Standing in the empty band room of Fitzroy's The Nightcat, co-owner Justin Stanford is looking at a set-up drastically different to what it was before COVID-19 closed the Melbourne jazz club in March.
On the stage, black crosses mark the spots where performers must stand.
Below, the dance floor has been taken over by small tables with crisp white tablecloths, meticulously placed the required 1.5 metres apart.
"We're going to do seated shows with table service," Mr Stanford said.
"On a Saturday night, we'll probably run three shows back-to-back — a 7:00pm, a 10:00pm and a 1:00am."
It's a complete overhaul that will see significantly fewer people in the venue — but it's the only way the venue can open its doors as soon as August. And even that's temporary.
That's because it is only economically viable due to subsidies from the Federal Government's JobKeeper program and a rent reduction by the venue's landlord.
"If JobKeeper finishes on October 1, then we shut down again," Mr Stanford said.
"Unless we can open up to full capacity, it's just impossible. The numbers don't stack up at all."
But it's a glimmer of hope in a city regarded as the live music capital of the world — Melbourne has more live music venues per capita than anywhere else.
Before COVID-19, every Friday and Saturday night, Melbourne's live music venues pulled in more than 100,000 fans.
Every year, audiences for live music were bigger than the AFL, cricket, and racing put together — supporting tens of thousands of musicians, roadies, technical crews, and hospitality workers.
In a city obsessed with sport, Melbourne's live music industry was a hidden economic behemoth — worth $1.43 billion per year to the Victorian economy.
How will such a big industry survive?
Industry leaders say The Nightcat's new business model will be the new normal in the short-to-medium term — for those venues that can do it.
"You'll probably be booking tables with four, six or 10 people, ordering food and drinks through an app, which screens at some venues behind the bar," said Patrick Donovan, the chief executive of Music Victoria.
"If the artist can get paid to play three shorter sessions, sell some merchandise, then the business model might get close to breaking even.
Of course, sitting at a table to watch a band won't be everybody's vibe.
Other ideas being floated for Melbourne include drive-in concerts already seen in Europe, where people sit in their cars to watch a gig.
Nobody is yet discussing the idea of dance floors or a mosh pit, although Mr Donovan said the likes of Falls Festival, Port Fairy Festival and Meredith Music Festival have flagged to Music Victoria that they hope to go ahead later this year in some form.
With travel restrictions in place, they will be promoting homegrown talent for the foreseeable future.
"We're only going to have Victorian artists performing for the near future, and then Australian artists, and after that a couple of New Zealand touring bands," Mr Donovan said.
On Monday, a coalition of 150 venues from across Melbourne will launch a media campaign and present a petition to the Victorian Government pleading for help to save their industry.
Prepare to pay more for gigs
The new face of live music will come at a cost to punters.
In the past, many of Melbourne's live music venues didn't make their profits at the door with ticket sales — but made up the difference by selling alcohol to a packed house of revellers.
Mr Donovan said to compensate for smaller gigs, ticket prices would need to be jacked up to ensure those who performed the music and helped serve it up were adequately paid.
"The artists have been underpaid for a long time. The system was broken before we faced this crisis," said Mr Donovan.
"I think consumers will need to be prepared to pay more to see an artist and hopefully when we come out of this, they'll be prepared to continue to pay more to see artists."
Despite the rumblings of hope, Patrick Donovan said most live music venues would not be opening their doors anytime soon — especially nightclubs and bigger venues like The Forum that were drawing international acts.
"Very few venues can operate at a profit under those conditions until they can really open up over 500 capacity," said Mr Donovan.
"Most of these venues won't be able to reopen until they can actually return a profit. A lot of them can't see a way out at the moment."
One of those venues is the iconic Collingwood pub, The Tote.
Before COVID-19, the live music institution was doing 50 gigs a week with emerging bands, most of them ticketed at less than $10 or even free.
That was possible because there were plenty of punters buying alcohol — the venue's main source of revenue.
Post-coronavirus, the Tote's co-owner, Jon Perring, has crunched the numbers and he is staggered at the results.
"It's hard to see, under the current guidelines, how tickets are going to be less than about $60. And I just don't think people are prepared to pay that," he said.
"The protections are all going to drop off somewhere around October 1. After that, if we don't get a lifeline from the Government, you're going to see music venues just disappear en masse."
House gigs may replace the traditional venue
Both the federal and state governments were approached for comment about specific support for the live music industry beyond October.
Mr Perring is worried what will happen to Melbourne's music scene if nothing concrete comes through in time.
"Music is part of the fabric of Melbourne," he said.
"So many people have played in bands. And you know, the ability to participate in their culture is not going to be possible.
"I just think, what is going to happen is we will see an increase in house parties and possibly illegal warehouse parties?
"And that, to me, seems like a recipe for possible spreading of COVID-19 in unregulated environments. Because in those environments, no-one is going to be performing all of the health procedures that need to be performed."
Not everybody is worried about pop-up gigs.
The founder of the website Parlour Gigs hopes COVID-19 will lead to a renaissance of house shows — with appropriate health and safety protocols.
"We have seen a real surge in interest in our platform," said Matt Walters.
Before coronavirus, the website was facilitating gigs for names like Ben Lee, Katy Steele, Holly Throsby and Dan Kelly, as well as less established artists, in the backyards and living rooms of people's homes.
The platform allows artists to put out callouts to ordinary people to host them in their homes.
The artists set a minimum ticket price, and it is up to the house owner to sell a certain amount of tickets for the gig to go ahead.
Parlour Gigs gets 13 per cent of the ticket sales and the rest goes to the artist.
"I really believe that these small parlour gigs are going to be a vital part in helping rebuild, get money into artists' pockets quickly, let fans experience live music again, keep things humming away," Mr Walters said.
Musicians optimistic about post-virus renaissance
One performer who is also optimistic about the future of live music is Kate Miller-Heidke.
It's been just over a year since the singer-songwriter was swaying atop a 5-metre pole at Eurovision 2019, performing to a studio audience of thousands, and a TV audience of millions.
Today, she — like every other musician in Australia — is at home, wondering when she'll be back on stage again.
This month, the Melbourne-based artist released a new single, This Is Not Forever.
Normally, she'd be on tour by now.
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"Something this has revealed pretty starkly is just how dependent artists are on live performance for pretty much all their revenue," she said.
"I thought that no matter what, people would have a desperate hunger for that live experience, which is so magical. Damn, I never anticipated a pandemic.
"After the Spanish flu came in the roaring 20s. And I don't think that was a coincidence.
"I think people are going to emerge from this with a deep hankering for connection to each other, a connection to stories to, particularly, here in Australia to Australian stories and voices."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA1LTMxL3doYXQtd2lsbC1saXZlLW11c2ljLWxvb2stbGlrZS1hZnRlci1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy8xMjMwMzc0NNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjMwMzc0NA?oc=5
2020-05-30 21:20:24Z
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