Why does Kiwi music struggle on the radio?
We’re meant to hear at least 20% Kiwi music on the radio. But tune in during the workday, and it’s a different story. After reviewing thousands of tracks played on stations like ZM, The Edge, More FM, and The Rock, a clear pattern emerged: international acts dominate, while Kiwi artists are consistently sidelined in favour of international acts, particularly during high-traffic times like the workday.
And it's noticeable. A lot of the time I can literally count on one hand how many songs I’ve heard in a day on More FM that were by a Kiwi artist. Earlier this year, Cassie Henderson’s song “Seconds To Midnight (11:59)” was getting constant daytime rotation on More FM. Then, almost overnight, it vanished. More recently, RIIKI REID’s “Over Romantic” was getting similar airtime. Now I hardly hear it. I want to be clear that I am specifically talking about More FM with these two examples. But why do songs by Kiwi artists struggle to gain longevity on commercial radio?
This question led me to do some further research, and I started running the numbers. I took a look at eleven of our biggest commercial stations (ZM, The Edge, The Hits, More FM, Radio Hauraki, The Rock, Coast, The Breeze, George FM, Mai FM, and Flava) and counted how many songs they played by New Zealand artists over a 24 hour period, across 3 randomly selected dates.
Before running the numbers, I wanted to go over some history
In 1990 Labour MP Graham Kelly introduced the “Music Quota Bill” to Parliament which would have seen the amount of New Zealand music played on our radio stations increased to 20%. At the time Kelly states that private commercial stations played less than 2% of local artists’ music.
A change in government ultimately led to the Bill being shot down, but not without having had some positive impacts on the industry. Kelly writes “radio stations had started playing far more New Zealand content in anticipation of the measure possibly becoming law and most privately owned commercial stations were playing around 10% of local artists with many playing more.” [1]
Prior to the 1999 election the Labour party had stated that they would introduce compulsory music quotas. Marrian Hobbs, who was the Minister for Broadcasting under Labour at the time, stated that the NZ music quota was initially to be set 10% and would increase to 20%. In April 2000 Prime Minister Helen Clark backtracked on this due to lobbying from the radio industry. Labour instead decided to negotiate voluntary quota agreements rather than force a quota through legislation. [2]
After 2 years of negotiations with the industry the Voluntary Music Code was introduced in 2002 which set a target for commercial radio stations to play 20% New Zealand Music by 2006. Marrian Hobbs had made clear that she would consider regulation if the industry did not act. [3]
The initial launch of the Voluntary Music Code had good success. In 2017 Ben Campbell (bassist of Zed) told the NZHerald “as a result [of voluntary New Zealand music targets] New Zealand music was put on a level playing field with these international artists. And we were a bit more approachable for the public because we were in the country and playing gigs. There was a groundswell.” [4]
How well are is the Voluntary Music Code holding up today? NZ On Air hosts awards every year for the radio stations hit the 20% threshold. In 2021 four commercial stations hit the 20% threshold: ZM (28.29%), Mai FM (24.1%), The Edge (20.79%) and George FM (28.6%) [5]. In 2022 George FM, Hauraki, Mai FM and ZM all met the 20% threshold [6].
However last year in 2024 only Radio Hauraki achieved the 20% target [7].
So what does playing 20% New Zealand music actually look like for one of these stations? Across my analysis Radio Hauraki consistently scored the highest, reaching 20% on 2 out of the 3 days I looked at.
The Data
I looked at 3 days, which I picked at random: March 12th, May 5th and July 9th.
Using lava.net.au I took all the songs played over a 24 hour period and looked at how many of songs played were from New Zealand artists, how many songs they played during the day (7am–7pm), and what percent of the artists were from New Zealand.
On the 12th of March Radio Hauraki and The Rock both ranked the highest. Radio Hauraki played 264 songs and 53 were from New Zealand artists (20%). The Rock played 277 songs and 50 were from New Zealand artists (18%). Although Radio Hauraki played more New Zealand music over the 24 hour period than The Rock, that number dropped significantly during the daytime hours of 7am–7pm. Radio Hauraki played 115 songs and 8 of them were by New Zealand artists. (6.9%) The Rock played much more New Zealand music, with 18 out of 121 songs being by a Kiwi artist (14.8%).
Of the stations that play more mainstream pop (ZM, The Edge, The Hits, More FM) ZM ranked the best over the 24 hour period (13.9%) but was slightly edged out by The Hits during the daytime (7.6% to 7.4%).
On the 5th of May Radio Hauraki and Mai FM both met the 20% quota, but during the daytime period Radio Hauraki dropped significantly to 7%. Mai FM played the highest percentage of New Zealand music out of the 3 days that I looked at. Between 7am–7pm Mai FM played 127 songs and 27 of them were by Kiwi artists (21.2%). The Edge (14.9%), The Rock (15.4%) and George FM (15.6%) also scored high during daytime hours. May was New Zealand Music Month so that was likely the reason for these higher percentages across the board.
On the 9th of July The Edge played 143 songs between 7a.m. and 7p.m. Only 4 of those songs were by New Zealand artists – three of them by RIIKI REID and one from Lorde. That works out at just 2.7% of songs played being from New Zealand artists. Over the entire day The Edge 39 out of the 342 songs were from New Zealand artists (11.4%). 15 out of 134 artists played were from New Zealand (11.2%).
Comparatively, on the same day between 7a.m. and 7p.m. ZM played 142 songs. 12 of them were by New Zealand artists – 3x as many songs as The Edge played, and from a wider variety of artists. ZM played songs by Borderline, RIIKI REID, Sam Cullen, Six60, Cassie Henderson and Emerson. 8.4% of ZM’s songs during the day were by Kiwi artists, and 13.5% across the entire 24 hour period. 17 out of 101 artists played were from New Zealand (16.8%).
The two stations who came closest to the 20% on the 9th of July were The Rock and Radio Hauraki. Over the 24 hour period The Rock played 294 songs and 51 of them were by Kiwi artists (17.3%). Between 7a.m. and 7p.m. The Rock played 129 songs and 14 of them were by Kiwi artists (10.8%). 19.4% of all artists played on The Rock that day were from New Zealand.
Radio Hauraki played 259 songs and 51 of them were by Kiwi artists (19.7%). However during the daytime the amount of Kiwi artists played on Radio Hauraki drops significantly. Only 6 out of 111 songs were by New Zealand artists (5.4%).
Drawing some conclusions
It is clear from the number that New Zealand music is not getting the same visibility during peak hours as it should be. The voluntary quota might have seen some improvements during the 2000s, but in 2025 it is met sporadically and in off-peak timeslots.
NZ On Air says that getting playtime on radio is one of the most important ways for exposure for new artists [8]. If local music is being buried between 1a.m. and 5a.m., then that opportunity is being squandered. Without consistent daytime play, Kiwi artists miss out new listeners and the broader visibility that often leads to touring, press, and playlist opportunities.
Among the stations I studied, Mai FM, Radio Hauraki and The Rock consistently performed the strongest in terms of overall local content. They met or came close to the 20% quota on multiple occasions. Radio Hauraki did not keep that same level of Kiwi airtime throughout the whole day though; on 12 March between 1a.m. and 2a.m., Radio Hauraki played 16 songs — 8 of them were by New Zealand artists (50%). But between 1pm and 2pm that same day only 1 out of 10 songs were Kiwi.
Coast and The Breeze consistently scored the lowest, often hovering under 4% local music, regardless of the time of day. These stations have older-skewing formats, but that shouldn’t exclude Kiwi artists from their rotations. New Zealand has a rich history of classic and adult contemporary artists that could easily slot into those playlists.
The voluntary quota, now more than 20 years old, was once a promising compromise. But in 2025, it's clear that a "gentlemen’s agreement" is no longer enough. Australia mandates their radio stations to play at least 25% Aussie music between 6a.m. and midnight [9]. In Canada they are required to play at least 35% Canadian music between the hours of 6a.m.–6p.m. [10].
If our commercial radio is serious about supporting the local music industry, it needs to prioritise daytime rotation and not midnight filler. Playing 20% New Zealand music doesn’t mean much if 80% of that is played when hardly anyone is listening. Our music is worth more than that.
[1] https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/nz-music-quota-bill-1990-an-mp-looks-back
[2] https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0004/S00112/music-quota-about-turn.htm
[3] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealand-music-quota-for-radio/PJAT2CWXX2RKCMR4CH2BZYY7DI/
[4] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/indepth/entertainment/the-rise-and-fall-of-new-zealands-music-industry/
[5] https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/awards-for-local-music-airplay-on-kiwi-commercial-stations/
[7] https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/nz-on-air-awards-for-local-music-airplay/
