QUIET PLEASE! THE LIBRARY IS FOR PERFORMING ARTISTS

The global music industry has markedly changed over the past 5 years; not only has the manner in which we listen to and purchase music changed forever, we must also confront the changes in play in which we “view” live performing artists.

Australia’s music industry was built around the live music scene; in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s you could enjoy a live music performance 7 nights a week and 365 days a year. These music venues were also licensed to serve alcohol and to allow patrons to gamble, thus the owners of such businesses enjoyed healthy profits for many years. Over the past decade, the Australian government has passed legislation to control the level of gambling and smoking in public places, resulting in many music venues closing their doors.

Australia’s ability to foster new music talent by way of live music performances has been stymied by the progressive closure of these venues; as such local Council representatives have unveiled an unorthodox plan to reinvigorate our live music scene.

Public libraries…

So long the embodiment of a venue of “silence” to enable the public to read and research, many libraries in the major Australian cities are hosting evening live music performances in order to entertain a public who is hungry to hear new artists.

Whilst this contravenes the historical mindset of listening to a live music performance at ear-splitting volume and being showered with sweat and alcohol, the library performances are predominantly in acoustic mode and they enable the audience to “sit down and listen” to the music at close range.

In an era when people are purchasing “virtual” books and book retailers are also closing their doors, maybe [just maybe] the arts of music and reading can join hands and save themselves concurrently…