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Abstract
Live music has been subject to particular economic and regulatory threats in recent decades. Comparative research of regimes for the planning and management of live music venues was conducted in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne over the period 2008–2010. Methods included archival and legislative reviews, field visits and interviews with key authorities, venue operators, live music campaigners and other actors. This paper gives particular attention to Brisbane's place-based approach, which replaced previous noise, planning and liquor laws to create legislated ‘Entertainment Precincts’. Operators are granted certainty for investment, with increased protection from incompatible development and noise complaints, if they are located in the designated area. In Fortitude Valley, the night-time economy has prospered, preserving and supporting a number of live music venues and giving increased protection to a set of nightclub operators. This functional separation and concentration in Brisbane differs significantly to Melbourne, with its more liberal approach and diffused venues. Brisbane is effectively placing the problems in one key site, leaving the rest of the city with few live music or night-time entertainment options. The paper explores these outcomes and provides options for cities seeking to preserve live music and create accessibility to the night-time economy, but retain amenity for residents.
Acknowledgements
Early research findings from this work were presented to the State of Australian Cities Conference (Burke and Schmidt Citation2009) and the IASPM Australia–New Zealand Annual Conference ‘Instruments of change’ (Burke Citation2010). The views expressed are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of any organisation. The authors take full responsibility for all errors and omissions.