City Of Yarra Pushing For Live Music Precincts To Protect Venues From Noise Complaints

The City of Yarra – one of Melbourne’s local councils – is pushing for the installation of live music precincts to protect venues from noise complaints.

Within Yarra’s 19.5-kilometre city, 77 small to medium-sized music venues are currently in operation. Over $160 million is spent at 20,000 gigs in the area, with an estimated 2.5 million punters spending and embracing the live music scene.

Citing the success of NSW’s Special Entertainment Precincts, an initiative that has allocated over $5 million to 37 dedicated live music venues and supported soundproofing, energy-efficiency upgrades, and audio-visual equipment, the City of Yarra is looking to install something similar.

NSW’s Special Entertainment Precincts have also worked towards extended trading hours and reduced licensing fees, greater protections from noise complaints, the removal of outdated entertainment restrictions, supporting artists to record and tour their music, and supporting music festivals through the Contemporary Music Festival Visibility Fund.

The City of Yarra says the Victorian Government “must act now” to protect the local music scene and prevent further venue closures.

The City of Yarra is seeking government support to include live music precincts in planning schemes and potentially protect 130 businesses connected to the live music industry.

It’s also looking for the reduction of regulatory controls and red tape currently “inhibiting” the industry, and looking for financial support to the grassroots industry by supporting upgrades to venues, allocating grants to music creators, offering punters under 25 a “cultural pass” to spend on live music in small venues, and funding for local live music festivals such as Yarra’s Leaps And Bounds and the Brunswick Street Festival.

In addition to those moves, Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly is endorsing extending the 78 tram route, which runs between Balaclava and Prahran, and South Yarra and Richmond, to include Brunswick Street in Fitzroy and Chapel Street in Prahran.

The proposal has been nicknamed the “Revs Express,” after the beloved Chapel Street nightclub, Revolver.

“I’d love to see a Revs Express bringing northside ravers to the home of late-night partying in Melbourne, and of course back home safely,” said Revs resident DJ Mike Callander, per The Age. “Good public transport options are vital to safe clubbing, and ridesharing services across the river can be prohibitively expensive. All aboard!”

Yarra Council will hold a meeting tomorrow (16 December), where Councillors will vote on the live music precincts.

Expressing support for the idea, Stephen Jolly told The Age, “You’re coming into a noisy, live-music area – the most cosmopolitan sort of dynamic part of Melbourne. So, if somebody wants to downsize for a quiet retirement, nothing wrong with that – but go to Camberwell.”

He added, “If you move into the inner city, we’re full of live-music venues. They’re the lifeblood and the backbone of a key part of our local economy.”

Live music venues, including The Tote and The Night Cat, have endorsed the proposals.