South Australia’s live music scene report out today

UK festival promoter Martin Elbourne’s long awaited Future of Live Music in South Australia report will be released today (Nov 12). Elbourne was appointed Thinker In Residence last September by the South Australian Government, to identify which areas needed attention.

SA premier Jay Weatherill told The Music Network earlier this year that providing South Australia with a dynamic night life reputation was part and parcel of making it appealing for investment, tourism and economic activity.

Elbourne pulled no punches, finding that there were no Adelaide-based acts with international profiles, no full time artist managers who could guide them, and no proper resource to provide consumers about live music activities.

Among his 49 recommendations: 

Update liquor laws to make it easy for promoters to open new venues;

Abandon laws that define what “entertainment” can be allowed in a venue, as bureaucrats used these to restrict styles of music that could be showcased;

Develop a mediation process with residents complaining about noise;

Change the “needs test” law where hotel owners can stop a new venue from starting up in their locality by protesting there was “no need” for it. This should be replaced by a “public interest” test;

Establish a music advisory council to report directly to Premier Weatherill with the specific aim of increasing the size and value of the SA music industry;

Set up Port Adelaide as a live music precinct. It has unused buildings that can be converted for bands, and no residents to complain of noise;

Develop a regional scene in the Barossa Valley, by setting up studios there and a touring circuit of the wineries;

Overhaul music education in South Australian schools, to make them more stimulating, and taught by people who are more qualified to do so;

Subsidise under-age shows as they make less money from not selling alcohol;

Train artists how to market themselves better online and on the street;

Premier Weatherill said Elbourne’s residency “has brought together and inspired our local music industry. This is about treating music as an industry as well as an art form."