Australians and Kiwis have been battling a cost-of-living crisis for years now, and things seem to be getting worse, not better.
As May came to a close, food charities in Aotearoa warned that people’s household budgets are now so stretched that it’s “no longer a cost of living crisis but ‘the cost to survive.'”
“People are getting to the point where it is around the cost to survive in New Zealand rather than the cost of living. Food is becoming a discretionary item with people’s budgets,” KiwiHarvest chief executive Angela Calver told RNZ.
“Fuel has gone up $40 to $50 a week, the cost to survive in this country is getting out of hand just for the basics.”
If everyone but the 1% is now just trying to survive, then, what hope for musicians and artists? How do they keep persevering, making their art under the most difficult of circumstances?
That’s the question we’re asking in Making Music, Making Ends Meet, our new series that aims to shine a light on the existential crisis currently facing local musicians.
Here’s the series’ official tagline:
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Musicians have always worked day jobs and side hustles to fund their art, and as Australia and Aotearoa continue to battle a cost-of-living crisis, the need to do so grows greater.
In Making Music, Making Ends Meet, Rolling Stone AU/NZ meets different musicians to discuss their life away from music, how they sustain their careers, and what they think needs to be done to improve our music industry.
Through a mixture of op-eds, interviews, videos, and more, our new series captures their experiences, both good and bad, as well as their hopes and fears for the future.
Because this is the honest truth: outside of the top 1% of musicians, the truly global elite pop stars à la Swift and Sheeran and Eilish, your favourite musician is probably working one — maybe even two — jobs to keep their music dreams alive. It’s simply a sign of the times.
Our hope is that the next generation of ANZ talent can find community solidarity in Making Music, Making Ends Meet; there’s never been a more vital time for musicians to advocate for themselves in an industry that too readily likes to chew them up and spit them out.
Kicking off the series is Jazmine Mary, an Aotearoa-based alt-folk singer-songwriter who’s about to embark on an Australian tour.
Mary, whose 2025 album I Want to Rock and Roll featured prominently in our year-end New Zealand albums list, will play shows with their full band in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, and more this month (see full dates below).
“To remain an artist / musician when it’s hard, underpaid / unpaid, and the world is blowing up is a radical act — it’s generous and I want more people to do it. I also want to be able to eat, pay my rent, and know I deserve more than that,” Mary writes in their powerful op-ed.
Read the full feature here.
Jazmine Mary 2026 Australian Tour
Ticket information available here
June 6th
Day Tripper, RISING, Melbourne, VIC
June 7th
Tramway Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
June 10th
The Painted Lady, Ballarat, VIC
June 11th
Merri Creek Tavern, Melbourne, VIC
June 12th
Smiths Alternative, Canberra, ACT
June 13th
Franks Wild Years, Thirroul, NSW
June 14th
The Stag and Hunter, Newcastle, NSW
June 15th
Lazy Thinking, Sydney, NSW*
*as a duo
