Hot new music acts are more likely to receive public money under a scheme devised to fend off the unpopular and old.
New Zealand On Air is reviewing its Making Tracks music funding service after 12 months. The agency believes many new bands have received a leg-up since the system was overhauled last year.
"There was a perception in the old days that the lists [of recipients] were dominated by the same old names," said NZOA's New Zealand music manager Brendan Smyth. "So what we tried to do with that cap was to open up opportunities for artists to come through."
Bands to gain funding and make the charts included Iva Lamkum and Five Mile Town.
Smyth said the new system generally gave funding to more bands, in smaller sums. The previous album-based funding model has shifted to focus more on singles and online audiences.
