At an initial cost of $560 thousand over three years, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been convinced by a bunch of self-styled cool kids to establish a new National Office for Live Music.
It is easy to see where this is headed. The National Office will function as a taxpayer-funded lobby group and will demand government funding be allocated to prop up the ‘independent’ music scene. It’s the first move in a process that is likely to encase Australian rock music in the kind of art’s funding morass that has enveloped most forms of creative expression in the nation.
There is no doubt that traditional rock music venues in the inner suburbs of our capital cities are under pressure. Gentrification, shifting demographics, and complaints about late-night noise have forced some ‘iconic’ venues (such as The Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills) to close or abandon live music.
However, that hardly means that live music product reviews are dying as new venues have opened to fill the void.
Moreover, technological innovations and structural changes in the record industry mean that live music can thrive so long as bands are good enough and smart enough to draw a crowd.
Online sharing of music has brought mixed blessings. On the one hand, record companies have lost money due to collapsing CD sales and don’t have as much cash as they used to have to invest in new artists.
But on the other hand, the gate-keeping role formerly played by middle managers has been reduced. These days, once almighty record company executives (‘Which one’s Pink?‘) no longer exclusively get to decide which bands get to release records. Not only has technology driven down the cost and complexity of recording, but email and social media, especially Facebook, YouTube, and SoundCloud, has enabled bands to directly market their music to consumers.
Because there is relatively little money to be made from selling CDs, bands have to regularly tour to make money from ticketing and merchandising. The recorded product is virtually a loss-leader – it’s almost worth giving it away if it induces fans to turn up at shows and hopefully buy a T-shirt.
Entrepreneurial musicians, both here and overseas, are supporting live music by finding innovative ways to attract and respond to their audience – all without an art’s bureaucrat or grant application in sight.
Take this local band, for example. Some blokes from Western Australia who listened to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band more than once too often were inspired to make their own version in their tree-house home studio. The dissemination of the Tame Impala’s albums via the internet has created a virtual scene of like-minded fans that allow the band to tour the world.
Live rock music doesn’t need the help of Kevin from Queensland – it needs musicians who in the true punk spirit can do it for themselves.
Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > Rock off, Kevin
Rock off, Kevin
It is easy to see where this is headed. The National Office will function as a taxpayer-funded lobby group and will demand government funding be allocated to prop up the ‘independent’ music scene. It’s the first move in a process that is likely to encase Australian rock music in the kind of art’s funding morass that has enveloped most forms of creative expression in the nation.
There is no doubt that traditional rock music venues in the inner suburbs of our capital cities are under pressure. Gentrification, shifting demographics, and complaints about late-night noise have forced some ‘iconic’ venues (such as The Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills) to close or abandon live music.
However, that hardly means that live music product reviews are dying as new venues have opened to fill the void.
Moreover, technological innovations and structural changes in the record industry mean that live music can thrive so long as bands are good enough and smart enough to draw a crowd.
Online sharing of music has brought mixed blessings. On the one hand, record companies have lost money due to collapsing CD sales and don’t have as much cash as they used to have to invest in new artists.
But on the other hand, the gate-keeping role formerly played by middle managers has been reduced. These days, once almighty record company executives (‘Which one’s Pink?‘) no longer exclusively get to decide which bands get to release records. Not only has technology driven down the cost and complexity of recording, but email and social media, especially Facebook, YouTube, and SoundCloud, has enabled bands to directly market their music to consumers.
Because there is relatively little money to be made from selling CDs, bands have to regularly tour to make money from ticketing and merchandising. The recorded product is virtually a loss-leader – it’s almost worth giving it away if it induces fans to turn up at shows and hopefully buy a T-shirt.
Entrepreneurial musicians, both here and overseas, are supporting live music by finding innovative ways to attract and respond to their audience – all without an art’s bureaucrat or grant application in sight.
Take this local band, for example. Some blokes from Western Australia who listened to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band more than once too often were inspired to make their own version in their tree-house home studio. The dissemination of the Tame Impala’s albums via the internet has created a virtual scene of like-minded fans that allow the band to tour the world.
Live rock music doesn’t need the help of Kevin from Queensland – it needs musicians who in the true punk spirit can do it for themselves.
Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.
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