapshot of what’s lined-up, with lots more detail to follow, particularly as the news cycle develops:

• The NZ Music Commission have partnered with E NOHO to deliver a live stream from various regions this May to showcase emerging talent and new discoveries. The weekly stream will be hosted by musician Ed Waaka and will feature three acts per show, every Friday at 8pm during May via E NOHO and NZ Music Month’s Facebook pages. E NOHO is a live stream music show created in response to COVID-19 to help promote mental wellbeing and connection through music and storytelling.
• Online seminars and hui will continue during May, with lots of great advice on building a music career and profile when musicians can’t go on tour. This includes Independent Music NZ’s Going Local seminars and the annual NZ Music Month Summit, presented in conjunction with the NZ Music Manager’s Forum.
• A host of NZ Music specials are planned with various radio stations across the country, which we are looking forward to highlighting over the month.
• Two Daze are set to release their second compilation, featuring tracks from across Aotearoa that were recorded in just 48 hours.
• Holiday Records are running a campaign during the first half of NZ Music Month to choose the first 7” pressed in NZ since 1987.
• Many events that were in the calendar for May will go ahead online, including the Nook & Cranny Festival in Dunedin and Raglan Roast, which will now be a weekly show, streamed from a coffee shop each Saturday night. There is going to be a bumper crop of online events to enjoy from the comfort of your home, and the NZ Music Month Facebook Event page will have all of the details as they come to hand.

More information will be released in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, we encourage Kiwis to engage with the extensive catalogue of fantastic local music available to buy, listen to and support right now.

Some of the activities scheduled for this year that are unable to happen will hopefully be part of the celebration in 2021 – an art exhibition, an all age regional tour, seminars and a symposium. Think of it as a 21st of sorts, without the yard-glass.

NZ Music Month is run by the NZ Music Commission, with support from APRA AMCOS, Independent Music NZ, the Music Managers Forum, NZ On Air and Recorded Music NZ. The purpose of NZ Music Month to celebrate music from New Zealand, and the people who make it.

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