Queensland’s struggling live music venues call for national rescue plan
By Liz Hobday
Australia needs a national strategy to ensure the live music industry survives, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.
The industry is facing an existential crisis, with smaller venues needing immediate help to ensure their survival, according to Kris Stewart from QMusic, the peak body for Queensland’s music sector.
Problems include reduced audience spending, huge increases in insurance costs and a weak Australian dollar – but there are still some opportunities.
Ballpark Music at The Zoo in Brisbane. After 32 years, the venue hosted its last show on July 7.Credit: Sue Yek
“This is Halley’s Comet, not the end of the dinosaurs. I think this is an extraordinary moment in front of our eyes,” Stewart said.
Big international tours should be told to hire local support acts, while government-funded culture passes that subsidise young people’s spending in Europe could also work in Australia, he said.
Another long-term solution could be to put a small amount of money from ticket sales for large concerts into a charitable trust to support grassroots music, a solution that has been tried in Britain.
Iconic Brisbane live music venue The Zoo, which has been operating 32 years, closed its doors in July after running at a loss for the past three years.
At Gold Coast venue Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, expected attendance has halved, while operational costs are up 200 per cent over the past 12 months.
“Smaller venues have always run on the smell of an oily rag and the current challenges could prove fatal for many of these rooms across Queensland,” John Collins, from Fortitude Valley’s The Triffid, said in a submission to the hearing.
The future of Australian music is in the hands of small and medium-size venues in part because musicians can’t fund new recordings or marketing without regular gigs, Stewart said.
“If we want an Australian industry in 10 years from now, we need to acknowledge that our small music venues are the soil from which our artists grow,” he said.
Anti-competitive behaviour by major touring companies such as unreasonable performance contracts and low rates of pay should be investigated, said Jeff Crabtree, from University of Technology Sydney.
About three-quarters of Australia’s live touring industry is run by Frontier Touring (a Mushroom Group joint venture with US company), US-owned Live Nation Australia, and TEG (Ticketek), leading to entrenched power imbalances, he said.
The changes wrought by technology emerged as a consistent theme during Wednesday’s committee hearing in Brisbane.
An overriding challenge for musicians is discoverability: a new generation is not hearing Australian music on the radio because it is listening via algorithm, with local demand for home-grown tunes the lowest it’s ever been, according to Stewart.
Another looming issue for the industry is artificial intelligence – the soundtracks and background music that are worth billions to the sector when composed by local artists could soon be generated by AI.
But technology could also make the sector more efficient, according to testimony from the Centre for Arts, Sports and Technology, which said the industry tends to fight innovation.
The Caloundra Music Festival was cancelled last month after coming under similar pressures.