MONDAY, 16TH JUNE 2025

Radio Silence: Why NZ music still struggles for airplay at home

New Zealand is bursting with homegrown music talent. From slick pop producers in Tamaki Makaurau to indie darlings in Dunedin, the local scene is thriving. Yet flick through mainstream radio stations, and you'd be forgiven for wondering if any of it exists.

Despite government-funded music, growing export success, and a vibrant independent culture, NZ artists still struggle to crack local airwaves. So what’s going wrong—and why does it still feel easier to get playlisted on Spotify than on the FM dial?

The Numbers Don’t Add Up

New Zealand radio stations are technically required to meet local content quotas—20% for commercial stations, more for publicly funded broadcasters. On paper, this sounds like a win for local music. But in practice, much of this airtime is concentrated in off-peak hours, legacy tracks, or a small pool of artists who’ve already made it.

For emerging or genre-diverse acts, getting radio play remains a long shot. And for artists outside the pop or adult contemporary sweet spot? It’s often radio silence.

The Taste Gap

One of the biggest challenges is that radio programming tends to lean safe. Commercial playlists favour familiar formats, proven hitmakers, and major-label backing. This leaves little room for genre fluidity, risk-taking, or artists who don’t fit the mainstream mould—even if they’re gaining traction elsewhere.

Programmers aren’t necessarily hostile to new music, but many are stretched thin, overworked, and beholden to ad-driven metrics. Without a strong champion or commercial case, even critically acclaimed local music often ends up on the cutting room floor.

The Spotify Effect

Many artists have shifted focus away from radio entirely, targeting streaming playlists instead. The data is instant, the feedback loop tighter, and the global reach is unmatched. But this also creates a gap—NZ listeners tuning into the radio might miss the music that’s actually defining the country’s creative output right now.

The result is a weird paradox: local artists breaking internationally, playing sold-out shows, and dominating streaming charts—while getting little to no airtime at home.

The Need for Curated Risk

To shift this, radio needs to become more than just a jukebox. It needs to return to curation—programmers who aren’t afraid to take risks, champion new voices, and broaden the idea of what "radio-friendly" sounds like in 2025. Supporting local is not about ticking a quota box. It means giving new artists in prime exposure. It means playlisting te reo Māori tracks, bedroom producers, and post-genre artists. It means backing sound before stats.

Where to From Here?

The future of NZ music doesn’t just lie in grants, gigs, or streaming. It lies in how the public hears it—how it becomes embedded in daily life, car rides, commutes, and office radios. For that, traditional platforms like radio still matter. Change doesn’t mean abandoning structure—it means reimagining it. Because if radio isn’t reflecting the music that’s shaping Aotearoa today, who is it really serving?

Tried getting your track on air and hit a wall? Tell us your experience at hello@emptyspaces.co.nz or sound off on Instagram. We’re listening—are they?