Congratulations live music lovers, you helped ‘save rock n roll’.
Iconic Melbourne live music venue Cherry Bar launched a crowdfunding campaign on Wednesday, appealing to the the music-loving public to play the ‘White Knight’ and help pitch in towards $90,000 of funding needed to soundproof the venue in a bid to pre-empt a noise complaint battle with an encroaching residential development.
Though originally aiming to raise around $30,000 over 42 days, supporters hearing Cherry’s plight flocked to the Pledge Music campaign and thanks to 775 dedicated pledgers, the Melbourne venue smashed through its fundraising goal within the first day.
Cherry Bar co-owner James Young said it “was tempting” to leave the campaign open, allowing more pledgers to purchase Cherry-branded t-shirts, stubby holders, digital music, and personalised bricks towards funding the costly soundproofing works, “but we hit our target,” he declares.
“The right thing to do was to close down the campaign straight away with a smile on our faces, joy in our hearts and immense gratitude to all the music loving public who have generously contributed just under half the money we need to immediately commence soundproofing works in AC/DC Lane, thereby avoiding otherwise inevitable future noise complaints and kill-off the real threat of the closure of our 7-nights-per-week late night live music venue.”
According to Young, the ‘Save Cherry’ campaign raised $50,000 in under 24 hours, setting a new Australian record in the process.
By comparison, the current crowdfunding record-holder is Melbourne prog sextet Ne Obliviscaris, who managed to raise more than $40,000 within 38 hours of launching a Pozible campaign towards backing international touring, eventually knocking Eskimo Joe off the crowdfunding throne with an amassed $67,387.
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Following Pledge Music taking their usual 10% cut of funds, and between $5,000 to $7,000 twoards the manufacture of “merch, plaques and postage,” Young says Cherry Bar ends up with a “ballpark $38-$40k in hand” to put towards the cost of soundproofing the venue, estimated at $92,000, “although we hope to tighten this back to $80K,” he adds.
The proposed refurbishments, which include “a brick wall behind our stage area, double-glazing of all windows and the creation of a two-door soundproof bubble entrance to Cherry” is designed to protect the venue from an inevitable noise complaint dispute with a new 12-storey, 189-apartment tower overlooking the AC/DC Lane bar.
“As soon as these apartments open and one person complains we are on the wrong side of the law and can be closed down,” explains Young in the campaign statement. Next month residents will begin to move into the tower, located at 108 Flinders Street with balconies overhanging 10 metres away from Cherry Bar’s doors.
Though the venue has operated for 14 years without a single noise complaint, Young explained that “to avoid confrontation is the best course of action: to soundproof Cherry so we are compliant and beyond reproach.”
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Young is adamant that it’s “not fair” for the venue to front the costs for soundproofing, saying “it should be the developers’ cost.” But rather than sitting around waiting for the Planning Minister and his Government policymakers to fulfil their long-held, much-delayed promise of implementing the coveted Agent Of Change principle, Cherry Bar took its survival into its own hands – or more specifically – its future in the hands of passionate live music advocates.
“It’s not fair that we have to turn to the cash-strapped public and ask for their help to contribute half of our building costs, but I’ve sat through dozens of well intentioned meetings that go round and round in circles without ever providing a solution for the poor threatened live music venues,” says Young. “As it stands agent of change doesn’t count for nothing.”
The grateful Cherry Bar domo hopes that the overwhelming support and success of the ‘Save Cherry’ campaign “sends a message to the world that people love and cherish live music and will scrape and fight to protect what they love in the face of rampant soulless residential development and the lack of meaningful support and real protection from authorities.”
