‘Inadequate’ late-night public transit hurting live music, says venue operator
In evidence given to Parliament, the operator of UniBar said a lack of late-night public transit options was keeping people away from the CBD and disincentivising attendance of live music venues.
General Admission Entertainment founder Gareth Lewis told the Legislative Council’s Select Committee on Local and Live Creative Venues that young people were avoiding coming into the CBD for gigs because of an “inadequate” late-night public transport system.
In evidence given under Parliamentary privilege, the industry veteran – who also operates live music venue UniBar and co-founded the award-winning Beer & BBQ Festival – slammed Adelaide’s “inadequate” or “non-existent” late-night public transport system.
“That travel cost for kids… especially for those kids coming from the outer suburbs, is a huge cost impost and is potentially the number one reason why they don’t travel to the city and don’t travel to live music venues,” Lewis told the Select Committee.
Lewis said he had to schedule shows to finish at 11 pm so crowds could stay for the headline act and still get home.
“We try to finish shows by 11 so patrons can get to a 12 o’clock – well, 12 o’clock is generally considered the last time they can get out on a train or by O-Bahn or something like that,” he said.
“That doesn’t always happen. Some bills just run late. Some shows have five, six or seven artists on them and they will run late. My feedback is that the punters will either leave early or they decide not to come if they know a show is going to run past 11, and we can’t always guarantee that the show finishes at 11.
“I think to be a vibrant city – and I am talking specifically about bringing people into the CBD – it is essential that we have later regular public transport.
“I would just prefer people to be able to get home without spending $60 on an Uber.”
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Lewis’ gripes with Adelaide’s late-night public transport system made up just one part of what he saw as a “perfect storm” that’s closing doors on CBD live music venues.
He said the live music venue model was no longer a “sustainable business anymore”, and is being “run on miniscule margins”.
“Our venue, UniBar, takes $2.50 per head per payer for every show that comes through. That has to contribute to everything from AV equipment, sound engineers, security, door staff, riders, cost of production, backline, staging and, of course, insurance and all the other kind of day-to-days,” he said.
“That model of taking $2.50 per head doesn’t cover that.”
Alcohol sales – which once used to buoy live music venues – “aren’t the same as what they used to be”, said Lewis.
“For us personally, the per-head bar spend at our venue is roughly 50 per cent of what it was in 2019,” he said.
“With the rising cost of actually running a hospitality venue combined with the lack of sales, it is sort of a perfect storm and it is a door-closer for a lot of venues.”
UniBar operator Gareth Lewis is also the program manager at MusicSA. Photo: MusicSA.
Other costs weighing venues down include insurance, said Lewis, noting UniBar’s insurance cost has risen fourfold since 2019 to $75,000.
“We haven’t had a single claim, we haven’t changed the scale of our business,” he said.
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“It’s just a cost of doing business that we see as unfair and it is something that governments can step into.
“Governments in different industries and at different levels can absorb some of that risk, or underwrite that risk.”
Asked by Committee member and independent MLC Frank Pangallo whether the state government’s insurance arm – South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) – could cover major events, Lewis agreed.
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said.
“I know governments are really reticent to step into insurance in general.
“Specifically for events and festivals it is prohibitively expensive to take out cover against cancellation and bushfire and natural disasters, so even at that top-line level it would be helpful, but even down to public liability level, of course, it would be helpful.”
Lewis added that insurance costs were so high that many venue owners relied on grant funding to pay it.
“The irony is there are now venues that I know of that are applying for funding to governments to cover that insurance,” he said.
“It’s almost like throwing good money after bad.
“If governments are subsidising insurance through grant programs that are designed to create activity, it is stifling the activity, and it is paying for something that probably didn’t need to be paid for in the first place.”
The political inquiry was established in September to examine pressures facing South Australian live music and creative venues and will consider solutions to help ensure the sector has a future.
Greens MLC Tammy Franks secured the support of the Malinauskas Government to establish the Select Committee into local and live creative venues, which will explore the impacts of recent venue closures and what cultural infrastructure is required for a healthy sector.
Franks is chairperson of the committee that also includes independent Frank Pangallo, Labor’s Reggie Martin and Liberal Ben Hood.
The Select Committee continues.
