01/06/2020
Sign this petition to fight for out local music scene!!!
🚨 SOS 🚨 The Victorian live music industry is in trouble and needs your help. Venues from around the state - including The Old Bar - have joined forces to pen an open letter and lobby the government for immediate and ongoing assistance to help them through the current crisis. Read the letter, spread the word, Save Our Scene. Sign the petition at www.saveourscene.com.au
An open letter from Victorian music venues to the State Government
Victoria’s famous music scene is on the brink of collapse and there’s no relief in sight. We are calling on the Victorian Government to step in and save our proud music culture by preserving the venues where artists play.
Live music means mass gatherings, so it will be many months before our state's music venues can safely reopen our doors at viable capacities. In the meantime, our venues are being crippled by mounting debt including rent, mortgage payments, bills and insurance. Without Government intervention, many of the venues you love will be forced to close their doors permanently.
From Victoria's small clubs to our iconic band rooms, the places where you go to listen, dance, share and celebrate music will start to disappear. Stages that nurture emerging artists to those that house Australia's and world’s biggest touring acts will go, and who knows what will replace them.
Why does it matter?
Music is who we are. It is a cornerstone of Victoria’s identity as the “creative state”, it is something that we are known for around the world, and it is a huge economic driver.
Melbourne has more live music venues per capita than any other city in the world. The 700 music venues across Victoria host approximately 100,000 gigs a year, with an estimated economic impact of $1.42 billion generated from live music, clubs and festivals. Melbourne’s live music venues have an audience of 112,000 every Saturday night — more than an AFL grand final. The industry generates tens of thousands of jobs, from musicians and DJs to bookers, promoters, publicists, venue operators, hospitality and bar staff, technicians, security staff and a vast network of ancillary suppliers and contractors.
Music venues are the critical infrastructure of this industry. If our venues disappear, the live music economy will disappear, and our cultural heritage will go with it. Australian artists will have fewer places to perform, to grow, to find fans. At exactly the time when more local stages are needed - because international borders are closed - we will lose them. If we lose the venues, we will lose the artists too.
Our music venues cannot survive without Victorian Government intervention.
So please, protect our music venues. Support our artists. Save our scene.
Sincerely,
170 RUSSELL · AFRO HUB · ALPINE RETREAT MT BULLER · BAD DECISIONS · BAR 303 · BARWON CLUB · BASS LOUNGE · BENDIGO HOTEL · BLACKCAT · BROWN ALLEY · BRUNSWICK GREEN · CAFÉ GUMMO · CARAVAN MUSIC · CHANDELIER ROOM · CHASERS · CHERRY BAR · COLOUR · COMMERCIAL HOTEL · CORNER HOTEL · CROFT INSTITUTE · DOG'S BAR · EVELYN HOTEL · FERDYDURKE · FORTYFIVE DOWNSTAIRS · GEORGE'S BAR · GLAMORAMA · GRACE DARLING HOTEL · GRAND HOTEL MORNINGTON · HALLS GAP HOTEL · HOTEL NICHOLAS · HOWLER · INFLATION · IRISH TIMES · JOHN CURTIN HOTEL · LABOUR IN VAIN · LA DI DA · LAUNDRY BAR FITZROY · LOOP · LOST ONES · MAJOR TOMS · MAX WATTS · MERRI CREEK TAVERN · MUSICLAND FAWKNER · NEW GUERNICA ·NIGHTHAWKS · NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB · ONE SIX ONE · OPEN STUDIO · PARIS CAT · PAUSE BAR · PIANO BAR · PIER BANDROOM · POST OFFICE HOTEL · PRINCE ALFRED HOTEL · PRINCE BANDROOM · RADAR · REVOLVER UPSTAIRS · ROOFTOP BAR · RUBIK WAREHOUSE · SAINTS & SAILORS PORT ARLINGTON · SECTION 8 BAR · SHADY LADY · SOOKI LOUNGE · STAY GOLD BRUNSWICK · SWAMPLANDS BAR · THE B.EAST · THE BRIDGE HOTEL · THE COLONIAL HOTEL · THE CROXTON BANDROOM · THE EASTERN · THE ESPY · THE FORUM · THE GASOMETER HOTEL · THE GOLDEN VINE · THE NIGHT CAT · THE OLD BAR · THE PALAIS HEPBURN · THE PINNACLE · THE RAINBOW HOTEL · THE RETREAT HOTEL · THE THORNBURY THEATRE · THE TOFF · THE TOTE · THE TRAMWAY HOTEL · THE WOOL EXCHANGE · TORQUAY HOTEL · VOLTA · WESTERNPORT HOTEL · WESTWOOD HOTEL · WHOLE LOTTA LOVE · WORKERS CLUB · WORKERS CLUB GEELONG · YAH YAHS · YARRAVILLE CLUB
