New Zealand Music Month badge

This New Zealand Music Month badge features the logo of the New Zealand Music Commission’s annual month-long campaign each May to promote, encourage and support music made by New Zealand musicians. Thirty-one days are devoted to celebrating homegrown talent throughout the country.

The iconic, optically compelling logo is a perfect design match for the standard round badge. To some eyes, it might evoke sound waves, or the turntable of a record player, record grooves, or compact discs – objects which still exist though largely superseded by digital platforms.

New Zealand Music Month began in 1997 as New Zealand Music Week. The original idea was to raise awareness of the quality of local music and get more of it played on commercial radio. At that time, commercial radio was reluctant to play local music and many New Zealand musicians struggled to achieve commercial success and make a living. Music Week helped turn that around.

Music contributes to our cultural well-being – this was recognised by the establishment of the New Zealand Music Commission in 2000. The Commission’s aim was to get more New Zealand music heard and by a wider audience. So, it expanded New Zealand Music Week into New Zealand Music Month.

Embraced by the public, New Zealand Music Month is now a successful and cherished celebration of home-grown talent from across the country. New Zealand music is showcased both on broadcast media and in hundreds of live performances around the country.

Many organisations make NZ Music Month possible including NZ On Air, Recorded Music New Zealand, APRA, The Music Managers Forum, Independent Music NZ, New Zealand’s music labels, and the media. At the heart of Music Month are the artists themselves, and the public who support them.