an Apra Amcos report from 2023<\/a> saying it wiped out 1,300 small and mid-sized venues \u2013 around one-third of the sector.<\/p>\nA strong music scene needs rehearsal rooms as part of its ecosystem, and as venues close so do the opportunities for gigs and the demand for rehearsal space.<\/p>\n
But another factor is the changing tastes of younger people: rock bands aren\u2019t as dominant as they used to be, and if musicians want to make music, they often do it digitally at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s social change, with young people falling out of love with rock music, but also the cost of living,\u201d Scott says.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just happening in Sydney either. Hamish Cox has run Sunset Rehearsals in Adelaide for 13 years and has seen the shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you combine cost of living expenses, the massive jump in utility bills, rent hikes and the lack of any significant fee increases for musos to perform, it just means it\u2019s harder to find that extra $50 in the budget for a rehearsal space,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve maintained the low prices we started with because we understand how integral having a place to rehearse is and how it shouldn\u2019t cost a lot to have a place to practise with your mates,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s harder for us \u2026 but without an affordable place to hone their craft we would lose artists and never hear songs we should hear, and that would be a kick in the bollocks for our music industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jet\u2019s Nic Cester performs at Bakehouse in 2023. Photograph: Martin Philbey\/WireImage<\/p>\n
Even the bigger rehearsal spaces are operating on a financial borderline.<\/p>\n
Opened in 1990, Bakehouse Studios is one of the premier spaces in Melbourne and has been used by names such as Paul Kelly, Jet, Dan Sultan, Ed Sheeran and Ed Kuepper. But co-founder Helen Marcou says Bakehouse has survived only by transforming into a \u201cmulti-function arts space\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we hadn\u2019t diversified and upped our game many years ago, I don\u2019t think we could have survived, given the rent conditions here in Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcou says at least seven studios that competed with Bakehouse were wiped out after the pandemic, including Kerr Street, Aesthetic Studios and Factory Sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever get back to 2019 levels of occupancy, and now we\u2019re seeing another slump again,\u201d says Marcou.<\/p>\n
\u2018An ongoing issue\u2019<\/p>\n
Matt Francis, the head of public affairs at Live Performance Australia, the peak body for Australia\u2019s arts and entertainment industry, says that \u201caffordable and accessible spaces for artists and creatives to practise, develop and present their work is an ongoing issue across the board and something which governments should prioritise\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralians still strongly value live music experiences, but it\u2019s clear that some parts of the industry are under pressure \u2013 particularly smaller venues,\u201d Francis says.<\/p>\n
Back at Zen\u2019s closing-down sale, a diverse crowd of punters \u2013 many of them long time customers \u2013 are picking over everything from plastic chairs to sought-after guitars and amplifiers.<\/p>\n
Punters pick through the garage sale at Zen Studios, Sydney, which opened in 1990. Photograph: Lachlan Colquhoun<\/p>\n
Scott says his goodbyes to the regulars; one gives him a $120 bottle of whisky in thanks.<\/p>\n
Paul, a sixtysomething punk rocker who had rehearsed at both Zen locations over many years, tries out a classic Marshall amplifier, knocked down to around half its value.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always been such a great place, part of the culture,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was for the community, not for the stars. Other studios, if someone big wanted a room they\u2019d cancel all the other bookings so they could rehearse in private; here they\u2019d give them whatever room was going and if there wasn\u2019t a room tell them to go somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Scott, who just turned 60, his next career is as a handyman, also under the \u201cZen\u201d brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople say I should learn audio engineering, but I\u2019d rather learn welding,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got into this business to make money, and because I saw a demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow there\u2019s no more demand for rehearsal space, I need to move into something where the market is growing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alan Scott says in the 1990s he would lose his rock musician customers to drug overdoses \u201cand other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-715172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}