After the initial 500 and 100 person caps on events, and then one person per four square metres, we’ve finally reached full shutdown. All non-essential services have been closed and the last of the holdouts have locked up shop until the coronavirus curve has been flattened out.
The immediate effect is that a lot of people out of the job; bartenders, security, sound techs, bookers - it takes a village to run a pub. And down the track, the hard truth is that many of these venues won't open again. So if you ever want to feel the comfortable groove in your favourite stool down the local, consider showing a bit of support during the lockdown.
Reschedule
If you've purchased a ticket to a show that has been rescheduled rather than cancelled, holding onto it instead of asking for an immediate refund helps everyone from the venues to the bands to the booking agents. Not everyone has the privilege of being able to leave money on the table right now, but if you're in the position to wait for a little while then the show you wanted to see is a lot more likely to actually take place once everything blows over.
Buy some merch
They can't sling pints or put on bands for the foreseeable future, but there are plenty of venues that sell their own merch on the side. Oxford Art Factory, FeeFee’s in Melbourne, Crowbar in Sydney and Queensland, and plenty more all have things like shirts, hoodies, beenies and stubbie holders on the go. Vic On The Park even do gift vouchers. Check out your preferred venue's socials or website and see if they have some apparel, that way they have at least some revenue coming in and you have something to remember them by in the meantime.
Donate
Again, not everyone has funds to spare at the best of times, let alone when people are throwing words like "Depression" around in the middle of a pandemic. If you do have a buffer, some bars have opened GoFundMe pages specifically to support staff members. The Tote have stated that "the business is looking at avenues to survive", but in the meantime asks "our community, our friends, our customers to help get our staff through this period of financial uncertainty".They're looking for a fairly humble $200 per staffer, which between the number of people that regularly stumble through those scuffed black doors is basically online tips.
Old Bar, The Carringbush Hotel and Collingwood Station Coffee have a joint page as well, with rewards from a year's free entry to your 'dream gig', where you get to put your own line-up together for a night with all the drinks you can sink. That's not charity, it's an investment.
Speak up
If you genuinely believe that Australia's venues and the people that rely on them for income are worth protecting, it's time to let your governing body know. While this isn't strictly a state issue anymore, in VIC Bendigo Hotel owner Guy Palermo has started a petition called "Help live music venues survive the lockdown".
Among other things, he's asking Federal Government support in "0% interest rate draw down loans with repayments to start when businesses open again" and for the State Government to "pause liquor licensing and other fees until we reopen" and help find "alternative uses for venue spaces during the lockdown".
"We create over 42,000 jobs and contribute $1.7 billion to the Victorian economy," says Palermo.
"We have to make sure there’s a lifeline so venues (and Melbourne) can open again when the worst has passed, which may be months away." Have a read of the complete petition here.
For more information about how COVID-19 is impacting the music industry, follow the link here.
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