Dr Sam Whiting

Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University

Sam is a Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, a 2024 Churchill Fellowship recipient, and a Fellow of The University of Sydney’s Australian Basic Income Lab. His research is primarily focused on issues of capital, labour, and value as they relate to the cultural economy and music industries. Sam's published work explores issues of space, access, identity, heritage, cultural policy, and music scenes through the interdisciplinary lens of cultural studies, sociology, and popular music studies. He has research strengths in live music ecosystems and their policy environments; the political economy of the music industries; cultural policy; basic income for artists; the effects of artificial intelligence on cultural labour; the sociology of music; and small venues. Sam’s previous research has included work with Creative Australia, APRA AMCOS, Sound NSW, the University of South Australia, SA Music Development Office, City of Adelaide, National Live Music Office, City of Melbourne, Monash University, and the University of Tasmania. His book, Small Venues, is out now through Bloomsbury.

Relevant recent outputs:  

  • Cannizzo, F., Strong, C. and Whiting, S., 2025. Basic income for creative justice: Weathering inequity in the creative industries during COVID-19. Journal of Sociology, 61(3), pp.489-509.

  • Daughtry, S., & Whiting, S. (2025). Cultural labour, income support, and the welfare state: Non-arts funding and funding the arts. Journal of Sociology, 61(3), 469-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/14407833241309856 (Original work published 2025)

  • Whiting, S., 2024. ‘A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats’: On a Musician’s Minimum Rate, Cultural Labour, and the Live Music Sector. In The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Music Industry Studies (pp. 505-523). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

  • Whiting, S, Barnett, T & O’Connor J (forthcoming), ‘Do Give Up Your Day Job: Basic income for artists, and other stories’. Edited special issue, Cultural Trends. 

  • Whiting, S (1 Dec 2022) ‘A Basic Income for Artists, or How to Build an Artist-led Economy’, ABI Lab News, https://fass-comms.sydney.edu.au/link/id/zzzz6387de7b02017156Pzzzz61bbdd9d0d6a6843/page.html