The Superannuation Question

What Australian Live Music Artists Need to Know (and Ignore) Right Now

Image thanks to AntonioGravante

I want to talk straight with you about something that’s come up a lot lately: the question of superannuation for live music artists who work as sole traders.

Some of you have been hearing conflicting advice (some of it outright wrong) — including from apps, platforms, and even some agencies that should know better.

Let’s clear the fog.

👉 Why is this even a question?

Under Australian law, venues and bookers do have to pay superannuation guarantee contributions for employees — and for certain types of contractors.

There’s a rule in the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 that says even if you’re a contractor, you might count as an employee for super purposes if you’re being paid wholly or principally for your labour.

So people see this clause and think: “Oh no, all musicians must be employees!”

But that’s not correct.

👉 The difference between labour and result-based contracts

This is the critical question the ATO always asks:

✅ Are you being paid mainly for your labour (your personal services)?
✅ Or are you being paid to deliver a result?

Here’s how it works:

• Labour contract = you’re paid for your time and labour under the hirer’s control.

• Result-based contract = you’re paid to deliver a defined result - ***which is why we are so very careful in our Assessment process. If you were working under a Labour contract, it wouldn’t matter who we booked as long as someone was standing on stage for a certain time and playing anything and anyhow.

But clearly that is simply not the case.

🎤 So what about Live Music Gigs?

Let’s look at how most professional live music bookings actually work:

✅ You are contracted to put on a show (the result).
✅ You choose your set list, equipment, outfit, delivery style.
✅ You can delegate (e.g. The Agent subs in another performer if you’re sick).
✅ You are responsible for your own business, your ABN, your invoices.

The venue’s goal isn’t buying your labour by the hour — it’s buying a result: a show that entertains their patrons and keeps them spending at the bar.

You are running a business in your own right.

This is textbook result-based contracting.

🎯 What does the ATO actually say?

Let’s be really clear here.

The ATO says:

A contractor is an employee for SG purposes if they are paid wholly or principally for their labour.
If they are engaged to produce a result and are free to achieve that result in their own way, they are not employees for SG purposes.

That’s straight from their guidance.

✅ Your gig contract is for a result.
✅ You control how you deliver it.
✅ You’re not an “employee” for super guarantee purposes.

A venue has no SG obligation for you.

✅ But wait — what about Section 12(8) in the Act?

Yes, there’s that clause everyone quotes:

A person who is paid to perform or present … any music … is an employee.

BUT — the courts and the ATO have said you can’t just read that literally in isolation.

You have to ask what you’re actually being paid for.

If the real arrangement is a result-based contract (which for most professional gigs it is), then Section 12(8) doesn’t override that.

The venue still doesn't have to pay super.

💼 Your responsibility as a Sole Trader

Now here’s where it gets practical:

✅ As a sole trader, you don’t have to pay super for yourself.
✅ But you can (and probably should) make personal super contributions.

It’s your choice, your business, your retirement.

And yes — the ATO specifically says this on their own site:

If you're self-employed as a sole trader or in a partnership, you don't have to pay yourself super. But you can and it’s a good way to save for retirement.

If anyone tells you “sole traders can’t pay their own super” — they are telling you porkie pies.

🔔 About the “Payday Super” change

Some platforms have been spooking people about the “new law coming in 2026” — the Payday Super reforms.

Here’s the real deal:

✅ It’s designed to make employers pay their employees’ super more quickly.
✅ It doesn’t change who is an employee.
✅ It doesn’t mean sole traders suddenly have to pay super to themselves.

It just means if you do hire employees, you’ll have to pay their super promptly.

It’s not relevant to you as a solo act delivering your own shows under your own ABN.

🎵 Bottom Line for Live Music Artists

Here’s what you need to know in one sentence:

If you’re contracted as a sole trader to put on a show — with your own equipment, your own creative control, and the ability to delegate — you’re being paid for a result, not for your labour, and the venue does not have to pay super for you.

✅ You run your own business.
✅ You can (and probably should) pay your own super — voluntarily.
✅ Don’t be misled by one-size-fits-all rules or fear-mongering apps.

📝 Final advice

Check your contracts. Make sure they clearly specify that you’re delivering a performance (a result), not clocking hours as labour.

Talk to your accountant about making personal super contributions.

Be proactive about your own future. You’re not an employee — you’re a creative business owner.

📚 Key References

✅ ATO - Super for Sole Traders and Partnerships
✅ ATO - Super for Contractors
✅ Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 - Section 12

Stay smart. Stay creative. Keep the music playing.

Written by Nichola Burton. I work in partnership with Agents, Artist Managers and Event Producers, who juggle a diverse range of relationships in the Musoverse, to curate, manage and measure data in systems, experience, creative and content to support the entire Musoverse operation in my enterprise A Little Pitchy Copyright 2025