The NSW parliamentary enquiry into live music in NSW has found that noise complaint laws can be “crippling” for live music venues.
Hands up who’s surprised by that finding? No-one? Ok, let’s continue.
The recommendations of the inquiry, which were handed down on Thursday, found that throughout NSW often just a single complaint about noise from a neighbour could result in huge penalties from venues.
The ABC reported a number of case studies listed in the report regarding signal complaints, including;
- Play Bar, in inner-Sydney, closing after complaints from an upstairs tenant about noise. It cost them $100,000 in legal bills, coming as lockout laws cut their trading hours
- Sydney’s Harold Park Hotel, which temporarily stopped hosting music on Sunday afternoons after a resident at a new townhouse development complained about the noise
“It’s an Australian cliche to talk about the person who moves in next door to a pub and then complains about the noise,” said Sydney councillor Darcy Byrne. Turns out that the cliche rings true for NSW venues, particularly ones in inner-Sydney, and more often than not results in either the closure or immense compromise to live music programmes.
Sydney’s Annandale Hotel temporarily ceased live music due to noise complaints
This journalist experienced this first-hand, having my own band’s cover set (consisting mainly on Bon Iver, Crowded House and Angus and Julia Stone numbers) cut short due to a noise complaint at 6:00 pm in a Surry Hills pub in May this year.
Yes, 6:00pm.
The inquiry also found that Sydney was experiencing a “live venue crisis”, but stopped short of calling for lockout laws to be lifted.
“Evidence provided to the committee…clearly indicates that lockout laws have contributed to a reduction of live music bookings, a contraction of the live music scene and the closure of numerous live music venues in inner Sydney,” said an extract from the report.
The Play Bar in Surry Hills closed as a result of a single noise complaint
The report called on state parliament to create a minister for music and conduct a census into live music venues every two years to monitor progress.
“We heard that current planning, liquor licensing and noise provisions simply make it too difficult for small-medium venues to provide live music,” said committee chair Paul Green.
“This situation is having a devastating effect on career pathways for young musicians, destroying the touring network, adversely affecting Sydney’s cultural reputation, and taking a toll on visitor experiences.”
Check out a young Violent Soho tearing up The Annandale Hotel
