Is Tinder killing off the live music scene as people choose to meet on the app and not in bars?

FINDING someone to kiss at a local bar has become so rare, club owners are starting to panic. So where is everyone going to get their fix?

IS TINDER in danger of swiping the live music scene left and potentially right away?

Australians are now using the dating app to meet people, rather than the good old fashioned method of meeting someone face-to-face in a bar, pub or club.

Tinder users say the app lets them cut out the pesky getting-to-know-you stage online rather than wasting time on awkward first dates in person.

James Young, co-owner of Melbourne rock bar Cherry in AC/DC Lane, says the new technology is harming his old-school business.

“In terms of a new contributor to reduce attendance at bars, I’m certain Tinder is having an impact,” Young said.

“People are picking up in different ways. I don’t like to think of Cherry as a pick-up joint; I like to think we’re supporting live music. But the reality is maybe 10 per cent of the crowd were there for that purpose and they’ve found another way of doing that so that will obviously have an affect.

“Melbourne has a vibrant live music scene, and Cherry is a strong bar and will weather the storm,” he said.

“But there’s bars which don’t have music and were formerly probably relying on being pick up joints and we all know those types of places and they will be suffering because of Tinder.

“People aren’t using bars and clubs, they’re all swiping left or right on their phone.”

Tinder touch ... James Young, owner of Cherry Bar, says the dating app is changing the music scene. Picture: Supplied

The example of the impact of gay dating app Grindr on Melbourne’s once-thriving gay strip on Commercial Road has been used as a test case for Tinder’s possible influence.

Bars including the Market and the XChange closed four years ago, although Collingwood gay venues like Sircuit, The Peel and the Laird are thriving and can provide a safe venue for people who’ve met online to actually meet in person.

“If you look at the once vibrant gay club scene on Commercial Road as an example, there’s now tumbleweeds blowing down there and maybe it was because of Grindr,” Young says. “The gay scene is usually a few years ahead of everyone else, so a few years later now everyone is on Tinder and it’s having the same effect.”

Sydney’s lockout laws may have also driven people to meet new people on their phone, rather than watch the clock at a bar or nightclub.

However Frankie’s Pizza By the Slice, a thriving Sydney CBD hotspot boasting beer, pizza and live music, say Tinder has actually been good for business by adding a “funky new dimension” to interactions.

“It’s always very obvious who’s out on a Tinder date,” says Frankie’s band broker Jordan McDonald. “They sit, they wait, they drink, they meet their date and the rest is in their industrious hands. Frankie’s acts as the perfect meet up spot for Tinder users. They can hang at the bar waiting for their date to arrive, indulge in a little banter, sway to the rock`n’roll and basically loosen up amid all the distraction.

Godspeed ... Frankie’s Pizza welcomes Tinder daters. Picture: Bill Hearne

“If the question is whether Tinder users are forfeiting the meet up phase and jumping direct to the bedroom then I’d say that’s fantastic but it certainly hasn’t affected the numbers through our doors. We dig it! We accommodate hundreds of hook ups a night with or without Tinder involved. If folks are figuring out how to cut out the middle man and shoot straight for the prize then God love `em and God speed!”

After ten years running Cherry and now Yah Yah’s in Collingwood, James Young branched out into comedy shows three years ago; an entertainment genre he says Tinder is actually helping.

“Comedy is going gangbusters,” Young says.

“I think we’ve benefited from Tinder, a comedy night is an example of a safe fun date night. They don’t have to do the work, someone else can make them laugh, they’ll both be in a good mood. You can test the date’s personality, how comfortable they are with political incorrectness, whatever it is.”

Comedian Dave Hughes has a special connection with Cherry — he met his wife Holly there in 2002. They now have three children.

“My wife and I were both at Cherry Bar for the first time when we met there, it was preordained, I think,” Hughes says.

“I used to go out to bars to meet ladies, to be honest. There was no Tinder, all you had was bouncing around from nightclub to nightclub like a pinball. You were rejected by most, but you still tried.

“You’d go to five or six nightclubs, it was never you, it was always the environment that was wrong. You’d pay a lot of cover charges, I’d drink a lot of soft drink and spend a lot of money looking for love.”

Personal touch ... Comedian Dave Hughes met his wife Holly the good old fashioned way at Cherry bar. Picture: Colleen Petch.

His single days are long gone, but Hughes says he can see the appeal of the app in cutting out nocturnal groundwork.

“I don’t want to see the bar or nightclub industry die,” Hughes says, “but I can absolutely understand why Tinder is easier.”

Hughes has also noticed comedy shows being used as a date night.

“Comedy is a very couplesy thing,” he says. “My shows are mainly couples, some new, some not so new. I like to think I’ve inspired their night, if you know what I mean.”

True love ... Cherry blossoms: Hughes and wife Holly now have three kids: Tess, Sadie and Rafferty. Picture: Calum Robertson

Young also notices that sometimes shouting at a live music bar isn’t always the most conducive atmosphere to bonding with a new friend.

“I don’t know what people do on Tinder, but I’m sure it affects how they behave on a first date,” Young says.

“If you’re in the loud rock and roll environment and you’re trying to display or even fictionalise a caring and sharing attitude, you don’t go to a venue where you can’t talk.

“You might choose a safer option like the movies or some new trendy pop up food spot. But when you go to somewhere like Cherry, instead of filling out on your Tinder profile you like rock music, you’re saying it by the bar you’re attending.”

Work together ... Tinder and social media are not always bad, club owners say. Picture: Supplied

Tinder user Anne says the app cuts out several early steps in getting to know a potential partner — or a potential hook up.

“Basically it used to take you three or four drinks at a bar to start to gauge someone’s personality,” she says.

“Now, you can do those initial steps on your phone, weed out the idiots, bond over shared interests. It’s perfect for the short attention span generation. No wasted nights on some loser you can swipe or block in seconds.

“I’ve met guys in bars where I’ve gone hoarse from shouting over loud music. Tinder certainly makes things easier as far as culling down the choices, but bars are still great places to meet someone you’ve chatted to on Tinder because it’s safe and you can always make a quick getaway if it goes wrong. And if you’re just after a hook up you don’t need to go to a bar where there might be desperate drunk guys slobbering on you.”

However, Anne says Tinder can still lead to users making the most of the entertainment scene.

“If you start dating someone you’ve met on Tinder then you’re more than likely to go to a bar or a band anyway so it’s not totally damaging the industry.”

Let’s rock ... James Young says phones can help bands but are changing the way people date. Picture: Supplied

However, Young, unlike some promoters, doesn’t want people to put down their phones and reignite human interaction, fearing the ship can never go back in the bottle.

“I think it’s impossible to get people off their phones,” Young says.

“I love my phone. And Facebook has been incredibly beneficial to bands and live music venues in terms of providing a free marketing tool.

“If you’re lucky enough to be running a bar that’s doing well social media means more people come there. Someone will Tweet that Cherry is going off and say Faith No More are here and there’ll be 200 people in 30 minutes. In club and bar promotion people attract people.”

As well as the Tinder effect, Young also puts down a bitter winter and the falling Australian dollar curtailing the international touring market as other factors for a rough 2015 in the local live music scene.

“It doesn’t have to be something drastic, the difference between a business making money and going under can sometimes be just 10 or 15 per cent of trade.”

There are still plenty of happy endings at Cherry, however, with or without Tinder.

“Twice or three times a year we either have weddings or wedding photos at our bar,” Young says.

“Someone named their daughter Cherry because they reckon they got pregnant at Cherry Bar.”

Originally published as Is Tinder killing off the live music scene as people choose to meet on the app and not in bars?