Venues

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Contents

• Introduction to venues (HHG)
• VROOM – One-stop essential resource for touring (Tracy Redhead)
• Some other venue databases (HHG)

Introduction to venues

By Hans Hoegh-Guldberg (Economic Strategies)
This note last updated: 25 June 2007

A growing number of websites provide search facilities for venues across a wide range of entertainment areas. Specific music-related databases are harder to find, although it is reasonable to anticipate that this will change. Meanwhile, these compilations help produce a picture of the structure of the music sector in terms of its composition including genres and geography.

The most advanced specific database is MusicNSW’s VROOM – Venue Resource of Original Music. It has been described by an impartial MCA councillor as “a great resource to the entire music industry … ultimately designed to be a one-stop central resource.” See description of VROOM below. Some other websites are briefly described in a subsequent section.

According to the VROOM website, ‘musician Tracy Redhead conceived the VROOM idea after spending many years touring the country, feeling that free accessible venue information would greatly help artists and venues alike. “The most consuming part of touring is finding venues and places to tour,” says Tracy “It costs so much money in phone calls alone to research venues but if this info was easily accessible it will save musicians, booking agents, promoters and managers heaps of time and money.” Upon presenting her idea of an online venue database to MusicNSW, VROOM was born and the project began its development.’

Other contributions to the subject are invited.

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VROOM – One-stop essential resource for touring

By Tracy Redhead (VROOM Project Manager, MusicNSW)
Last updated: 15 June 2007

VROOM is an extensive searchable database that contains venue information including full listings of production and facilities, booking details and general information. Venues can be searched via genre of music, venue type, capacity, suburb, town, region and/or multiple towns and suburbs plus more. VROOM encompasses all kinds of genres including jazz, experimental, rock, pop, electronic, hip hop, country, classical and blues as well as performing arts, comedy, spoken word and dance.

As an extension to the database, VROOM is also a resource centre and an online forum for venues and the music industry.

Read more about VROOM here!

Editor’s PS (26.6.07): The map shows the official NSW statistical regions used by VROOM. The particular version from the VROOM website is reproduced with the permission of MusicNSW (pending). As at 25 June 2007, the VROOM database consisted of the following number of venues:

• Sydney and Surrounds (Central Coast to the north and Blue Mountains to the west): 166
• Other coastal regions (N to S): Richmond-Tweed 32, Mid-North Coast 20, Hunter 32, Illawarra 52, South-Eastern 19
• Inland NSW: Northern 12, North-Western 9, Central West 29, Murrumbidgee 22, Murray 8, Central West 3.

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Some other venue databases
Compiled by Hans Hoegh-Guldberg (Economic Strategies)
Last updated: 26 June 2007.

With more than 400 entries as we write, the VROOM music venue database is way in front of others, found by googling ‘music venue Australia’. Here are some examples:

• The Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society (MBAS) “presents popular live music, blues, entertainment and restaurant venues around Melbourne and country Victoria”, 36 in Melbourne and 12 “out of town”
• The nightclub-orientated clubzone.com lists 40 music venues, of which 21 in Sydney, 15 in Melbourne, and two each in Brisbane and Adelaide
• The live venue listing of eleven magazine “features contact details, locations and web addresses for your favourite music haunts in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania and more.” It lists 26 venues in Sydney, 14 in Victoria, five in Brisbane, two in Adelaide, one in Hobart and three in Canberra.

Generally speaking, websites such as these may be useful for quick guides to specific groups of consumers but do not provide systematic inventories across a wide range of genres and locations.

However, there is a remaining category of organisations which are at least potentially capable of providing a broader range of information:

• Live Performance Australia (LPA) “is the peak body for Australia’s live entertainment and performing arts industry.” According to its information handbook, its membership includes Australia’s major performing arts centres, entertainment centres, and commercial and heritage theatres, as well as major producers, performing arts companies, festivals, promoters, ticketing companies, and lighting and technical operators. Its annual ticketing survey has become a major statistical information source (soon to be posted in the statistical section with MCA’s acknowledgment). LPA is the trading name of the Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA), which was established in 1917 and registered as an employers’ organisation under the Workplace Relations Act 1996. 
• The Venue Management Association (Asia and Pacific) Limited ((VMA)) was incorporated in 1992. It now has 600 members representing 300 organisations in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, and members in the USA, Canada and UK. It also runs an educational facility, the Public Venue Management School (PVMS).
• The Australasian Special Events website is billed as portal for the event industry. It lists a number of event industry associations (including relevant international organisations), as well as many other references and links of interest to the industry.
• The Festivals and Events Association ((FEA)) “is the peak body representing Australia’s exciting festival and events industry”, according to its website (currently being reconstructed).

The organisations listed in the last group cater mainly for major events. Many performances, however, take place in pubs, clubs and similar venues, where the issues are very different.  Dr Shane Homan of the University of Newcastle (NSW) has conducted major research into this area. He lists his current research interests as “cultural policy, music industry, popular music, youth, and urban cultures.” For a quick impression of his writings on popular music venues, see Julie Ustinoff’s review of his 1993 book, The Mayor’s a Square: Live Music and Law and Order in Sydney.

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