Keeping music alive
Andrew P Street puts perspective on the state of Sydney's live music scene, and asks where things are heading.
The Vines' right at the Annandale
While Sydney has produced many
world-class musical acts and is home
to some of the nation’s best-loved live
venues, the scene here has often been
compared unfavourably to those of
Perth and Melbourne. Patent twaddle,
of course, but when asked why Sydney’s
perceived as falling behind, all
sorts of reasons are cited – pokies, the
expense of getting bands in and most
of all, complications in getting a live
entertainment license.
Things are set to change very soon,
however, both locally and – if the
likes of APRA’s Dean Ormston gets
his way – nationally as well. While
the streamlining Liquor Amendment
(Small Bars and Restaurants) Bill was
introduced into state parliament by Clover
Moore is set to become law on July
1, another concerted salvo was fired on
the morning of Saturday April 5 when
the APRA-supported Sydney Song
Summit held a dedicated session that
looked at the state of live music in this
state and opened up discussions about
what could be done to improve it.
“It was branded ‘Live Music (R)
evolution’, and it really was what we
see as being the fi rst step in a much
longer and broader strategy.”
Ormston is the fi rst to admit that
changing the state of live music in
Sydney is going to take a while, and
require the input of a number of
sectors. “Basically the idea [of the
session] was to discuss the state of
play with regulation here in New
South Wales, and the state of play
nationally, and really look at what
are the opportunities for live music in
the hospitality sector. There’s been a
lot happening lately in NSW, and the
position APRA has taken with this is
that ultimately that’s going to lead to
lots of opportunities.”
Ormston is referring to the upcoming
changes to the licensing process
which will streamline and cheapen
the process for venues to host live
music. “Part of the problem is
changing the mindset of venue holders
to live music,” he explains. “The
cultural minister’s council, which
reports to the minister Peter Garrett,
they’re also very interested in the
work that we’re doing in this space.”
While these are all positive
decisions, these changes will mainly
benefit venues who are looking at
adding live music to their existing
business. Ask the licensees at some
of Sydney’s most established venues
what they see as being the greatest
threat to live music and they’ll tell
you it’s residential noise complaints.
“The key issue is that the residents
have all the power,” declares a clearly
frustrated Dan Rule, co-licensee of
the Annandale Hotel. “All this small
bars stuff, it’s fantastic,” he replies,
“but they’re still going to have to go
through the councils and residents. I
don’t have a problem with the licensing,
and I think most [publicans]
wouldn’t, and I think it’s fantastic
that it’s going to be easier to get entertainment
licenses for smaller bars, but
the problem is residents. If you come
up against one resident in your area,
you’re fucked. Councils don’t want to
get voted out – it’s the residents that
voted them in!”
So can campaigns like Live Music
(R)evolution help encourage some
sort of compromise with – or, at least,
uniformity across – local councils? “I
think ‘encourage’ is probably the right
word,” Ormston replies carefully, “I
think what Peter Garrett as minister is
interested in looking at is the opportunity
for entertainment precincts. The
best thing that could happen through
Garrett’s office and the cultural minister’s
Council is that there is a decision
to review that local council perspective
and find a best practice there. There’s
a lot of work to be done, but this is
very much the beginnings of it.”
You can get involved with the powers
of change by checking out APRA’s Live
Music (R)evolution minisite at www.apra.com.au/revolution/, the Raise The
Bar campaign at www.raisethebar.org.au, and the Music Council of Australia
site at www.mca.org.au