Regional Live Music Venues Are Experiencing Mass Burnout

A recent study conducted by the University of South Australia has found that regional live music venue operators are suffering from severe personal and financial strain.

Though these venues have been working diligently to keep their doors open and sustain prosperous music cultures within their communities, numerous challenges abound, such as a steep increase in public liability costs, rising rent and energy prices, and the vital necessity of being able to pay artists fairly.

The current cost-of-living crisis is not doing anyone any favours. The altered spending habits of audiences have slowed both ticket and bar sales, making it increasingly challenging for venues to garner any sort of profit.

In fact, it is estimated that in the five years since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia has lost over 1,300 live music venues and stages.

Researcher Dr Rosie Roberts of the University of South Australia, along with Dr Sam Whiting of RMIT University, interviewed almost a dozen venue operators from regional South Australia in 2020-21 as part of a larger research project that informed the State Government’s Live Music Support Package.

Dr Roberts says live music venues in regional areas often involve high levels of volunteer labour, investing a lot of time for little financial gain.

“Many venue operators are undertaking a significant amount of the labour that’s involved for free because they’re driven by a desire to develop and sustain a music culture in their region,” she explains.

“The people we interviewed often described feelings of burnout and exhaustion and said they were the last to get paid, if paid at all, once they had ensured that the musicians were appropriately compensated.

“This can produce a churning cycle of music events which is difficult to sustain as operators become tired and need to step away. It’s very difficult to keep operations going in the medium to long term, and this can fracture the development of regional music and produce short-term pockets of activity.”

Regional venues face unique challenges in comparison to metropolitan venues: smaller resident populations can limit the size of bands playing, the frequency of shows, and the amount that can be paid to musicians.