Ben Lee Dishes On 'Insane' Facts About The Australian Music Industry

Ben Lee has taken to TikTok to share some “insane” truths about the Australian music industry.

Posting the video after fans expressed their surprise at how many dates he has booked from now until August, Lee revealed that no matter how hard artists in Australia strive for success, there’s only so far they can reach before hitting a limit—and they can really only play to their audiences once a year after reaching theatre status.

“I’ll tell you something crazy about the Australian music industry,” the singer began. “As far as musicians’ goals are concerned, the idea laid out is that you’re meant to get better and better, and play bigger and bigger venues.”

But there’s a problem here, and Lee cites the population in each Australian capital city. Lee says that once you get to playing the likes of the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, you can really only play there once a year.

“There’s just not enough people to support playing to 1 to 2,000 people multiple times a year.”

Pointing out the irony in artists working hard to grow and only getting to the point where they can only play six or seven gigs a year in Australia, Lee continued, “That just seems insane. Nobody gets into our industry to do less work… we like our work, we’re artists, we’re not just in it.

“The bag’s nice, but that’s not the only reason we’re involved in it. So, it’s so funny people seeing me playing lots and lots of shows, and I was kind of surprised, and I was like, ‘Yeah. That’s sort of why I got into music—to play music.”

You can check out the video below.

@benleemusic

#australianmusic #livemusic #australianmusician

♬ So Damn Hard (to be So Damn Good) - Ben Lee

Lee’s thoughts on the music industry come after the drop of his latest single, So Damn Hard (To Be So Damn Good), the follow-up to the tracks Lovers and Heavy Metal. All the songs come from Lee’s forthcoming LP, This One’s For The Old Headz, due for release on Friday, 20 September.

You can pre-order the album here and check out Ben Lee’s upcoming tour dates below.

BEN LEE - UPCOMING LIVE DATES

Friday 5 July - Star Court Theatre, Lismore, QLD

Saturday 6 July - Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour, NSW

Saturday 7 July - Hello Sailor, Port Macquarie, NSW

Friday, 2 August 2024 - Pacific Palms Rec Club, Elizabeth Beach, NSW

Saturday, 3 August 2024 - "Dungowan Day Out", Dungowan Brewery, Dungowan NSW

Sunday, 4 August 2024 - Welders Dog Brewery, Armidale, NSW

Wednesday, 7 August 2024 - Piano Bar, Ballarat, VIC

Thursday, 8 August 2024 - Piano Bar, Bendigo, VIC

Friday, 9 August 2024 - Queenscliff Town Hall, Queenscliff VIC

Saturday, 10 August 2024 - Cowes Cultural Centre, Philip Island VIC

Thursday, 15 August 2024 - Bone Idol Bar, Toowoomba QLD

Friday, 16 August 2024 - "It's A Bloke Thing Charity Lunch" Toowoomba, QLD

Friday, 16 August 2024 - SunPAC, Sunnybank QLD

Saturday, 17 August 2024 - Mo's Desert Clubhouse, Burleigh Heads, QLD

Thursday, 22 August 2024 - Warners Bay Theatre, Warners Bay, NSW

Tickets here.