Sydney's Live Music Community Creates Alliance To Fight For Scene's Survival

Over 60 representatives from Sydney's live music community have banded together to create an industry alliance and a united voice for the city's live music scene. 

At a meeting held yesterday,  a number of representatives from the industry including venue operators, promoters, booking agents, musicians and more agreed to establish a community that aims to develop solutions to the issues facing Sydney's live music scene.

Speaking to theMusic, founder and boss of the popular Oxford Art Factory (where the meeting was held) Mark Gerber believes the alliance will have a beneficial impact on the entire industry because "music has no borders".

"The need [for a live music community] has always been there and it should always be there…a collective voice is better than a fragmented voice coming from all corners," Gerber said.

While admitting that it is still early days for the new community, he believes that the alliance will be able to work with the local government on live music issues in a more efficient way. 

"It's not just a matter of setting it up to deal with any kind of regulatory matters that affect the industry, it’s also about forming a collective voice which can than advise parties from within the industry of how best to operate and best practises and all kinds of things," he explains. 

"Doors can be opened when people can tap into it and use those resources for their needs."

Meanwhile, MusicNSW's Emily Collins says the new alliance will work towards finding new and exciting ways to improve live music in the city. 

"There are so many amazing bands around, there are still audiences who are incredibly hungry for live music experiences and this alliance is really about making it easier," Collins explains.

While Sydney's night life scene has no doubt taken a beating since the introduction of the controversial lockout laws in 2014, Collins admits there is no secret Sydney is facing some "interesting challenges".

"I think with any challenge there’s an opportunity," she says.

"I would love to see Sydney’s live music industry be flexible and when there are issues, be able to respond in interesting and exciting ways. "You want an industry that is robust" and to handle issues when it's faced."

Over the coming weeks MusicNSW will endeavour to establish the new alliance as an exciting new force for live music in Sydney.

"At the end of the day we want Sydney to be a live music city," Collins says of the long-term goal of the alliance. 

"We want bands to want to come play here, we want audiences to go out and to experience Sydney through live music.  The purpose of this alliance is to bring back that cultural excitement."