In a stunning turn of events the NSW State Government has completely changed the laws governing live music at pubs and bars.
Up until October 2007 venues were required by law to have a ‘Place of Public Entertainment’ (POPE) License to be able to have live entertainment on the premises. From Monday 26 October 2009 the NSW Government will abolish POPE Licenses required for local venues to play live music.
The POPE would generally cost $60,000+ for 1 year. And that is for the license alone, not taking into account any costly upgrades of the structure/security systems etc that may have been required. This explains why a whole lotta pubs/clubs decide/d not to host live music and instead have pokies/jukeboxes etc, as they are MUCH cheaper and are actually guaranteed to bring in money.
These changes herald a new life for Sydney’s often-troubled music scene. The future looks bright for live and local!
More info here: http://www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/bb_music.asp
To help support live music, promote your own gigs and engage with the Sydney music community, join the facebook group I Want Live Music Venues – So I Go To Gigs
