Radical Live Music Shake-Up Proposed For Wollongong

Wollongong's music scene could become one of the country's strongest if recommendations from the Live Music Taskforce and Live Music Action Plan, which have now been put up for exhibition, are taken up by the New South Wales town's council.

Coming just a few months after the taskforce was assembled last August, the report not only provides an in-depth picture of the region's music scene but also provides a number of recommendations to foster the industry.

“The most important thing is that it's legitimised the music scene and the council has become more aware of what's going on,” Yours & Owls founder Ben Tillman told theMusic.com.au today. “It's been helpful for us by being on the taskforce, we've got to speak to all these people.”

"The most important thing is that it's legitimised the music scene"

“The report is definitely a signal that Wollongong City Council is taking threats to live music seriously,” local campaigner Jessie Hunt added. “The taskforce and ensuing report shows Wollongong musicians that their voices are being heard.”

Particularly in regards to utilising existing buildings for live music purposes, Tillman said one of the report's key strengths is “trying to make it a lot easier to get new venues up and running”.

Other key points suggest the council make buildings it owns available for live music purposes, look to develop a multi-day festival for the region, create a clear mediation process for noise complaints against venues and improve the late-night transport options for the town.

The report comes after Sydney's Live Music Taskforce was released in November and John Wardle, who was instrumental in the Sydney report, was commissioned to write the Wollongong report for the council. While there are many similarities between the two – and indeed Martin Elbourne's Adelaide report – Wollongong's is unique in a number of ways. One of the key factors is that the Wollongong City Council don't have the financial firepower of major cities and so they're treating it in a revenue-neutral way.

Tillman said that the council have been supportive throughout the process and they're hoping to generate revenue in the region through a thriving live music scene.

"Wollongong is not Sydney"

“Wollongong is not Sydney,” Hunt said today. “These recommendations will greatly assist our town, but they need to be applied in a way that takes into consideration the immense differences between a rapidly de-industrialising regional town, and a global city.”

As part of the report, an extensive survey of the region was undertaken during December. RAD, the room formerly known as Yours & Owls (but still booked by them), had 20 gigs – the most of the area. Crown St Mall held 19 shows, Woonona Bulli RSL 13, Beaches Hotel 12 and The Illawarra Brewery 11. Overall, Wollongong had 108 events in the month, Thirroul 26, Towradgi 21 while Corrimal and Dapto both had 13. The majority of those events took place across 27 clubs and 17 hotels.

Another heartening figure that the report notes is that under the liquor act, state-wide noise complaints are down significantly since 2010/11, when there were 61 complaints finalised. In 11/12 there were 28, 21 in 12/13 and so far just 13 in 13/14.

The report warns though, “This drop in complaints could either be for a number of reasons, perhaps because alternative avenues are being used for initiating noise complaints against licensed premises.”

Hunt said responsibility for the live music scene now sits with the wider community while the report is on exhibition.

She said that 'real' results “will depend on both how the recommendations are applied, and whether further community engagement is carried out. I think it is important to note that the taskforce, whilst an incredibly useful process in developing the report, could not incorporate the input of the whole community.

“Hopefully, the exhibition period will allow more of our community to provide their feedback. The documents are, by nature, quite complex – ostensibly Council will be available to answer any questions or queries the community may have about the document.”

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE REPORT

-          Development of a multi-day festival in the region
-          That council-owned buildings are made available for music events
-          Improve night transport to help get music crowds home
-          Council to promote shows, festivals and venues through their channels
-          New residential developments to incorporate acoustic measures to avoid noise complaints
-          That a clear process be implemented for noise complaints against venues – including mediation

You can read the Live Music Action Plan, which is part of the Cultural Plan on exhibition until 14 March 2014, here.