Melburnians like their live music exciting, energetic and loud – leaving their minds blown and ears ringing – and the government is finally realising what the industry has to offer.
Alchemy, Live at Gertrude’s Couch.
Increased music streaming and downloading has seen record sales decline but live music is on the rise and initiatives like the Federal Government’s National Office of Live Music are aiming to keep it that way.
According to the Victorian Music Census live music is now a billion-dollar industry for Victoria, but local venues and local bands are still struggling.
City of Yarra Councillor, Simon Huggins, who is also founder of Two Bright Lakes record label, says Melbourne shines both on a national and international level.
“It’s the best live music city in Australia, and having travelled to a lot of live music cities in the world – I see it as being one of the best in the world,” he says.
Andy Crosby, guitarist from local band Alchemy, says Melbourne’s large array of venues make it a great starting point for bands.
“We’ve got a lot of great little and big venues here… and one of the nice things is that you’ve got to be really good live,” Crosby says.
“So a lot of the bands that come out of Melbourne are absolutely insane live.”
Although the long list of quality venues and bands are a major drawing card for Melbourne, planning and licensing laws make it difficult for smaller venues and bands to survive.
“There’s a lot of paid gigs out there but there’s not many that pay realistic money… There’s a lot of noise out there but also a lot of people who don’t take it seriously,” Crosby says.
Many venues struggle to due to restrictive legislature. Image Source: Flickr/Maureen_Sill
He says social and financial factors have led to the closure of some amazing live music venues, such as the East Brunswick Club, due to: “gentrification, and people hating to live near live music venues”.
Cr Huggins was elected to Yarra City Council last year with a mission to help push the issues facing the arts and music community.
“It’s a really tough industry for bands, incredibly tough… And the biggest thing facing live-music venues in Melbourne is around the state-planning schemes,” Cr Huggins says.
“Live music is difficult enough to make a buck on for venue operators and bands, so getting rid of some legislative requirements would be a big incentive for people to operate live music venues.”
Cr Huggins is making sure onerous legislative requirements, such as licensing, noise-restriction and planning limits, are being pushed into the Yarra Council’s agenda.
But he says live music is a really positive scene at the moment, and Federal and Local governments are on the right track to sustain Melbourne’s unique scene.
What do you think of Melbourne’s live music scene? Let us know below.
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View Melbourne Live Music Venues in a larger map
Alchemy Interview
