Aussie Venues ‘Need To Give Customers More Choice, Better Service’

Australian music venues need to be more flexible to keep up with the music industry’s constant change, according to one venue operator.

Made up from staff from the Way Over There and Corner Presents companies, The Venue Collective was established as company independent to venue owners in 2014 to provide booking and promotional services around Australia. Currently their clients include The Corner, Northcote Social Club, 170 Russell and Shebeen in Melbourne, Newtown Social Club in Sydney and Woolly Mammoth in Brisbane.

In an industry climate where the closure of venues is highly publicised – often moreso than the opening of new ones – TVC’s Director Ben Thompson says that a new way of thinking is needed to ensure sustainability.

“Venues need to give customers more choice, more space, better service, good ventilation, some seating options” he told theMusic.com.au.

“The ‘beer barns’ will all be gone soon, simply because they will not be able to make enough from their bar takings to cover the overheads of running the space. Staff and security costs have doubled in the last five-to-ten years.

“Theatres and arenas pass all these costs on to the promoters and musicians, so [shows] will only work for the select few acts for whom massive ticket sales is a given.

“The pub-club venues that survive will be those that have created a culture of looking after their punters longer term and that find ways to draw them in earlier and hold them for longer post show.”

He added, “Running live music is an expensive exercise, there are bookers, publicists, advertising plus added security costs, sound and lighting equipment to maintain, techs to employ, cleaners, door staff etc. We believe very strongly that venue overheads need to be covered primarily by bar sales.

“Live music then becomes the marketing arm of the overall venue space and hopefully continues to drive a diverse range of punters through the food and free entry bar spaces at other times. Venues that only operate a single room definitely need to find other ways to cover rent and general costs."

Venues offering auxiliary services are becoming the norm around the country, a trend which the Newtown Social Club is a case study for.

“Starting Newtown Social Club with a ‘no pokies’ policy in Sydney was all very well until it became obvious that all competing venues relied on the pokies income to subsidize their drink prices and cover venue overheads.

“It has not been a simple task, but the shows there have been successful and we will continue to fight to protect the live music culture there from being diluted in any way.”