Call for ticket levy in Aussie live music inquiry
The government inquiry into Australia’s troubled live music scene has heard calls for a ticket levy on large-scale concerts to plough back into the country’s grassroots scene.
The first round of public hearings into the country’s live market’s ‘existential crisis’ launched last week amid the widespread closures of venues and festivals, with stakeholders including trade bodies, broadcasters and event organisers lining up to give evidence.
The situation was influenced by the current state of play in the UK, where the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee has backed calls for a new arena and stadium ticket levy, plus tax relief, to safeguard UK’s grassroots music venues. It said that a voluntary levy on arena and stadium concert tickets – as lobbied for by the MVT – would be the most feasible way to have an immediate impact on the business.
Kris Stewart, CEO of Queensland music industry development association QMusic, said the introduction of a small levy would have a “transformational effect” on the local industry in Australia.
“If you’re the Taylor Swifts of the world, up to 50,000 seats, £1 per ticket goes back into a charitable trust to be re-invested at the foundations of live music,” said Stewart, as per The Music Network via ABC. “If you’re paying £120 to see Taylor Swift and it becomes £121, that doesn’t change it. If you’re suddenly finding a new way to put £2, 3, 4, 5 million back into the foundations of live music, that is transformational.”
“If we want an Australian industry in 10 years, we need to acknowledge that our small music venues are the soil from which our artists grow”
He added: “If we want an Australian industry in 10 years, we need to acknowledge that our small music venues are the soil from which our artists grow. If that soil dies, no seeds can come from that.”
Stewart also made a suggestion that Australian support acts should be mandatory for international tours.
“The simplest intervention we could pull a lever on tomorrow, is say any international artist playing a venue larger than a thousand seats in Australia needs an Australian support artist,” he said.
Elsewhere, deputy director of Arts Queensland Kirsten Herring also encouraged bookings of emerging domestic artists at major sporting events.
“What are we doing at those major events at stadiums, in front of 60,000 people, to showcase live music?” she said. “For me, it seems like a fairly logical way to keep making sure live music is visible to all audiences in every form.”
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Queensland scraps plans for lock-out laws
In a move welcomed by the local music industry, the government of Queensland has abandoned plans for a 1am lock-out, opting instead for mandatory ID scanners to deter alcohol-fuelled violence.
The Australian state announced last year it was to follow neighbouring New South Wales (NSW) in introducing ‘lock-out laws’ that would see an earlier curfew imposed on venues and nightclubs. Former NSW premier Mike Baird, who resigned last month, has become a hate figure for his role as architect of the state’s lock-out laws, which critics claim have crippled the night-time economy.
Queensland’s laws were due to come into effect on 1 February, but lawmakers voted to abandon the plans in favour of mandatory ID scanners, which must be installed in all venues in ‘safe night precincts’ before 1 July.
Queensland’s music-industry development association, QMusic, describes the news as a “huge relief”.
“The lockout laws were never founded upon hard data relevant to Queensland – they were founded on a hunch”
“We are pleased that the government has listened to the music industry’s perspective on this legislation,” says QMusic executive officer Joel Edmondson.
“It’s a pity that it took a year of uncertainty before these laws were scrapped, but we thank the government for continuing discussion with QMusic and others over the last 12 months.”
Edmonson adds that the association carried out its own research on lock-out laws and failed to find any evidence they would improve public safety in the state.
“The lockout laws were never founded upon hard data relevant to Queensland,” he explains. “They were founded on a hunch. And that hunch would have damaged our great music industry.”
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