Federal inquiry into live music in Australia after swathe of venue closes around the country

Recent venue closures and festival cancellations have prompted a federal inquiry into live music in Australia

Transcript

00:00This inquiry is looking into some of the challenges that small live music venues and artists are

00:07facing right around the country.

00:09It's no secret that the cost of keeping a small music venue up and running is becoming

00:14increasingly difficult in this economy.

00:17Now look, a number of small venues around Brisbane and more broadly Queensland have

00:21closed over the years, including the zoo in Fortitude Valley, which I'm told is a bit

00:26of an institution.

00:28It's been running for around 32 years.

00:30The owner of the zoo says he's now being forced to close his doors this month due to the rising

00:35cost of living, and he's cited things like rising electricity bills, insurance, and also

00:41the fact that just not enough punters are coming through his doors and spending money.

00:46And that seems to be a similar story for a lot of venues across Queensland.

00:50Now look, we've also heard concerns raised about the impact that large international

00:54acts like Taylor Swift are having on local venues as well.

00:58Punters are spending big on Taylor Swift tickets, but they're in turn not spending that money

01:02on going and seeing local acts as well.

01:05Now a couple of solutions have been floated by the industry, including calls for better

01:09government support.

01:10There's also been calls for large international acts like Taylor Swift to hire local support

01:15acts so that money is going back into the economy.

01:18There's also been calls for increased tax breaks for small venues and for artists.

01:23The inquiry will be hearing evidence from musicians and music organisations in Sydney

01:28today and tomorrow, who I'm sure will raise very similar concerns.