Create the midnight soundtrack for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2025

Project Status: In progress

Applications now open.
Applications close at 5pm on Monday 21 October 2024.
Shortlisted composers will be notified during the week commencing 4 November 2024.

Express your interest

If you’d like to compose the midnight soundtrack for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2025, let us know.

Apply now

Abbey Bertrams

Procurement Specialist

: 02 9246 4519
: [email protected]

About this opportunity

We invite an experienced composer to create and compose an original midnight soundtrack for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2025.

Sydney New Year’s Eve is a local and global celebration that reaches an audience of more than 425 million people worldwide and is attended by more than 1 million people around the harbour foreshore.

The midnight soundtrack is integral to the event programming and is used to design the midnight fireworks show. The music is broadcast by our television and radio partners to a national and global audience.

Eligibility criteria

You must:

be an Australian citizen or resident
be aged 18 years or above
be unsigned and unpublished (that is, not under contract with a record label or music publisher, except for APRA AMCOS membership)
have or commit to getting an ABN (Australian Business Number)
agree, and be able, to assign copyright ownership of the midnight soundtrack and associated deliverables under the contract to the City of Sydney
hold or commit to getting the insurances required by the contract (including professional indemnity insurance for copyright infringement with worldwide coverage).

Application process

The application process will be in 2 stages.

The first stage is an open call to submit an expression of interest proposal to the City of Sydney.

At this stage we’re seeking the information outlined in the expression of interest online form.

This includes artist details, key collaborators, experience and capacity, and knowledge and understanding of composing music for large scale events and broadcast audiences. It also includes existing sample tracks, acknowledgement of the requirements and a proposed creative direction for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2025.

Music commission agreement (draft contract)

PDF · 376 KB · Last updated 9 September 2024
Following our evaluation of the expression of interest proposals, we’ll invite shortlisted composers to submit a detailed proposal.

Composers selected to participate in the request for proposal (RFP) stage will be at the discretion of the City of Sydney.

These composers will be issued with formal RFP documents to complete in a set timeframe.

Documents will be issued through Tenderlink and invited composers will be required to register with Tenderlink.

Shortlisted composers will also be required to:
- Submit a sample of proposed original track of us to 3 minutes in their RFP submission. The track must be an original work of the composer who owns the copyright and must not have been created using generative AI.
- Attend a pre-submission briefing with the City of Sydney for an outline of the RFP process and an opportunity to ask clarification questions. This briefing is expected to take place around one week after the proposal documents have been released and will be no longer than 60 minutes.
- Attend an in-person meeting with the City of Sydney to present their creative concept (including a sample of their draft soundtrack) for consideration. This presentation meeting will be up to 60 minutes and will take place around 2 weeks after proposal closing date. Further details will be provided to shortlisted composers as required.
Proposal fee

We will pay a fee of $2,000 (excluding GST) to invited stage 2 composers once we’ve received a completed submission (including the sample track and the presentation to City of Sydney employees). This fee is based on industry guidelines to develop a sample track of up to 3 minutes.

Project fee

The following fee detail is provided for information and is relevant only if composers are invited to participate in stage 2.

The City of Sydney cannot accept and quotation that exceeds a total cost of $60,000 (excluding GST). In the interests of the community, and with high regard to the engagement using public funds, we strongly encourage composers to provide their best price.
Composers selected to participate in stage 2 will be asked to submit a detailed budget with a total cost that is within the budget range for producing the midnight soundtrack for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2025.
If selected for stage 2, the fee must include detail on all expense items. This includes payments to artists and collaborators engaged by the composer, costs for session musicians, applicable on-costs (for example, superannuation, insurance). It also includes commission fee and licensing fee (if applicable) and hire of equipment, venues and other required to create the soundtrack.
The composer is responsible for the contracting and payment of fees and on-costs for all artist collaborators.

Key dates

Expressions of interest open: Thursday 12 September 2024
Expressions of interest close: 5pm, Monday 21 October 2024
Shortlisted composers notified: week commencing 4 November 2024
Request for proposal documents issued to shortlisted composers: no later than 11 November 2024
Stage 2 applications briefing: week commencing 18 November 2024
Stage 2 – request for proposal period closes: Monday 2 December 2024
Stage 2 – presentation of proposed concept by shortlisted composers: week commencing 9 December 2024
Successful composer informed and contract issued / composers selected for eligibility list notified: no later than 17 January 2025

Your questions answered

We’ll answer questions we receive about this opportunity each week. Our last update will be published on Monday 21 October 2024.

You should read this document before finalising and submitting your application.

Questions and answersPDF · 98.58 KB · Last modified 17 September 2024

How to apply

To submit an expression of interest proposal in the first stage of the application process, you can apply online. We will not accept applications after the closing time and date.

Applications close at 5pm on Monday 21 October 2024.