The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle

“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?" Snarled John Lydon (AKA Johnny Rotten) of The Sex Pistols, concluding their last ever gig, in San Francisco, 1978. He had, and maybe still does have, a pertinent point. I don’t for one moment believe he was referring in isolation to the current state of affairs of the music industry during a global pandemic, but his polemic has a zeitgeisty feel about it. As a Yorkshireman I don’t do emotional, it’s not in our geographical or cognitive DNA. But at this moment in time, six months into a COVID restricted environment, I am started to feel isolated (pun intended) and rather helpless. When I was writing my post-graduate research thesis (two of them), I was always told to apply the 24-hour rule, let the dust settle, be contemplative, allow your inner cache to clear before diving in with a subjective, emotional and ultimately worthless opinion. Well I’ve given it some time, over two weeks, and much thought before I decided to share my thoughts on the much-publicised Victorian Live Music Recovery Program. This one-off program is a response to the unique challenges the creative industry is facing at this critical time, except it has some glaring omissions and flaws. As a music industry veteran with 41 years of international experience, and as a research active academic in this field, I am indeed getting the feeling that my colleagues and I have been cheated.

I am absolutely sure that the hastily appointed COVID politburo of “music industry experts” was well meaning and acted upon their tacit knowledge; it’s just that there was, and still is, a huge gap in their collective tacit knowledge. Actions have consequences, as do no actions. Whist this program is designed to caretake the music industry through these perilous times, it is highly focused on a very specific area, namely artists and small venues. Production and event supply chain companies are invisible within this package.

Production companies must take some of the blame here as their success is all about not exposing the means of production. If we do our jobs well, then nobody knows we’ve done our job. No audience has ever left a concert whistling the lights. Everything, and everyone, should focus on the artists doing what they do best on the stage and not about the 120 plus technical production staff dressed in black backstage. But here is the knowledge gap; which politician or policy maker knows what we do or how we do it? Not many people have seen us tipping trucks at 6:00am, flying lighting truss at 8:00am, rigging PA, building the set, programming visuals and sound checking. Nor do they see the load out at the end of night, not that it ends there. Once trucks are loaded, they travel through the night to start it all over again a few hours later. According to the Live Music census 65,000 highly skilled technical staff are employed, most self-employed, in this sector of the industry. Of course, we welcome and are grateful for Job Keeper, which I am receiving. However, it’s not much, and it’s pushed many people to the point of insolvency.

The biggest losers here are the production and event supply chain companies; who and what do they do I hear you ask? When you attend a show in an arena everything you see and hear has be supplied by a production company; this includes lights, audio, staging, rigging, barriers, drapes, backstage facilities, the list is long. This sector is largely made up of Australian owned SME with a couple of transnational global business in operation too. Unfortunately, there isn't a set definition of SME that applies globally. Each country gets to set its own definition, and they may also decide to set specific limits for specific industries. For example, in the European Union (EU), a business with fewer than 250 employees are considered an SME, while in the United States, an SME may have up to 1,200 employees. In the Australian production sector, I would define a SME of around 120 employees or less. As mentioned, many production employees are receiving Job Keeper or Job Seeker but the actual production companies are in dire and immediate need of financial support packages. The equipment we operate is extremely expensive, bulky and heavy which requires large and secure warehousing. Operational shelf life of our equipment is short with new innovations appearing the moment we purchase a specific piece of equipment. We could be classed as part of the ‘tech industry’ but we aren’t. Much of these equipment purchases are via lease/purchase deals, which leave little profit margin. Our landlords still want paying as do the equipment lease companies. Vehicles and equipment still require insurance and maintenance. Without work none of these expenses can be covered.  

On the event horizon I can see a huge skill shortage when we do finally return to work. Australia has a vast tertiary education sector supplying our industry with creative talent we need to operate our companies. Lots of potential students will not be enrolling on these courses to run up a significant HECS/HELP debt for an industry that is slowly dying. Many of the existing 65,000 production professionals have already exited the industry and it's unlikely we can entice them back in 2022 when we do finally get back to work. The early career professionals joining production companies from education institutions learn much of their skill set from on the job learning, guided by the more experienced crew members. Many of these very experienced crew are leaving for early retirement. This is going to be a very costly problem to solve in the near future.   

I like to take a solution orientated approach, whinging never really brings any results. Yes, there is a limited supply of money to support the production industry, but it is my assertion that much of this has be squandered on keeping over 100 Melbourne pubs operational. I do not want to get into discussing the dangerous effects of alcohol, of which there are many, but the biggest benefactors of keeping pubs gigs open are not musicians. Shouldn’t the private sector e.g. the wholesale beverage supply industry be supporting these pub gig venues with the vast profits they have previously made? According to the Drugs and Alcohol Review (2018) alcohol lobby groups spend upwards of $6 million a year to influence the government. Previous studies have shown the extent of alcohol industry donations to major Australian political parties. Research published in the Drug and Alcohol Review last year showed that the alcohol industry donated $7,650,858 in the 10 years leading to June 2015. The player with the most to gain from keeping pubs open is the alcohol beverage industry, yet they have not donated a single cent to support the music industry. Had the big alcohol beverage manufactures invested in supporting their point of sale structures, then this government money could have gone to where it was most needed and had the most immediate impact. Australia’s pub musicians have possibly the worst working conditions e.g. low pay, no superannuation, high rates of mental illness etc. of any cultural workforce in the world. A radical shakeup could have instigated a beneficial paradigmatic change, extraordinary situations can force and accelerate change for the better; rather shamefully, this has not happened. I can’t help thinking that this is a really bad and costly situation, a multi-million-dollar zero sum game. At best we have guaranteed that 106 Victorian venues survive to make huge profits for the alcohol beverage industry while continuing the awful and well documented working conditions for local musicians. Ever felt you have been cheated? Well, I definitely do.

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