Australia’s Grassroots Venues Now Have a Peak Body, AMVF (EXCLUSIVE)

Australia has a new trade association, with the interests of grassroots music venues at its heart.

The Australian Music Venue Foundation (AMVF) launches today, March 13th, with a foundation board comprised of industry professionals from ticketing, venues and more, The Music Network can reveal.

Those first-up board members include Harley Evans (Moshtix & AFA), Howard Adams (Australian Live Music Business Council), Tamara Boakes (Jive Bar Owner/Operator & ILVA), and veteran labels and marketing executive Mardi Caught (The Annex).

AMVF is modelled on Britain’s Music Venue Trust (MVT), whose co-founder Mark Davyd attended BIGSOUND 2024 and met with several foundation members at the new not-for-profit. Davyd will be a key advisor to the new organisation.

Harley Evans

It’s no secret, live music venues at the grassroots (GMVs) tier are being battered by a storm,  sweeping in at angles, from the rising cost of insurance premiums, changing ticket-buying habits and Gen Z’s general lack of interest for booze at the bar.

Those myriad problems were brought into focus in October 2023 when APRA AMCOS presented its full-year figures — and a grisly set of insights.

In the three years from the start of the pandemic in early 2020, its licensing one-stop joint venture OneMusic registered a loss of more than 1,300 live music venues and stages across Australia, meaning one-third fewer medium to smaller licensed premises where artists can perform.

More recently, the parliamentary inquiry into live music found evidence that the industry was struggling, and would need support and reform to ensure its future. Among the reports’ 20 recommendations was the development of a “small levy” on the price of tickets for stadium and arena shows, which would directly benefit smaller-capacity rooms.

Mardi Caught

Those funds would be channeled into small venues and grassroots live music – mirroring a similar initiative announced last year by the UK government, and facilitated by the MVT. 

With AMVF up-and-running, GMVs will finally have a collective voice, one that will engage all sectors of the music industry and beyond on behalf of its members.

“I’m excited that the AMVF will give all venue owners and operators the opportunity to consolidate efforts on what their real needs are alongside additional industry bodies to make real change,” comments Boakes, owner and operator of Adelaide’s Jive Bar.

Tam Boakes

A levy, or a donation, has been “talked about for quite a while,” in Australia, Boakes told TMN last year, the conversation moving along the line that “a dollar ticket levy or a percentage ticket could go back into the grassroots scene because it’s obviously where all the music and creativity starts”.

As the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts last year heard evidence from music industry stakeholders, including state and local organisations, peak bodies, and event organisers, plus several roundtables with musicians and venues, the levy was put forward as one solution. 

QMusic CEO Kris Stewart argued that a small cut from major tours could be pumped into the ailing artist community. “If you’re the Taylor Swifts of the world, up to 50 thousand seats, one pound per ticket goes back into a charitable trust to be re-invested at the foundations of live music,” Stewart reportedly said.

By plugging millions of “dollars back into the foundations of live music,” Stewart continued, “that is transformational.”

Commenting on the unveiling of AMVF, Moshtix managing director Harley Evans comments, “There’s a clear and obvious need for more support and protection for this critical part of the live music ecosystem, and we have a once in a generation opportunity to work collectively as an industry to create a sustainable and vibrant future for the long term benefit of all live music fans and the wider music community.”

Adds Annex founder Mardi Caught, “It’s vital to support our grass roots partners as they are
always the first at the gates, showing their belief initially by simply just booking a band. The
results are symbiotic – one cannot exist without the other.”

Howard Adams

The new peak body intends to raise funds from donations, strategic partnerships and further explore the potential implementation of the recently proposed Arena Ticket Levy, explains Howard Adams, chair of the ALMBC.

Speaking from experience, Davyd, founder and CEO of Music Venue Trust, says that real positive change for the grassroots music ecosystem isn’t a pipe-dream. 

“Grassroots Music Venues across the world are facing a series of shared challenges, from rising costs and poor legislation, to creeping gentrification and the decline in touring,” he explains. The creation of the AMVF “is an important moment in recognising that venue owners and operators in Australia need proper representation through a national body, one that can talk with authority to
Government and to the music industry itself on behalf of the incredible Venues right across the
country.”