The "long tail" of the global pandemic will continue to weaken Melbourne's live music industry unless the sector can work on a collaborative plan to keep musicians on stage and venues from closing their doors.
A white paper released this week by peak body Music Victoria has painted a bleak picture of the state of live music across the state, with concert crowds yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
The sluggish return of punters is having a knock-on effect with less than half of all venues licensed for live music in 2019 renewing licenses for 2021/22.
While acknowledging the efforts of the music industry as a whole, Music Victoria chief executive Simone Schinkel has told ABC Radio Melbourne she hopes the survey will offer some perspective.
The report calls for investment schemes to stimulate demand for local music content and all-ages environments, locked-in minimum fees and diversity benchmarks and more upskill opportunities for professional development.
It also underlined the need to establish an annual Victorian music showcase and industry conference.
"This isn't meant to be a shopping list," Ms Schinkel said.
"This is meant to be a strategic partnership with of us in the industry, with our community, with our audience and government.
"It isn't something we are going to fix tomorrow, but it's laying bare the things we need to fix for tomorrow.
"The love is there, the passion is there; let's just now have a strategic plan to achieve it."
She says the Victorian live music sector contributes over $1.7 billion per year in GDP, creates over 116,000 jobs and returns $3 for every $1 invested.
The Priorities for the Victorian Music Industry report found that while the recorded music industry hit a 15-year high across the pandemic, cash reserves of live music operators would continue to erode unless punters voted with their feet.
"The pandemic has left many businesses in survival mode whilst governments have focused on helping the sector triage immediate operating challenges, leaving little to no capacity to assign resources toward future focus research," the report stated.
Ms Schinkel said while the pandemic had underlined the capacity for musicians to pull together and support each other — particularly in regional centres — there was a need to establish stronger networks and partnerships.
"Music was very powerful for a lot of people in the lockdowns," she said.
"It's just about valuing that and putting your money where your mouth is sometimes and going to the gigs or buying the merch or buy[ing] the music.
"We can be our own worst enemies when we say we value music and then we go and stream it for free. And [musicians] are often undercutting each other for an opportunity.
"By taking on that battle as a collective we are so much more powerful."
Operators taking a greater risk
Pat Furze, the publican of the Bridge Hotel at Castlemaine, said the best asset the Victorian music industry had pre-pandemic was the gig-going punters who would "structure their entire weekend around going to see live shows".
"I do think the last two-and-a-half years has rewired us all a little bit," Mr Furze said.
"People are not venturing out as much as they used to and we are seeing that in ticketed sales. [From] small 50-person venues to the larger gigs and festival sales are [all] struggling," he said.
"Revenue is down and that makes people nervous. Concerts and festivals can be a profitable way of making money but it can also be a loss-making exercise.
"If things don't go well you can lose big time."
Resilient music community
John Curtin Hotel booker Paris Martine said in many ways it was incredible that the Melbourne music industry had survived.
"The fact there are still gigs on every week says a lot about the resilience of Melbourne as a music city and Victoria as a music state and how much we love our live music here," she said.
Ms Martine said ensuring up-and-coming artists were paid appropriately was also key.
"There is a fine line between making the arts accessible and keeping opportunities for artists accessible; making sure everybody gets paid correctly and they have opportunity to grow their careers. We need to work on that balance," she said.
Justin Brady, musician for Things of Stone and Wood, said support for hard-working musicians in regional areas had become even tougher.
"Getting people to come to a gig and appreciate what is going on is easier said than done," he said.
Ms Schinkel says Music Victoria will continue to explore funding mechanisms through local, state and federal governments.
