The owner of Illawarra-based Spunk Records Aaron Curnow says the future is "particularly bleak" and called for more funding from local government.

Mr Curnow was part of a study into Wollongong's creative industries, after it was pinpointed as a hot spot (along with 19 other areas around the country) due to data showing a higher than average number of creative occupations.

He hoped policy makers would use the report to help an employment sector damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Even from a local perspective the council could be doing more," Mr Curnow said. "Stand up and offer more grants, [the ones] they offer are pretty minor."

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He said there was immense work involved in writing grant applications which could take a week, when council might only be offering several hundred, or thousand, dollars.

Mr Curnow's comments correlate to findings in the Australian Cultural and Creative Activity: A Population and Hotspot Analysis, which was released in July for the Australian Research Council and supported by Create NSW.

The research from Queensland University of Technology and the University of Newcastle also found state and federal governments invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Illawarra creatives, although local government fell quite short.

Wollongong council was found to be supportive of the arts and creative industries, including creating ways to foster the scene, but its funding offerings were sporadic and only a fraction of what higher levels of government made available.

The authors split the industry into two categories, Cultural Production and Creative Services, which collectively included: visual and performing arts, music, film and television, radio, publishing, architecture and design, advertising and marketing, electronic games, digital software.

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Meantime, the study revealed "software and digital content" was the largest source of creative industry employment, accounting for the largest number of jobs by both industry and occupation. This was followed by architecture and design as the second largest.

Other hot spots identified include the Sydney suburbs of Marrickville and Sydenham, along with Albury/Wodonga, the Gold Coast, Geelong and Fremantle.