Feature: A Buderim high school teacher who moonlights as a professional musician is calling for an independent body to make the local music industry a fairer one.

Drew Wilson, whose latest pop-folk hit “Holding Onto You” is enjoying commercial success, said many artists continually felt unsupported when it came to the Council-run Caloundra Music Festival (CMF).

“It is a hard pill to swallow to see the same locals getting on the bill of our major music festival just because they or their friends record at a particular studio, or work at a particular shop,” he said.

“We have a lot of people doing things in their own backyard, and to feather their own caps, but this is diluting what we have and that’s really disappointing.

“I think there needs to be an overhaul too of the processes around some of our major music events.”

His comments come as Council continues to defend its tax-payer-funded festival, after concert-goers complained the event’s numbers were unusually low this year.

In a press release on October 4 Council said the festival had drawn “16,000 fans” to the region.

However, Buskers by the Lake organiser Cindy Jensen (pictured left) had a different story, saying it was less than half that amount.

Jensen volunteered on the gates at this year’s Kings Beach festival to gain an insight into how many people were really attending.

“We’re stoked, as it gave us a chance to gain some valuable FACTS,” she said on Instagram.

“7464 people checked in through the gates over the three days.”

Mooloolaba musician Liam Griffin said he also volunteered at the festival.

“It was an enjoyable weekend of live music. I expected to see more people there though.”

A Council spokesperson said the figure released was an “aggregate attendance” of the whole event.

“All multi-day events supported by Council and Tourism Events Queensland use this methodology to report attendance figures,” she said.

“Attendance is a different figure to the ‘number of individuals’ that will have attended the festival. Weekend tickets are only scanned once on entry, however many patrons attend three days.”

YELO reported in August that the Crystal Waters Music Club was the latest victim in a string of other cancelled events by Council, including Jensen’s busking event.

The event was “reimagined” in a matter of weeks, with Jensen citing “integrity” issues with Council as reason for her decision to cancel the two-day main event.

Wilson said for a region with “such an abundance of talented musicians” it lacked a “functioning overarching body” which could oversee festivals such as CMF.

“It would be great for an organisation to get behind and support the growth and nurturing of this in the same way that QMusic or the Gold Coast music groups have for their regions.”

But the show goes on for musicians such as Wilson (pictured below), who has lived on the Coast with his wife for 20 years, and they have two daughters aged nine and 11.

“Some people have a goal of recording a song, getting commercial radio play (or) playing to thousands.

“I just love that I still get to sing my own songs and people are happy to listen.

“Writing (music) for TV and movies is a great avenue and something that I really enjoy.”

Wilson, who has been playing music since he was seven, was pushed to make more music after a Nashville licensing agent wanted to use a song from his 2022 album and was eager to hear more.

“They shot back with an urgent email saying they wanted me to record up one of the songs ASAP and represent it.

“Some placement people from ABC/Disney said it would be a great fit for a Grey’s Anatomy placement.

“Needless to say I was pretty excited and showed the song to a few people who all said I should release it, and so here we are.”

His new song looks at anxiety in relationships.

“It’s a song about loving someone, being anxious about how it will turn out, and then just holding on for dear life.”

And while more music is on the cards for Wilson, he wants to continue helping local artists.

Wilson wrote a song for emerging country musician Darcy Kate, which saw her break through as a nationally-recognised musician.

The song reached number one on Australian Country Radio charts in August with full rotation on local commercial radio.

“I’d love to continue mentoring and supporting other Coast artists.”