Organisers of the live music awareness campaign SLAM Day have admitted today that this week's venue crises have distracted attention.

Taking place Saturday 23 February, nearly 300 venues have registered SLAM Day gigs. The annual event was born out of 2010's Save Live Australia's Music [SLAM[ Rally in Melbourne, whereby 20,000 people protested restrictive liquor licensing laws.

This week music venues have already been in the new though, with Sydney's Annandale Hotel handed over to receivers, Sydney inner-west room Notes Live acquiring a new owner and Wollongong's The Patch putting a halt to music following noise complaints for nearby residents. Last year Adelaide's Jade Monkey closed in the lead up to the day as well.

Today SLAM co-founder Helen Marcou told theMusic.com.au, “It seems an irony that leading up to SLAM Day we have crisis's with venues closing across the country. There are issues that have distracted our attention over the last few days, but the message of music and small gigs is getting out there.”

The SLAM Rally was a catalyst for live music to become a genuine political issue and authorities have been more willing to discuss music strategies since. The live music roundtable talks started in Melbourne last year and the first Sydney Live Music Taskforce – of which four SLAM allies and advisors are on the board for – had its first meeting last week.

“If it wasn't for the rally we wouldn't be at the negotiating table with the Government now,” Marcou said. “The Government gets nervous because they can see a lot of support behind us, and we can unleash the media beast when we need to… Behind the scenes we've been very active in advocacy and lobbying, and this year we've been getting the message out to the wider community.”

The alarming number of venues under the microscope this week is evidence that SLAM still have a way to go in their mission, Marcou admitted.

“We're a long way off because SLAM are a very small group of un-funded volunteers… Our job is to politicise and publicise. All we can do is encourage Governments to change the law. And it takes a long time to change the law. In New South Wales liquor licensing laws took six years to change, following the rally we managed to fast-track that in Victoria.

“Communities can get distracted pretty quickly as well… We can make the Government nervous but now is the time – more than ever – for people to get involved.”

The background negotiations with authorities are still based our three key areas; the agent of change principle, which would give precedence to existing venues over new residents; noise standards, where in Victoria live music is in the same category as hospital waste, automatically presenting it as a negative; and building codes that enforce unrealistic requirements on small venues looking to host entertainment – in some cases the required disabled ramp accesses, sprinkler systems and fire exits would cost a small venue up to $100,000.

SLAM WILL CROWD FUND TO AVOID GOVT FUNDING

Currently un-funded, SLAM has also revealed that they'll be launching a crowd funding campaign next week. The decision comes after the volunteer organisation decided not to pursue Government funding.

“We're often critical of the Government and we don't want to be put in the position where we're beholden to a Government,” Marcou said. “[But] there is no way for SLAM to be sustainable after three years without coffee money, so to speak.”

Supporters will be asked to become 'members' with a $10 donation, while dinners with musicians, backstage passes and 'Music Legend' lessons will also be available for higher prices.

The full list of SLAM Day gigs is available here.