Snakadaktal, like most musical acts of their generation, maintain a steady and spirited dialogue with their fans through social media. So when an 18-year-old punter recently asked, via the band's Facebook page, whether it was possible to accompany his six-year-old sister to the group's upcoming under-18s show at the Corner Hotel, the band's reply was prompt. “Hey Ayden, we are just sorting this out. We can't imagine that you wouldn't be allowed to take your sister. We will get back to you as soon as we find out. x”

Snakadaktal, who have quickly amassed a large underage fan base after winning triple j's high school band competition Unearthed High last year, posted again a week later: “Ayden Measham-Pywell, unfortunately we [are] told that it is an under 18's only concert, meaning that young children cannot be accompanied. We don't fully understand the point of this system, hope you understand it's beyond our control. Apologise to your little sister for us!”

Snakadaktal and the Measham-Pywells are the latest to come up against Victorian laws that, according to many within the music industry, make it financially impossible to consistently hold gigs for audiences under the age of 18. Facebook and Twitter have given punters direct access to their favourite music acts, and one of the biggest gripes consistently seen across local performers' pages is a perceived unwillingness to play more shows for underage fans. What many don't realise is that it is often simply not economically viable for those acts to play gigs their teenage followers can attend.

If Ayden and his sister lived in New South Wales or South Australia they would have no problem attending the gig together – both states allow the staging of licensed all-ages live music events, either by wristbanding those over 18 or dividing venues into drinking and non-drinking sections. Snakadaktal are playing licensed all-ages shows in Sydney and Adelaide on their upcoming tour.

It's important to note here the distinction between under-18s and all-ages events: under-18s gigs can be staged in licensed venues in Victoria, if that venue has successfully applied to the Victorian Commission For Gambling And Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) to de-license the venue for the event. (More on that later.) No person over the age of 18, other than those working directly on the show, can attend an under-18 gig. A VCGLR provision allows for those over 18 to attend an under-18s show if they are a “bona fide adult supervisor” of a minor, although the venues we spoke to said the definition of this was vague and therefore hard to apply.

All-ages live music events, however, have not been permitted in Victoria in a temporarily de-licensed venue since at least 2004, possibly longer. (There is some confusion over when the law was changed to ban them; we sent a list of questions, querying this and other aspects of the laws, to the VCGLR – despite assurances, we had not received a reply by the time of going to print.) This has forced all-ages gigs into non-traditional venues, such as record and book stores, council halls, youth clubs and warehouses. Staging all-ages events in these venues can present a unique set of challenges: retail stores are often too small to host a band with a solid fan base; conservative local councils can be reluctant to hire out their halls for rock shows; halls and warehouses often come with the added costs of PA and security hire and public liability insurance.

So questions are constantly asked: if licensed venues in other states can successfully hold all-ages shows; if minors can attend sporting events and music festivals and mix with adults consuming alcohol or go to concerts at Rod Laver Arena and Festival Hall where those over the age of 18 can buy alcohol; why, in Melbourne – Australia's supposed live music capital – can teenagers not mix with adults in a safe, controlled live music environment?

LAW AND DISORDER

“I find it a little bit hard to understand considering you can go to pretty much any sporting game that sells alcohol and you can buy a ticket to that being under 18,” says Ben Thompson, music coordinator for live music venues the Corner Hotel and Northcote Social Club. “You don't drink alcohol but you're there with a lot of other people who are drinking alcohol. Even at Rod Laver or the bigger shows you can have [unaccompanied] minors in there who… are around people drinking but just can't purchase it themselves.   

“Quite often it comes up at the Corner – you'll have a 17-year-old girl with an 18-year-old boyfriend or a 17-year-old brother of an 18-year-old sister who wanted to go to a show together and it just can't happen.”

Rae Harvey, who manages 360, Children Collide, Daniel Lee Kendall, Gyroscope, Hunting Grounds and The Living End through her company Crucial Music, is another outspoken critic of the ban on all-ages gigs in licensed venues. She regularly ran all-ages shows at the Corner Hotel until the laws were changed. “It's a ridiculous situation,” she says. “It's such a shame Victoria has become such a nanny state and it's leading more of today's teenagers to stay indoors listening to music on their computers instead. I can't think of one fight or incident that occurred during those all-ages events, by the way.”

Shane Wickens is artistic director at The Push, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to “educate, entertain, inspire and empower young people” through a range of music-related programs. The Push supports the state government-funded FReeZA program, which boasts 80 groups across Victoria running 400 all-ages shows a year. Before the law changed, checking a “FReeZA-affiliated tickbox” on an all-ages event application guaranteed the show could be staged in a de-licensed venue. After the law changed, that tickbox disappeared.

“You could tick that box and provided it was a FReeZA group they knew the local council was involved and that the level of operation was above a benchmark standard,” explains Wickens. “I guess there was a little bit of a trust factor there. Generally FReeZA funding goes to local governments, so there's youth workers that are involved with running it and they run to local government standards; that's about supervision and having proper crowd control ratio, [young people] to security ratios and things like that.

“We would certainly welcome a return to how it used to be prior to the changes… I don't remember there being any kind of trouble or reason to not do [all-ages shows], especially in a FReeZA environment.”

With all-ages events in de-licensed venues not an option, for many acts an under-18s show is the most effective way of playing to their underage Victorian fans. If, that is, they can find a venue willing to host the gig, and the act is prepared to run the event at a loss.

The Corner Hotel, with a capacity of 600 for underage shows, is one of the smallest band rooms in the inner city that regularly hosts under-18s gigs, though its room is still too big for many emerging bands yet to establish a large live following. According to Thompson it generally stages around ten under-18s shows a year and, while he acknowledges the importance of providing teenagers with the opportunity to see live music, he says it rarely makes financial sense for venues to put on under-18s gigs.

“To be honest we don't do a lot for the simple reason the venue pretty much loses money having an under-18s show. Obviously there's no alcohol sales; the way our venues are run the only profit we make is from alcohol sales, the money from the door goes to the bands. Without charging a huge venue hire fee there is no money to be made by selling a few soft drinks at the bar.”

Harvey points to two recent shows by rapper 360 at a Frankston venue – one under-18, one 18-plus – to illustrate the economic challenges in staging underage gigs.

“We charged the same price for both shows because we know kids don't have money,” she says. “For the over-18s we were allowed to sell 1,400 tickets and paid $2 a head to the venue. For the under-18s show we were only permitted to sell 750 tickets in the same venue and had to pay $11 a head to the venue to cover their expenses. You do the maths on that one! One might suggest the alternative would be a town hall, but that's not a solution usually either – not once you factor in the need to add production, security, et cetera in the room.” 

Venues willing to take a punt on an under-18s show must apply to the VCGLR to de-license for the duration of the under-18s event. The Commission's strict requirements are another source of frustration for venues and promoters, who consider many aspects of the process needless red tape and a further disincentive to staging under-18s events.

A de-licensing application must be lodged at least 45 days prior to the event; this makes spontaneous shows – say, an international act touring Australia realises demand would justify an under-18s show – an impossibility. Each de-licensing application carries a $178 fee, and the venue must provide information on public transport options to and from the event, exit strategies from the venue and information on the promoter. This same information must be resubmitted by the venue with each de-licensing application. (An application seen by Inpress ran to ten pages.)

“Obviously a place like the Corner Hotel geographically stays in the same place, so the railway station's always going to be the same distance away, as with the tram line, as with the buses running, so it seems pointless that you would be providing that information with every single application,” Thompson says.

“It involves a 45-day waiting period to get an answer and as far as we can ascertain that's because the applications are handed around between Liquor Licensing, Victoria Police and even maybe some other bodies. They haven't really ever explained to us exactly why it takes that long. We've never had [an application] knocked back which is why I kind of struggle to understand the reasoning behind the 45-day waiting period and the cost each time.

“Once a venue has a good track record with hosting under-18 shows, maybe that's the point that perhaps the gambling and liquor regulation people could be more lenient or make the process a little bit easier for that venue.”

De-licensed venues must remove or cover all alcohol and alcohol signage (everything down to the not-in-use branded beer taps) from areas where minors will be admitted; cigarette machines must also be removed or covered. Bands are not allowed alcoholic drink riders backstage, and there cannot be any smoking indoors or outdoors at the venue. There must be two crowd controllers at the entrance with one additional crowd controller “for every 100 patrons or part thereof”, with “every attempt” made for at least one-third of the crowd controllers to be female. A first aid officer is also required be in attendance.

If an over-18 show is being held later on the same date, there must be at least an hour between the conclusion of the under-18 event and the adult event, or 90 minutes if the venue exceeds a capacity of 800 people. All advertising for the event must be targeted to those who are 14 to 17 years of age and “should not include any inappropriate titles or innuendos” which, depending on interpretation, could include band names or album titles.

THE FUTURE

Licensed all-ages shows in Victoria are the ultimate goal for those within the industry, though many would settle for de-licensed all-ages shows and a relaxing of the de-licensing application process as first steps. One thing all agree on is the significance of providing those under 18 with access to live music.

“I think [young people] deserve the same rights as adults, I think it's a rights issue,” says Wickens. “They deserve the right to access live music in a safe, alcohol-free environment. I think the other thing is the early introduction and education to enjoy live music without the consumption of alcohol can be a positive social preparation for that person, so once they turn 18 and move on to licensed venues hopefully they adhere to the responsible consumption of alcohol. It's important for young people to attend gigs, it's a great way to make a positive contribution to the live music scene, and it also affirms them as valuable members of the wider community because often young people can be forgotten about.”

Harvey believes the significance of music to young people cannot be overstated.

“Music is an incredibly important part of growing up, finding yourself and working out where you fit in life,” she says. “It brings people together and creates better social interaction than Facebook ever will.”

Patrick Donovan, CEO of Music Victoria, the peak body established in 2010 to further the cause of contemporary music, agrees.

“Underage gigs are so important,” he says. “It's not just entertainment – it's social inclusion, it's mental health, it's giving [young people] an outlet, it's giving young musicians a chance to express themselves, it's giving young people art to engage with; and councils have got to realise it's not just art and entertainment, it actually crosses a number of portfolios. How many musicians, people who work in the music industry now or play music, were 15 when they saw that first gig and it changed their lives and they've gone and formed that band or have gone and worked in the music industry? Because if you get them in early, you'll have them for life.”

At just 28 years of age, Jaddan Comerford is already well on his way to becoming one of those lifers. After booking gigs in his local church hall at age 14, Comerford hooked up with a FReeZA group in Macleod; he then graduated to running his own underage gigs at city venues such as the Arthouse. Co-founder and director of the Staple Group, a business that incorporates ten companies encompassing everything from artist management to mobile phone apps, Comerford, like others in the industry, thinks that kids today embrace music from a wider range of genres and consume it more voraciously than in the past. Why then, he asks, should they be denied the opportunity to see their favourite acts perform live?

“One thing that I've noticed changing a lot lately is I've felt like for years our scene was one of the only genres that was doing all-ages events, whereas now I see The Jezabels doing it, we often have Illy doing under-18 events, I even saw, maybe it was Boy & Bear or one of those kind of acts, so it's showing that these young kids aren't just hardcore or emo kids or whatever you want to call them, they're just young triple j kids and I think that's a really exciting thing for the future of Australian music.

“They're probably all the kids that are buying singles on iTunes making the recorded industry profitable again so I think it's crucial we continue to foster it.

“Without the kids we have no future but also without the kids we don't have the hysteria the kids bring; they're the ones that are loud on social media, they're the ones who call radio stations, they're the ones that line up… [The] Amity [Affliction] will be playing a show and kids will be there from six o'clock in the morning sitting out the front. It's crucial that we foster that environment because it's the future of everything to do with the music industry, the festivals, recorded music, radio, everything.”

Music Victoria will tomorrow (Thursday) sit down with Minister For Consumer Affairs Michael O'Brien and representatives from Victoria Police, the VCGLR and the music industry at the first Live Music Roundtable meeting, with all-ages and under-18s laws high on the agenda. Following the signing of an accord between music industry representatives and the state government, and last year's oft-quoted report that found live music pumps $500 million into the Victorian economy, with 5.4 million attendees at live music events in 2009/10, Donovan is confident that improvements to the law can be achieved.

“The government passed legislation in December basically inserting an object into the Liquor Licensing Act recognising the contribution of live music, which is fantastic, because basically now they can't just say, 'That's a law and order issue', we get to say, 'No, the Liquor Act has to acknowledge the importance of live music – in this case the importance of live music to young people – and it has to remove some of these barriers… We've done quite a lot of research of underage gigs, we're taking in the research, our position paper, and basically saying, 'These are the problems, this is the effect they're having on the industry, and these are some recommended solutions', and they are going to have to take more consideration of the cultural impact simply because of that object being in the Liquor Act.”

Comerford too thinks that post-SLAM rally, and with Music Victoria now in a strong position to lobby lawmakers, the music industry is finally in a position to successfully wield its not-inconsiderable clout.

“I think we've done well – and when I say we, I mean the whole industry – to organise ourselves,” he says. “Like sometimes you can say there's too many cooks in the kitchen but I really think what's happened in the last two years, a lot of the key players – your Paddys [Patrick Donovan] and Pete Chellew [Push executive officer] and Nick O'Byrne [Australian Independent Record Labels Association general manager] and these kinds of characters – have really got together and worked out the way to voice our opinion as an industry, and I think people are taking us more seriously.

“I think in the old days the music industry was seen as a bit 'wild west', whereas now I think we've got our act together a little bit more. It's the way it should be, because we're no different to the mining sector or the aged care sector, we're just another sector that just happens to do something a little bit more fun.”

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