Sydney Live Music Fight Heads To Council

The fight to increase the support and opportunities for musicians in Sydney will go before Council next week as the Live Music Matters action plan is considered.

The report was released last year after much consultation by the Sydney Live Music Taskforce and Lord Mayor Clover Moore pushed through some of the more economical of the 57 recommendations in December.

The action plan will once again be in front of the Sydney City Council's Cultural & Community Committee Monday 31 March. Crucially, funding options for the recommendations will likely be considered.

Amongst the recommendations are simplifying the approval process for small live music events, getting rid of knee-jerk reactions against venues for noise complaints and advocating for musicians and performers to be included in affordable housing schemes.

Both the Lord Mayor and Labor bloc are expected to look on the reforms favourably, given the Lord Mayor's commissioning of the taskforce's report and Labor's ongoing Labor Loves Live Music campaign.

Today Labor Councillor Linda Scott said she'll be “fighting the fun police and supporting live music in Sydney” on Monday.

“The Live Music Matters report is a significant step forward in the fight to save live music and it's a great result for the Labor Loves Live Music campaign,” she said.

“I want to see Sydney as a place known for its high quality live music and performances, and a nursery for new local acts. I encourage all music lovers to come along to the Council meeting and to support live music and our local musicians."

The Councillor added, "We need space for our children to learn instruments, places for our bands to rehearse, and places for our musicians to play. I'm pleased that there has been significant public support for supporting live music. Now it is time for action from Council.”

In addition to Sydney City Council, the inner-west's Leichhardt and Marrickville Councils have also agreed to the report in principle.

When launching the report in November – prior to this year's controversial new lockout laws – the Lord Mayor said, “There's a lot of talk on the trouble we have in places like Kings Cross and George Street… An important lesson for us in doing our night time economy work is that young people want a range of things to do and if we can diversify the experience that people have in our city, and it's not just focused on alcohol, then people can have a much richer experience and the city can have a more civilised environment.”

Music supporters within government ranks have often urged music stakeholders and fans to make their support visible to council by attending Committee sittings, and that call has been echoed to theMusic.com.au ahead of Monday's meeting.

The Cultural & Community Committee will meet at Sydney Town Hall, call (02) 9265 9310 to speak at the meeting and for more details.