Small music venues and artists are continuing to struggle against changing audience habits instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a leading researcher. 

Amid festival cancellations, rising insurance fees, and ticketing costs, smaller venues that are the pipeline for Australian talent continue to be plagued by issues stemming from the COVID pandemic. 

Dr Samuel Whiting, Vice-Chancellor’s senior research fellow at RMIT University, said the situation had worsened compared to pre-pandemic conditions. 

“I think Australian artists are facing a real uphill battle, and small venues are suffering as well for different reasons, but it’s all interconnected,” he said.

According to the Australasian Performing Right Association Limited and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA AMCOS), Australia has lost over 1,300 live music venues and stages from 2020-2023. 

Dr Whiting and fellow researcher Dr Rosie Roberts conducted a study of regional music venues in regional South Australia between 2020-2021 to determine the sector’s health, and found worrying signs.

“Basically, without that cash flow during the pandemic, a lot of those venues had taken on a lot of debt. So their long-term future was looking difficult, or there were structural issues around staffing,” said Dr Whiting.

“A lot of staff had moved on because of the pandemic, and in regional venues in particular, because they highly rely on volunteers, there was a bit of burnout. A lot of those venues had tried to stay afloat during COVID, and because they weren’t being paid, there were high levels of stress and burnout.”

There was one recommendation from his study that Dr Whiting said he found particularly interesting.

“Security of tenure within the buildings that they’re operating out of would be one of the most helpful things for venues. Basically, if they’re operating out of a building that they don’t own, they don’t have any long-term certainty around whether they’ll be there, which affects their ability to plan,” he said.

I think in Australia, we need to acknowledge that maybe it’s time to start moving towards these not-for-profit models if we want to make sure that these spaces are sustainable in the long-term.

Dr Whiting also said changing habits around ticket purchasing after the pandemic negatively impacted demand.

“We’re [consumers] waiting a lot closer to the gig to buy tickets, which impacts certainty of supply for promoters, impacts their cash flow, affects their ability to pay contractors and things like that. And so they’re more likely to pull the pin if they don’t see that cash flow early,” he said.

“And also, audiences aren’t drinking as much, which also impacts their revenue models that have traditionally sustained live music venues and festivals.”

According to Creative Australia, a greater percentage of consumers are buying tickets one week before festivals in 22-23 compared to 18-19, though this trend is slightly decreasing. 

These ticketing behaviours, combined with the increasing costs of running venues, create a bigger problem, according to Dr Whiting. 

“Then on the supply side, inflation, which has been a global problem, has affected the cost of putting on a music festival… the cost of running a venue, obviously energy, and also public liability insurance,” he said.

“So you’ve got all of these issues that have come out of COVID that have affected both supply and demand and have negatively hit venues and festivals.”

On top of this, multinational companies like LiveNation have consolidated power by buying up the supply chain, increasing competition for significantly smaller businesses. 

The demand for live music still exists according to Dr Whiting, who said these venues help act as social hubs and build communities, while serving as the foundation for establishing Australian talent and music that reflects Australian culture. 

“I think in regional communities, they’re even more important because there aren’t many of them. And so you’ve only got a couple of options if you’re a musician coming through in regional centres. So they become even more important for young musicians or musicians in general as meeting places.” 

Let’s just acknowledge that this is a systemic issue. These places are obviously important, but we need to have a long-term solution for this funding issue.

Additionally, Dr Whiting said a lack of prioritisation and acknowledgment of the issue, as well as a music system that operates on a for-profit business model, puts the sector at risk.

“Unfortunately, they’re not prioritised as highly as they should be in terms of the decisions of policy makers, and also the broader sector,” he said. 

For Australian venues to survive, Dr Whiting said the industry must acknowledge that music venues are culturally significant and not solely for commercial purposes. 

In countries such as Germany and France, venues are subsidised and publicly owned, often by trusts. In the UK, the Music Venue Trust is a charity that buys out historic music venues that have hosted bands such as Oasis and Green Day to protect the spaces for grassroots development. 

Dr Whiting believes adopting European attitudes to music venues could help protect the industry.

“A lot of these venues have deep, long-lasting relationships with local councils… I think in Australia, we need to acknowledge that maybe it’s time to start moving towards these not-for-profit models if we want to make sure that these spaces are sustainable in the long-term,” he said.

“And also to put more money back into the pockets of musicians, because a lot of the time this money is just going to the business owner, or even if you have a commercial landlord, a lot of that revenue is going towards rent, which has gone up a lot in the last few years.

“Let’s just acknowledge that this is a systemic issue. These places are obviously important, but we need to have a long-term solution for this funding issue, and that might be transitioning these venues towards not-for-profit models.”

In March 2025, a federal parliamentary inquiry into the state of Australia’s live music scene presented several recommendations to help the ailing sector, including a subsidised ticket levy.

Main image by Jan Mehlich/Wikimedia.