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From the Dirty Trenches our Culture Grows
- 1. From the Dirty Trenches our Culture Grows: the Closure of Live Music Venues in Melbourne Anna Daniel Presentation to Instruments of Change International Association for the Study of Popular Music Australia-New Zealand Annual Conference 24-26 November 2010, Monash University, Melbourne. Joe Armao / Fairfax
- 2. Context • 19,000 liquor licenses in Victoria. • Late night violence. • Premier noted Victoria needed to reduce the number of late night venues. • Venues that operated until 3am were deemed ‘high risk’ without exception. • Small live music venues tend to run on lean margins. • The Tote (capacity ca400) was a small owner operated business with a trouble-free, three-decade record and reputation as a music institution. • The Tote was one of many venues that participated in FG4LM, a collective of venues that lobbied for ‘first amenity rights’ against noise pollution claims (cf. Rainbow Hotel) in 2002/3.
- 3. Participants From acorns oak trees grow?
- 4. Timeline 1 of 2 • April 2009 Tote building sale • Late 2009 - Tote declared ‘high risk’ • Jan14 2010 - Bruce Milne announced business closure on music community chatboard ‘Mess and Noise’ and elsewhere. • Immediate outcry
- 5. Shock Obituaries Anger Information seeking Action Mess and noise discussions
- 6. Timeline 2 of 2 • Jan17 – street protest outside the Tote, attended by ca.3000 people, est. 95% aged under 30 years • Jan18 – Tote closed • Jan? - Chris Morris grants the Tote a rent free period • Feb10 – Selected industry reps met with Premier, Consumer Affairs Minister, and key bureaucrats • Feb11 - FG4LM and SLAM submitted a letter to Premier Brumby and Attorney- General Hulls • Feb22 – ‘Accord’ signed between Consumer Affairs Minister and Industry Representatives. Select venues were invited to ask for a review of their licenses. • Feb23 - Rally to Parliament House by about 15,000 people • Bruce Milne says ‘I didn’t count on the overwhelming community reaction to the news.’ and ”I could never have imagined last week that we would be in this position within days.” • Apr7 – petition signed by 22,000 is presented to Parliament, asking for removal of high risk conditions and live music venues in liquor licenses • June 2010 – Tote reopened with new publicans • Oct6 – Live Music Agreement signed between Tony Robinson Minister for Consumer Affairs & Mark Brennan Director of Liquor Licensing, and representatives from Music Victoria, SLAM, FG4LM. • Nov27 – State Election YisBlo g
- 7. Success? • Not yet. • Divorced live music venues from violence. • Changes to liquor licensing. • Strengthening of lobby groups. • Recognition of the socioeconomic importance of small live music venues and cultural significance of this form of music in general. • Music centre – electioneering based on ‘we support live music’. • More closures (Birmingham etc) but also openings. • The music community began to take themselves seriously (for good and bad). Esteem.
- 8. Learnings • Propensity of new technologies, speed and a sense of revolutionary to enable activism. • Punter Power. The ‘underground’ music community was noticed, became ‘overground’. Far easier to email than write/post letters. • BUT the music community includes music consumers • The success of the Tote protest could be attributed to the reputation of the Milne brothers. Brand management. • ''Small venues are the centre of community cohesion.'’ (Dempster 2010) • Small music venues must manage their costs – it’s a cost business. • Suboptimalities in regulatory responses. • Spin: politicians manipulated the message with timing. • A ‘cookie cutter’ blanket approach to regulation results in unintended consequences. • Urban planning learnings: entertainment precincts need 24 hour public transport. Mess and noise discussions
- 9. Recommendations • Don’t ignore or disenfranchcise consumers /communities. • Hands off approach to regulation? • Late night transport.
- 10. Venues • Accept that they run on lean margins – Don’t blame punters – door number guarantees will stifle experimentation. Scale – Address high fixed costs – benchmark and then collectively lobby to minimise unnecessary fixed costs (eg. high risk license fees, unnecessary security etc) – Funding – government funding for soundproofing, more suburban venues – Deeper revenues eg. performance videos, webcam Venues • Accept that they run on lean margins and expect venue turnover – Don’t blame punters – door number guarantees will stifle experimentation. Scale – Address high fixed costs – benchmark and then collectively lobby to minimise unnecessary fixed costs (eg. high risk license fees, unnecessary security etc) – Funding – government funding for soundproofing, more suburban venues – Deeper revenues eg. performance videos, webcam How to lobby?
- 11. Venues • Accept that they run on lean margins and expect venue turnover – Don’t blame punters – door number guarantees will stifle experimentation. Scale – Address high fixed costs – benchmark and then collectively lobby to minimise unnecessary fixed costs (eg. high risk license fees, unnecessary security etc) – Funding – government funding for soundproofing, more suburban venues – Deeper revenues eg. performance videos, webcam How to lobby? HARNESS CONSUMERS
- 12. Method • Participant observer • Restricted to one online community: <http:www.messandnoise.com/discussions> • Bias
- 13. Theory • Business / Economics • Creative geography / Urban Planning • Creative industries • …..Government Connolly and Krueger Bruns Flew Merton Schumpeter Rogers Homan Cohen (Stanley, Albert, Sarah, Ted) Hebdige Hesmondhalgh Straw Oldenburg Freilich Cushman Cozens Grieve Florida Landry Waitt Gibson Creative Suburbia project Westbury Nieuwenhuysen Wu Yusuf and Nabashima
Editor's Notes
- In this presentation I will take you through a timeline of the issue around the temporary closure of the Tote. I’ll then discuss it from the perspective of a consumer.
- To set the scene
- I’d now like to introduce to you some participants in this tale. How it escalated from online consumers on chatboards to premier to computershare man How politicians took part in chatboard James and Bruce Milne FG4LM was reactivated from its 2002-2003 campaigns, with representatives from venues, musicians, promoters, radio stations and academics. SLAM (Save Live Australian Music) was also formed to represent similar constituencies. Liquor Licensing Music Vic – fledgling Chris Morris Delegation to Parliament Who is missing? - Industry bodies aka ARIA, Hotelliers Assn, APRA etc CONSUMERS – FANS – the public – punters. These are the PEOPLE WHO PAY FOR MUSIC –via taxes, door charges, music merchandise etc
- Source: bruce quote: http://www.messandnoise.com/news/3974344 and http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/3851179 April 2009 - Issues with building sale / during due diligence they found the licensees Milnes hadn’t updated their directorships - Liquor licensing force it’s closure for a couple of weeks Late 2009 - which meant onerous (costly) conditions were imposed. Jan 2010 –It opted to close earlier, which proved to be commercial suicide, rather than pay 500 per cent more for a licence, in addition to security that a venue of its size could not afford. They closed at 1am and this put off punters http://www.messandnoise.com/news/3845158 http://www.messandnoise.com/articles/3847100 6700 joined a facebook protest page in one day. Politicians issued press releases
- Kuro’s note – very very few expressed resignation
- M&N – politicians joined in the conversations. A Greens Minister quoted from the chatboard in Parliament. Bureaucrats ‘pissface’ Jan 20 – Arthouse announced it will close, Birmingham announced it was having licensing issues, many rural venues announced they were no longer putting on live music. Meeting: musicians Wally Meanie, Dave Graney and Clare Bowditch, promoters Michael Gudinski and Richard Moffat and representatives from Fair Go 4 Live and SLAM. Rally – SLAM support from international bands aka Slash Accord – offering only temporary exemptions for licenses granted in the last 12 months 7 April - Performers including Ross Wilson, Mike Rudd, Kram, Clare Bowditch, Angie Hart and 83-year-old Nick Polites presented a petition, signed by 22,000 people, which urges the government to remove the link in liquor licences between live music and high-risk conditions.It was handed to Greens arts spokeswoman Sue Pennicuik
- This is where FG4LM got to, and then it dissapated, it never became law - live music agreement and accord. Exemption of small live music venues from liquor licensing The RALLY was a success - the largest cultural protest in Australian history. For the first time, cultural policy became an election issue." Ben Eltham, AICV conference 2010 Victoria’s thriving music industry will rock even more under a future Brumby Labor Government, with $24.7 million to be injected into a new contemporary music headquarters and expansions of Victoria Rocks and FreeZACentral to support more up and coming musicians. New Director of Liquor licensing It galvanised the music community – they began to take themselves seriously (for good and bad) –a lot more self moderation but it took the informality out of it. Bruce now on the Music Vic board, as is Jon Perring and Patrick Donovan. Still need greater community consultation Lobby groups now pushing on sound proofing etc. More closures etc- but high turnover is expected in an industry with low margins. The thing to watch for will be whether there is any increase in illegal venues – as seems to be the case in Sydney with warehouse shows.
- The overgrounding – led to increased self-moderation This is translatable to Brisbane which is facing similar issues, and also globally – Berlin and Austin Rick Dempster from the Brunswick Blues Shooters, whose long-running residency at North Fitzroy's Railway Hotel was the first victim of the liquor licensing laws aimed at reducing drunken violence. Merton 1936 also identifying five sources of unanticipated consequences, with the first two, ignorance and error, the most common. The third he called ''imperious immediacy of interest'', when someone wants the intended consequence of an action so much that potential unintended effects are ignored. All three factors arguably contributed to the Tote's closure.
- Punter Power – Music Vic / SLAM etc – take consumers with you – don’t talk down to them, be open and transparent, not defensive and clandestine. This is one of the generic failings of the music sector – they sue their buyers Music vic should have a consumer on their board? These venues are run by small owner operated businesses, they receive little or no financial assistance from the government, as opposed to orchestras, opera and dance sectors. The Australian government recognises the importance of live music and has’’initiatives aimed at increasing participation, access and growth of live performances in Australia (Australia Council 2007-09). This acknowledged importance of live music performances in Australia has led to further initiatives at state government level which aim to increase music attendance and accessibility within the states and territories. '' Why did community consultations for the Liquor Control Reform Amendment (Licensing) Bill 2009 not include any representation from small owner operated live music venues? In preparing the regulatory impact statement, why did the Justice dept. not include live music venues as a key stakeholder? Melbourne City Councillor Ken Ong noted that on a night 70,000 to 80,000 people use public transport to enter the CBD but only 1,900 use the NightRider bus service to exit it. Suburbanites out for a big night on the town may not be able to return home due to: running out of funds; missing the last train or bus; missing their car pool; or finding a shortage of taxis. So they have little choice but to wait in long taxi queues or loiter in the CBD until the first train or bus commences. Given this situation perhaps it is understandable if they become frustrated.
- Participant – on the online forum, attended protest, emailed various parties. AS A CONSUMER Observer – literature reviews M&N – over 2000 comments in their discussion board. Bias – fan of Bruce Milne and the Tote
- Business – use of social networks for brand and reputation management, citizen journalism and activism, online communities, . Axel Bruns and Terry Flew Florida – creative class and it’s economic benefit Charles Landry was very against ‘drinking sheds’ or of large, anonymous high volume booze barns John Nieuwenhuysen of Monash Uni the architect of melbourne's drinking laws, and claimed in that increasing the times and number of drinking sites did not automatically mean an overall increase in consumption; and that diversification of drinking contexts was needed for the state to extend beyond its pub culture. 2008 said 'These places that disgorge thousands of people onto the streets are inherently dangerous.'' Waitt and Chris Gibson – creative cities Creative Suburbia project Marcus Westbury Music venues serve as a 'third place' (Oldenburgh 1999) for creative people to network outside of work and the home, generating a dynamism that makes Melbourne such a great place to live. The UK Government research around night time economies - decision to remove licence approvals for venues with capacities under 100 people (Department for Culture, Media and Sport (UK) (2009) ‘Boost for live music as government announces plans to exempt small venues’, http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6553.aspx/) Melbourne city council - Melbourne's Policy for a 24 Hour City Environmental Criminologist, Dr Paul Cozens and Shane Grieve would support this argument, and your may value his expertise on this issue. He has recently completed a study on contributing factors to late night violence in an entertainment zone. Shane Homan Subcultures: In 1936, American sociologist Robert K. Merton wrote an influential analysis about deviance and also identifying five sources of unanticipated consequences, with the first two, ignorance and error, the most common. The third he called ''imperious immediacy of interest'', when someone wants the intended consequence of an action so much that potential unintended effects are ignored. All three factors arguably contributed to the Tote's closure. Stanley Cohen’s seminal 1972 study of ‘Mod and Rocker’ rebels in the United Kingdom during the 1960s - titled ‘Folk devils and moral panic’ It emphasised the role of broadcast media in the ‘moral panic’ that followed sensational reporting of a few incidents. The mods and rockers, who on the whole were harmless, bore the brunt of media sensationalism because their behaviours challenged social norms – they dressed differently, spoke differently, listened to different music etc. (Cohen 2002). Hebdige (1979) refers to music subcultures. Instead of the term ‘subculture’, academics today describe ‘communities’ or ‘scenes’ (Hesmondhalgh 2005; Florida 2007). Straw (1991) distinguishes ‘communities’ as being stable in their composition, there is a very low degree of anonymity in them, therefore lower propensity to harm others. They are safe places. The Tote and other small live music venues are the ‘third place’ (Oldenburg 1999) where communities of creatives gather to listen to live music, share ideas and network. A lot of small entrepreneurial businesses start this way. Some analysts associate subcultural deviance with criminal behaviour but this isn’t the case. Albert Cohen positively believes deviance may act as a safety valve within cultures, by “preventing the excessive accumulation of discontent” (Cohen 1966: 6-11). Florida (2007) too describes how tolerance of fringe niches is one of four critical factors in a healthy economy. Freilich, (in Freilich, Raybeck, & Savishinsky 1991) believes Cohen’s theory of deviance ties closely to Merton’s (1957) theory of innovation, in which innovators reject mainstream behaviour but accept cultural goals. Similarly Cushman (1995: 91) suggests music provides an “active code of resistance and a template which [is] used for the formation of new forms of individual and collective identities.” Deviance, by challenging the dominant paradigm, appears to be a precondition of social change (whether as a creator or sign of change). That point is crucial, and is perhaps what Peter Garrett referred to in October. . “the Arts drive innovation” (Peter Garrett 27Oct09). It is emphasised by US economist Marie Connolly (Connolly and Krueger 2005) and the United Nations Creative Economy report, which describe the niche music sector as a vital breeding ground for innovation in content industries