Melbourne’s live music industry: “a perfect storm of crap”

It’s a Saturday night. Your favourite local band are playing at your favourite local pub. You rally your mates for a night out, get on the beers and dance the night away to some Aussie tunes.

Or it’s a Wednesday night. The mid-week blues have hit so you head to your closest bar and listen to some breezy soft music while you chat away.

This has been the way of life in Melbourne’s live music scene for over 50 years. Iconic venues like The Curtin, Wax Music Lounge and The Espy started the careers for some of our favourite musicians today.

In fact, rumour has it, international bands still party hard at places like Cherry Bar (some say Arctic Monkeys were spotted there until the early hours of the morning).

Not only does Melbourne boast some of the best live music venues in the country, The city and surrounding areas has more live music venues per capita than any other city in the world. Fitzroy and St Kilda come to mind as some of the top spots.

But, like most industries, the live music scene took a hit during the pandemic. During the months and months of lockdowns, it was completely out of business, and many venues never reopened. The ones that did are struggling.

The Old Bar is your typical live music venue. Situated on Fitzroy’s Johnston Street, it’s a staple for old rockers. If you like sticky floors, grungy aesthetics, moody lighting and the faint smell of cigarettes, this is the perfect place for you to catch a show (they have gigs 7 nights a week).

But The Old Bar has had increasingly specific insurance demands put on the business that were never seen before Covid. Owner Joel Morrison said the expectations have been confusing to navigate.

“We had a lot of conditions that were just ridiculous. One of them was no drinking and dancing, which is just bananas. We don’t have a dance floor per se, it’s all carpeted. We don’t even know what that pertains to,” Joel said.

Joel explains that it’s hard to enforce - what counts as dancing? Putting up signs around the venue has been done to try and deter dancers.

The Old Bar’s insurance prices have increased from $10,000 a year to $60,000. The venue has been operating for 22 years and they have never made a claim.

“It’s been very tough. The backend costs have tripled, quadrupled. It’s a perfect storm of crap.”

This isn’t a rare occurrence. Other venues across the state have shared their experiences on social media, with some insurances going up 500 per cent. Crowd favourites Cherry Bar and Yah Yah’s have both experienced this.

Beloved venues like the Collingwood Hotel and The Tote were also left with no choice but to close their doors.

But why the insurance hikes? The insurance refers to public liability costs, which protects businesses against claims resulting from incidents happening because of business activities. Think of a customer hurting themselves from slipping or falling.

But, as mentioned before, the insurance industry has also taken a hit during pandemic times. Due to low revenue, insurance companies have increased premiums, which in turn impacts existing customers. This extends to live music venues, leaving venue owners to absorb the increased prices.

Currently, the market remains unregulated and there has been no government intervention. Federal and State governments are doing little to help a struggling industry.

Change is happening slowly, with Creative Victoria funding grants of up to $10,000 for live music venues across the state to increase patronage and support new and established artists. But will that be too little too late?

“It’s pretty grim. This is the hardest I’ve seen it do. We’re seeing that reflected every week with venues closing down. Whether that be breweries, venues, bars, restaurants. It’s just taken a big hit. Places are losing everything and having to walk away,” Joel said.

“The government can help, maybe lowering some of the tax. The insurance can be helped out, although that’s tricky. Basically, it’s just come to a show, come to a gig, go see something during the week, take a punt on something, come see some bands, buy a drink.”

Venues aren’t the only ones suffering, musicians across the state are feeling the impacts. With a decline in patronage at live music venues and the cost of living keeping many at home, home grown artists are struggling to cut their teeth.

21-year-old musician James Pav has seen a noticeable difference pre and post pandemic.

“The demand [pre-pandemic] was very different. Ticket demands these days is crazy for big level shows, it’s really hard to get tickets. But for smaller level shows, it’s hard to even get people to come,” James said.

James has noticed a decline in free gigs and an increase in ticketed gigs, which has proven difficult to attract an eager audience.

“Everything is so expensive; people don’t want to go out as much and spend money. It sucks when you’re trying to convince your friends to come to a show and tickets are $25,”

“If it’s a band you’ve never heard of for $25, why do that when you can go see someone like Taylor Swift?”

And people have been spending. RMIT University found that the national economic impact of her touring was valued at half a billion dollars.

While the swifties have been spending, the everyday Aussie is pinching their pennies where they can. According to a recent survey by Anglicare Australia, people on welfare are only scraping by, and people remain stressed about the housing crisis.

People have little money left over to put towards arts and music, and that feeling is echoed by Australian artists.

In 2023, 48 per cent of Australian musicians thought about quitting the industry over the last few years. Musicians sited financial pressures, a lack of opportunities and a lack of support, as well as an array of other issues.

James thinks government intervention is vital, but also remains hopeful things will come back around naturally.

“I don’t think it can stay like this. We’re starting to see these issues come forward. Things will come together. Live music will never go away. There will always be a demand, it just depends on what form,” James said.

Fellow Melburnian musician Murray Jenkins has been performing for over ten years and feels like the industry is at a crossroads.

“I’ve definitely noticed a shift over the last few years. People I know have stopped performing or do it on the odd occasion now because it’s just not viable,” Murray said.

“With the current cost of living and the rental crisis, it’s no wonder my generation chooses to stay home.”

So, with a variety of parties being impacted by a decline in the once thriving live music industry, what actually can be done?

Music Victoria declined to comment on this, saying they currently don’t have the scope to take on interviews, could this be indicative on the industry as a whole?

Locally, one way the City of Port Phillip is trying to get Acland St in St Kilda back up and running is investing in Victoria’s first Live Music Precinct (LMP). Opened in 2023, it followed their Live Music Action Plan.

With the LMP in full swing now, the long-term goals are to protect St Kilda’s live music scene, offer support to venues, musicians and residents, and attract more musicians and music providers.

Smaller local musicians such as Jack Howard, Seudo Echo and The Band She have all taken the stage at venues throughout the area.

Murray thinks this is a good initiative, but “more needs to be invested” in live music across the state to improve musician’s morale.

The State Government also have grants of up to $50,000 to help combat the increasingly common festival cancellations, called ‘Live Music Festivals Fund’. The grants are to support festival organisers to stage new or existing events.

The grant announcement follows popular festival cancellations like Pitch, Coastal Jam and Moomba Festival in 2024 alone.

So, while the industry flounders to find its place in a post-pandemic world, local musicians and live music venues continue to ask for an increase in government intervention.