New Report Shows Guitars Still Reign Supreme For Aussie Music Makers

Close-up of an electric guitar(Credit: Austin Prock on Unsplash)

Ever since Decca Records’ Dick Rowe told The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein that “Guitar groups are on the way out,” there has been plenty said about the apparent and ongoing death of the guitar. However, a new report says the classic six-string is still going relatively strong – at least in terms of figures.

The findings are presented in the Australian Music Association‘s 2025 Annual Market Report Executive Summary, which analyses and presents data for imports of music products into Australia.

The most interesting data presented in the report relates to the increase or decrease for each instrument in terms of units and value, with the report pointing out that the figures for 2025 are “essentially flat”, pointing out that “inflation-adjusted market value [increased] by just 1.2%.”

Indeed, the total market value of 2025 was $468.4 million in import value, with a $1.17 billion estimated retail value. While 2025’s figures are similar to 2024, both years are roughly 10% lower than the figures of 2023.

While this sounds a little disheartening, it’s interesting to be seeing where the sales of musical instruments could be found in 2025.

Most notably, the growth in 2025 largely took place around Pro Audio instead of instruments themselves, and despite a “slight contraction” in terms of sales of instruments, the Australian Music Association nevertheless labels 2025 as a “year of stability”.

The biggest increase for the change in value between 2025 and 2024 comes from the likes of power amplifiers, electric bass guitars, and wireless microphones, which saw a 22.5%, 17.7%, and 16% year-on-year increase, respectively.

The likes of individual drums, powered mixers, guitar and bass strings, acoustic guitar strings, brass, digital pianos and electronic keyboards all saw net growth in value over the past year.

The biggest drop came from synthesisers, drum sets, and the broad ‘other wind’ category, which saw decreases of 23.8%, 37.9%, and 49.3% in year-on-year value change, respectively.

While the Pro Audio section culminated in an estimated retail value of $436 million, its next biggest competitor was that of the broad guitars section, which offered a estimated retail value of $206 million.

Despite slight increases in terms of total units, original value, and estimated retail value, there’s still a marked decline when compared to the five year average for the sector. Notably, acoustic guitars brought in an 11.2% increase in units, bass guitars increased by 9.3%, while electric guitars fell by 5.2%.

Meanwhile, the overall Accessories section remained stable with an estimated retail value of $172 million; pianos and keyboards continued to decline despite an estimated retail value of $155 million; while DJ and Electronic Instruments increased to $93 million; brass, wind, and strings increased its value to $71 million; and percussion fell significantly to $41 million.

The full report from the Australian Musicians Association can be found on the organisation’s website.