14 June 2023
Carl Vine: "The AMC remains a very important part of my life"
Image: Carl Vine The AMC has been a foundational part of my life and my musical outlook since I first came to Sydney in the mid 1970's to start my composing career. The early days were heady and always surprising, with Jamie Murdoch's indomitable personality laying the indelible groundwork for an organisation that shattered every mould that dared cross his path.
It has grown to become an indispensable part of compositional activity in Australia. Now expanded to incorporate genre and activities of any imaginable hue it still offers a viable alternative to composers in every stage of their career: starting out; emerging; fully emerged; ready for the grave. I was fortunate to be offered representation by international publishers early in my career, but the AMC remains a very important part of my life, still looking after score and parts distribution on my work that they publish as well as music published by others.
Because of the basic benevolence of the company's brief, subtracting only real material costs from income returns, it presents real competition to other music publishers who can happily retain half of all royalties and up to 90% of music hire fees. At regular periods since it began the core funding of the AMC has been under threat. Each time I wonder how we would survive without it. I have yet to find an answer.
Carl Vine AO
Composer
Senior
Lecturer in Composition, Sydney Conservatorium
© Australian Music Centre (2023) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
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