Don't Kill Live Music Rally

Overview

As Sydney approaches the five-year anniversary of the lockout laws — which have led to the closure of 176 music venues across the city — another arm of the industry is facing potentially strangling regulation: music festivals. Earlier this year, after advice from the government's expert panel on music festival safety, the NSW Government released its strict new music festival licensing regime.

While it will not be officially introduced until March 1, the 'interim guidelines' have already led to the cancellation of two NSW festivals: Mountain Sounds and Psyfari. Byron Bay's Bluefest, which is set to celebrate its 30th anniversary in the coastal NSW region this April, has also threatened to leave the state. The festival's director, in a scathing letter to Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, "Will the last festival to leave NSW please turn out the light of culture in this soon to be barren state?". You can read the full letter here.

In response to this, a rally to defend the city's live music scene — particularly live music festivals — has been organised in Hyde Park on Thursday, February 21, from 6–8pm. Organisers of the rally have criticised the government's "knee-jerk regulation" and lack of consultation with members of the industry, saying "festivals are being used as a scapegoat for years of failed drug and alcohol policy". They're demanding the State Government review its regulations and consult with members of the industry to create more effective and transparent policies. A corresponding petition, calling for the same actions, has garnered over 114,000 signatures.

The rally is shaping up to be a bit of a music festival in its own right, too, with the lineup featuring the Rubens, Cloud Control, Urthboy & Bertie Blackman and Ocean Alley, who's song Confidence topped this year's Triple J Hottest 100. A range of big-name industry experts will be talking, including Julien Hamilton from the Presets; Michael Chugg, founder of Chugg Entertainment and Frontier Touring; as well as City of Sydney Councillor Jess Scully. At time of publishing, 23,000 Sydneysiders had registered their interest in attending.

While the rally isn't directly call for pill-testing — there was a separate rally for that last month — the NSW Government's new music festival licensing regime follows the death of five young people from suspected drug overdoses at NSW festivals. The NSW Government is continuing to ignore increased calls for pill-testing as a harm-minimisation technique at festivals, but Groovin' the Moo in Canberra has just been given the go-ahead to host Australia's second-ever pill-testing trial.

Image: Kimberley Low.