Melbourne musician Cash Savage remembers the first time her band played to a sold-out crowd.
It was at Fitzroy’s Old Bar – the same place her band, The Last Drinks, played their first ever gig years earlier after forming in Melbourne in 2008.
Cash Savage is increasingly concerned about Melbourne’s famous live music scene.Credit: Alexis D. Lea
“It was huge,” Savage said of the sold-out show. “Once that starts happening, you realise it’s not just your mates coming to watch.”
But Savage is growing increasingly dismayed about the future of Melbourne’s iconic live music scene.
She fears for the next generation of artists, struggling to secure work or get their big break, amid a spate of closures of some of the city’s most-loved grassroots music venues, including Collingwood’s Bendigo Hotel and East Brunswick’s Whole Lotta Love this year.
“The musicians are struggling just as much as the venues,” Savage says. “The entire live music scene is quickly disappearing in front of our eyes.”
On April 22, the Victorian government will open its 10,000 Gigs fund, allowing venues to apply for grants of up to $10,000 to go towards artists’ fees for live shows between July 1 and June 30 next year.
The $7.5 million program was already announced last year in the state budget but is being opened now after consultation with Music Victoria on how best to use the funds.
At least a quarter of the funding will be allocated to regional areas. Successful venues will be able to host 20 gigs and must pay artists a minimum fee of $250.
Collingwood’s Bendigo Hotel closed down last month.Credit: Luis Ascui
It’s been a grim few years for the local music industry.
The venues that did manage to make it through the COVID-19 pandemic battering are grappling with the impact of high inflation, pushing up the price of alcohol and utilities.
They are also being hit with skyrocketing public liability insurance – some up to 10 times higher – to cover injury or damage. Some venues – including the Old Bar – are being forced to bring in strict new rules like banning punters from dancing while drinking just to secure insurance.
“It is absolute capitalist nonsense that we’re living in,” Savage says.
“For the creativity of a city, for its creative heart, to be influenced because of insurance companies? Like, that’s ridiculous.”
James Clarke, who co-owns newly established music venue High Note in Northcote in Melbourne’s north, says the grants were a lifeline at a critical time.
“It’s going to help immensely in terms of us being confident to be able to put shows on and not feel like financially we will go backwards,” Clarke says.
Clarke, who is also chief executive of music marketing company Bolster Group, says the last few years had been “hell” for the industry.
“We’ve seen promoters, running festivals and self-funding those festivals literally go backwards,” he says.
Simone Schinkel, the chief executive of Music Victoria, says the fund would boost venues and artists that are scrambling to stay afloat.
“Bring it on, let’s make it happen,” Schinkel says.
Victorian Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks said the program was supporting businesses, which are the backbone of Australia’s live music sector.
“Live music is a big part of life for many Victorians and have a vital place in our state’s history and future,” he said.
However, Calibre Music Management director, Nathan Farrell, who has been booking bands for 20 years, supported any funds going to grassroots music venues is welcomed, he warned it will not be enough to save the many live music venues already on the brink of closure.
“Does it fix the core issues in the industry? No. I think it’s just a Band-Aid for a broken leg,” he says.
Liam Matthews, the owner of Old Bar in Fitzroy, also called for urgent reform in industry, echoing calls for policy interventions including government help for soaring public liability costs, and consideration of tax offsets for smaller live music venues, including for payroll tax or land tax requirements.
The Old Bar owner Liam Matthews.Credit: Penny Stephens
“I’ve would never pooh-pooh these grants as a means to get people to our venue,” he says.
“But competitive grants don’t help long-term. It is a really short-term injection of money. I want change in the industry.”
Schinkel says there is no silver bullet to fix the problems plaguing the live music industry, noting it will take long-term planning and ongoing government support.
Music Victoria previously confirmed talks were under way with the Victorian government to give venues access to the state-owned insurance company.
The group is also holding industry-wide consultations, and Schinkel has met with the federal small business ombudsman and Insurance Council of Australia.
Cash Savage performing onstage with her band, The Last Drinks.Credit: Sabrine Baakman
While Savage backed additional support for musicians and venues, she wants Australia to do more to fund artists directly.
“All my contemporaries, I’m just watching them fall over, go get other jobs throw their hands in the air and say ‘I can’t do this any more’,” she says. “It’s devastating.”
She called for a universal basic income for artists, mirroring similar schemes in Ireland and European countries, including France.
“I always joke with my mates if I ever win a billion bucks I’m going to buy an apartment building, knock it down and build a live music venue,” Savage says.
Yah Yah’s owner James Young in ACDC lane out the front of his former bar Cherry Bar.Credit: Meredith O'Shea
“Because nobody is ever going to knock down apartments and build a live music venue, and if we lose those venues in inner-city Melbourne, they are gone forever.”
The state government said it had invested more than $34 million in the state’s live music industry in last year’s budget, and a further $80 million allocated to more than 170 venues during the pandemic.
Open Studio in Northcote has started a crowdfunding campaign to try and stay afloat. Cherry Bar and Yah Yah’s have also lamented their uncertain futures due to insurance premiums, which have soared by 500 per cent.
A federal parliamentary inquiry was announced this month to examine challenges plaguing the live music industry, following the shock cancellation of Splendour in the Grass, amid poor ticket sales.
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