Do Neighbours Have a Right to Complain About Live Music Venues?

Overview

A resident who lives near Melbourne's iconic Cherry Bar has recently been labelled "fuckwit of the year" for complaining about the venue's noise levels. Opening themselves up to unrelenting criticism from music lovers citywide, this neighbour wrote a small letter to the live music venue which has now been mocked and shared everywhere over the weekend. In the age of social media, it's almost always a bad idea, but in principle — do neighbours likes this really have a right to complain?

In Melbourne in particular, this has been a huge problem. Earlier this year, many of the city's major venues were in dire financial straits as a result of noise complaints made by surrounding residents. Just one complaint could have seen the council stepping in and enforcing major renovations to soundproof the venue. For many smaller sites, this would put them at risk of bankruptcy. There were even concerns about this affecting the music scene at large — if this kept happening, surely the best venues would just move away?

As a loud and proud bastion of hard rock in Melbourne's CBD, Cherry Bar is very familiar with this kind of trouble. As plans were going ahead to erect a 12-storey apartment building next door, the small venue was under pressure from the council to comply with noise regulations. Turning to crowdfunding from their loyal clientele, they raised over $50,000 in under 24 hours to go towards soundproofing the venue.

This has now changed. And, as most venues aren't as blessed as Cherry, it's a very good thing. After years of arduous legal battles, Victorian parliament passed new Agent of Change laws last month which put the onus of soundproofing on the developers of residential complexes rather than inner-city venues. It was a momentous win for live music that guaranteed the future of many bandrooms on the brink. The City of Yarra then jumped on the back of this and offered $25,000 worth of funding to these venues in the name of good will. Go Melbourne!

With all this in mind, it's a wonder this person bothered to get in touch. Shit's already getting done, right?

"The noise made by your bar is affecting my sleep and work, especially since it lasts beyond midnight," the complaint read. "May i suggest u guys to reduce the noise made by at least a half ? [sic] There are many working adults and students living in this apartment, so the noise produced by your bar made it very difficult for us to rest at home after a long day of work."

Then they get serious. "I have read about the noise restrictions in the CBD, and will consider reporting to the City of Melbourne or the Victoria Police if this matter is not solved within the next week."

And that's where it all began:

Cherry Bar owners have since got back to the neighbour expressing their side of the story. "Cherry has been successfully operating for 14 years as a late night live music venue. We have never had a noise complaint," their letter read. "The good news for you is that we are proactively investing in $100,000 worth of soundproofing presently. We are approximately 3 weeks into the 4 week process."

The moral of this story: you probably shouldn't move onto a street named after AC/DC if you don't like loud music. But in general, even if you live and breathe live music, it's easy to see the points these kind of neighbours are making. How many drunk trespassers and sleepless nights would it make to turn you into a fuckwit too?

Via Tone Deaf and Music Feeds. Photo credit: Scootie via photopin cc.