Michael Hutchings from the peak musical group Australian Performing Rights association said the city was part of a pilot music industry project.

In a partnership with Arts NSW, the group is holding a series of roundtables in regional NSW to find out what the Aboriginal songwriting community needs.

Mr Hutchings said they could then tailor workshops for young adults and older adults, which will include songwriting to recording to industry management.

“We will then pick a small group of artists to be mentored by top-level industry members,” he said.

Tamworth was chosen after the association examined where their Aboriginal members were.

“We thought we would expand on what’s already here to value-add,” Mr Hutchings said.

“We will look to roll it out further west as well and songwriting will always be a component. We want to involve a cross-section of artists, the community and industry stakeholders.

“We are here to guide the discussions, but it’s them telling us what they need.”

Today there is an APRA workshop catering to existing and new members, explaining what APRA does, giving advice to members, explaining where royalties come from and doing general administration.