Christian Tryhorn, who is entrenched in Australia's live music sector, has set out a devastating assessment of the state of live music venues in Australia.
Owner of Mo's Desert Clubhouse (Gold Coast), Creative Director at Dead of Winter Festival, Director at Mojo Burning and Manager at Beats Cartel as well as longtime touring musician with The Black Armada and Transvaal Diamond Syndicate, Tryhorn says it's the worst he's ever seen barring full lockdown during the pandemic – but at that time government survival mechanisms were in place."1/3 Small Venues Closing Since COVID"
"With 1/3 of small venues closing in Australia since Covid and the recent departure of a bunch more, you have to think what's in store for live music in Australia?
"With a relentless onslaught of big production tours (which we all love and will pay $180 standard a ticket for) and events vs the current cost of living and terrible economic landscape, low cap venues are all struggling.
"I haven't talked to one small venue owner who isn't surviving week to week. Low- to mid-level tours are generally hitting 50-60% of expected 'usual' heads and people simply don't have enough money for entertainment with things like fuel sitting at $2.50 p/L, a doubling of rent and mortgage rates in 18mths, jacked up basic food prices, increased power and utility bills etc etc when you factor in the big ticket touring items. Average punter spend at gigs has halved for anyone outside of the 18-25yo demographic.
"Low- to mid-level tours are generally hitting 50-60% of expected 'usual' heads"
"I've never seen a harder time to run a venue than perhaps total shut down period during Covid, but at least there were assistance grants to apply for in that period.
• Alcohol prices UP
• Rent and outgoings UP (sometimes doubled)
• Utility bills UP
• Licenses to host music UP
• Staff wages - mild but still UP
• Necessary promo spends UP
• Touring costs
vs
• Attendance DOWN
• Average punter spend when attending DOWN
"It's A Cooked Equation"
"It's a cooked equation. The result of life continuing like this is that we will lose the bottom third of industry. The building blocks for everything that comes above it. It's only the top 5% of bands that can fill a venue over 400 cap. What does this mean for the scene?
"I've always been pro Labour Government, but you have to start asking questions. What's the plan... where's the out... how many more venues and people have to go under before any respite is given?
"I heard an analogy the other day where if Live Nation touring profits for the year were grains of rice you'd have 4,000 grains of rice. Only 10 grains of rice would be needed to assist the bottom third of venues in Australia to keep everyone open until the wave hopefully passes. Yet they're talking of increased 'dynamic' ticket pricing coming into effect to jack up ticket prices even more.
"A life without art, music and release is a sad existence. To put it simply... we need music in our lives to cope with the amount of work that's required to keep afloat. Who provides this for us? Who builds the next megastars as they start their journey or supports those on the way down? The bottom tier is essential to stop the whole industry crumbling.
"Bands are having to work harder than ever, being more content grab creators than musicians in many cases. The TikTok muso ethos is in effect, thus devaluing the product.
"It's a bit of a crazy time man. I can only speak from perspective of where myself and our team sit amongst it all but from here it's looking pretty dire. Small venue owners and lower level touring acts are working for below minimum wage right now.
"It's not sustainable. Let's grant all small independent venues free pokie licenses... eeesh. I can only ask that the powers that be take a real look at this and you as a punter please continue to try and support the lower level venues and touring acts as best you can in tough times."
