Where do New Zealand songwriters live?

APRA AMCOS has released national rankings of the top song writing postcodes in New Zealand, based on the number of earning APRAsongwriters by postcode. The report finds that Auckland's Grey Lynn / Kingsland is the number one spot in the country for songwriters, which has retained first place for the highest number of earning songwriters in a postcode since 2003.

Anthony Healey, Head of New Zealand Operations said "Perhaps not unsurprisingly, the data shows that inner city Auckland suburbs remain the country's song writing hotspots" but, he adds "if you dig a little deeper the growth of music writers in central Wellington, Whanganui, Gisborne and Devonport on Auckland's North Shore show that those places could become real creative hubs in the future."

Auckland is where most earning songwriters in the country call home - 15 of the top 20 song writing postcodes in New Zealand are in Auckland. Wellington also strongly features in the data released, withNewtown / Brooklyn being the second most popular postcode for earning songwriters in 2013.

The postcode that saw the greatest percentage growth over the past decade was Wellington's Te Aro / Mt Victoria, jumping from 51st in the overall rankings in 2003 to 4th in 2013. Other areas that saw significant growth include Wanganui East in Whanganui, which saw the second greatest growth, and Royal Oak in Auckland which was the third fastest growing area. In contrast, some suburbs have dropped in the rankings over the past decade, including Auckland's Ponsonby, which fell from 2nd to 6th place.

Top spots for song writing:

Auckland's Grey Lynn / Kingsland has the most number of earning songwriters for seven genres of music, including electronic music, dance / techno, pop / rock, alternative, urban, metal and music for screen.
Wellington's Newtown / Brooklyn leads for jazz, classical, country and blues music.
Te Aro / Mt Victoria in Wellington takes the number one spot for folk, new age and children's music.
Auckland's Mangere / Mangere Bridge tops gospel music.
Wellington is home to the top three postcodes for songwriters of country, blues, and folk music
Napier's Hospital Hill / Marewa / Onekawa makes an appearance in the metal top ten

Click here for a full report of the findings, including the national top 20 over the decade, fastest growing national top 20 and national top tens by musical genre.