Melbourne, Adelaide, to be discussed at UK global Music Cities convention

Melbourne and Adelaide are among the global music cities to be discussed at a new one-day convention in the UK called Music Cities.

Held in Brighton on May 13, a day before The Great Escape, the world-first event will “explore the relationship between city planning, strategy, development and the music industry.”

Its aim is to bring a wide array of speakers “to discuss, debate and introduce new thinking, action and structure to develop more vibrant, global cities.” It will explore issues as the future of live music in city areas, prosperity, solutions to noise, regulation and licensing challenges, community space, education, employment, event provision and demographics.

Among speakers announced so far are Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan and David Grice, Managing Director of Musitec Creative Cluster Development in Adelaide. Damien Cunningham of Sydney-based Live Music Office is also to be included in a later announcement.

Also on the speakers’ list so far are Britain’s Music Venues Trust CEO Mark Dafyd and Amy Terrill from Music Canada (and author of the Music Cities report which is gaining input from Australians). To be added will be academics, consultants, municipal building decision-makers and live music players from other countries.

Music Cities was set up by Martin Elbourne, founder of The Great Escape, along with global music market development agency Sound Diplomacy.

UK-based Elbourne recently served as Live Music Thinker In Residence for South Australia. Many of the 49 recommendations in his 2013 report have been, or are in the process of being, adopted by the SA Government. These have included the setting up of the Music Industry Commission of SA to provide a voice to the Government (and which last Friday delivered a set of recommendations covering policy and legislation) and the Music Development Office as a collaborative union of ‘Arts’ and 'Industry Development', with strategies covering business, marketing and export development.

One important development was the setting up of the St. Paul’s Creative Center where over a dozen independent creative firms work in the same space to come up with new ideas and projects. An important announcement will be made in a few months on projects that have emerged as a result.

The Musitec Creative Cluster Development, established last July, was a game-changer in the way that hundreds of music, tech, design and other creative companies work with the manufacturing industry to adapt some of the latter’s business models for its own use.

“It’s a holistic approach where the Government and the industry collaborate not just on cultural values but also to increase employment and business opportunities,” Grice told TMN. Feedback from other music cites in the world, Grice adds, is that Adelaide is now considered a “sexy, cool and innovative” music city. Its achievements are a lesson to other global cities on the importance of the music industry maintaining close ties with Government.

Melbourne has long been of global interest because of its number of venues (500), which is three times that of a similar music city like Austin. The setting up of the Live Music Roundtable, as a catalyst between Government and the music industry, is something that other Australian and global cities are eager to adopt. As a result of Roundtable discussions, Victoria introduced significant changes as Agent of Change, the deregulation of under age gigs, and a building code exemption for mid- and small-size venues.

Patrick Donovan told TMN, “What is positive in Australia is that the various state music associations share data to help each other lobby their State Governments. It’s good to be able to take that to a global level. The Agent of Change principle in Melbourne was a world first. Now cities like New Orleans, London and New York are eager to find out more about it.

“Similarly, I’m also speaking at Canadian Music Week. While it’s good to be able to tell the world about what Melbourne’s done, I’m also eager to learn how Toronto has effectively gained heritage protection for some of its clubs and apply it locally.”

In the meantime, there have been tentative discussions by sectors of the live music industry about holding a similar Music City seminar in Melbourne in late 2015.