BY ANDREW BARCLAY
Sydney’s live music scene is set to mirror that of Berlin under a new program being piloted by local councils, musicians and businesses.
The pilot program, led by the City of Sydney council, will provide support to both existing live music spaces as well as encourage the development of newer performance spaces.
Also supported by the Live Music Office as well as Leichhardt and Marrickville councils, the program will help businesses better identify ways they hold live-music events.
Clayton Ries, Live Music Programming Coordinator for the Live Music office said that Sydney’s live music scene “has been in a slow decline for a number of years”.
“This has to be fixed so that we can reinvigorate and create a resurgence for live music in Sydney,” he told City Hub.
“Sydney’s live music scene doesn’t have a strong community about it. We want to create more areas and venues that are close to people so they can get involved.”
While the program will provide guidance to traditional venues like bars and clubs, it will also seek to engage operators of community spaces to get involved by offering site specific guidance.
It will also provide advice on topics including licensing, ticketing and audience development.
Gabby Huber, AKA Maples, is a Sydney musician who has spent a decade in the Sydney live-music scene.
She says Sydney has a reputation as the location for the industry in Australia, but not for its own live music scene.
“It isn’t aimed at nurturing musicians,” she said.
“When I started 10 years ago, there were plenty of small venues and they weren’t as strict as they are now,” she said. “It’s especially difficult for young bands now, so they have to make their own rules with underground gigs.”
Lord Mayor Clover Moore argued part of the problem was a lack of knowledge of local business on how to hold such events.
“People told us they’d love to have live music in their venues but didn’t know what was involved, how to find and employ the right musicians, how to make it work in their space, or how to build audiences,” Moore said.
Maples agreed and cited lighting, insurance and sourcing PA systems as prohibitively expensive for developing musicians.
On the future for the program, Clayton said that he hopes it will serve as a showcase for other councils.
“We want hard figures that we can take to government to show the benefits of live music,” he said.
Businesses interested in hosting live music are encouraged to contact Clayton at lmpc@livemusicoffice.com.au.
