Rocking Federal Parliament

Jimmy Barnes performed a largely acoustic version of his classic hit Flame Trees for a crowd of politicians, staffers and industry representatives at a dusk concert in a parliamentary courtyard last night.

Barnes, and a string of other Australian musicians, including Josh Pyke and Baby Animals front-woman Suze DeMarchi, performed at the gig with the aim of bringing the industry's issues to the heart of federal politics.

"Musicians struggle for most of their careers," Barnes said after the concert.

"There needs to be more funding around the arts, for music, for rock music. I've seen a lot of great musicians, a lot of great songwriters, come and starve to death and disappear."

Mr Jones was one of the organisers of the event, on behalf of the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Music.

"This is the people's music being played in the people's house," he said.

"We want to take this art form out of the arts portfolio and put it into the innovation and small business portfolios."

You can have a top 10 single in the world from Townsville, or Cairns or Alice Springs if you know how to do it.

Mr Jones said the $15-billion-a-year Australian music industry could be lucrative for some, with the top 2 per cent of musicians earning more than $200,000 a year.

But he said 78 per cent of artists made less than $10,000 a year.

"We have to do better than that. You won't find a more creative, a more innovative industry than music. This is perfect for our agenda," he said.

He acknowledged the Government needed to come up with policy settings to help artists make a decent living out of their craft.

"You can have a top 10 single in the world from Townsville, or Cairns or Alice Springs if you know how to do it," he said.

"This is not just people playing music, it's about technology, it's about graphic design, it's about record production, it's about everything. This is a hugely exciting time."

Mr Jones also raised the impact of lockout laws on the live music industry, and said there was much more policy makers could do.

'I want to rock the house'

Mr Jones also raised the idea of hosting a music festival of sorts on Capital Hill, naming Australian band You Am I as his preferred headline act.

"I want to rock the house," he said.

"I think this is the people's music. I want the Queens Terrace cafe on the verandah out there looking down the drive to the War Memorial with electric guitars nice and loud ... that says the people are in the house."

He said the idea was inspired by action taken at the UK House of Commons.

Barnes characterised last night's parliamentary crowd as a "tough audience" and gently ribbed some for talking rather than listening during early performances.

"I seem to have less problem with that, I sing really loud and I'll punch them if they don't listen," he joked.

Barnes said he would "hate to be in a young band starting out now", given the new world of international music downloading services, the crowded market and restrictions on late-night trading.