This episode is my first report from the MV front line. As a recently hired member of the team, I’ve been soaking up all there is to love about working for Music Victoria.
This week, I’ve been getting prepared to host a Musicians Business Masterclass workshop in Maroondah (Melbourne’s Eastern suburbs). These workshops are one of the really valuable and cool things we’re able to offer our members. In the space of three months, I’ve learnt a lot about touring overseas, pitching music to radio and negotiating with venues – just from being in the room for our free workshops.
Shaun Adams from the MV team recently embarked on a tour of Ballarat and Geelong as part of a Mental Health Workshop Series, on which MV partnered with APRA AMCOS. The series featured Tom Larkin (drummer from Shihad), who discussed his insights from a stressful life on the road and offered help on some useful resources available to musicians. Shaun has also been working hard on the Good Music Neighbours grants, which help live music venue owners be proactive about sound management, offering grants of up to $7,500 per venue to obtain an acoustic assessment report. We’ve had loads of enthusiastic applicants from across the state. New venues, long-running venues – all keen to get their venues wired for sound and ready to rock!
As for me, the biggest event on my calendar since I’ve started at MV has been The Age Music Victoria Awards – have you voted yet? With public voting now live, we’ve been sending out congratulatory emails to excited nominees, and listening back to some of the great music that has come out of Victoria over the past year as we proudly craft MV Spotify playlists. We’ve already had more than 50,000 individual votes and we’re less than two weeks into the voting campaign, which is a great reminder of just how engaged Victorian music fans are.
Make sure you place your vote and spread the word about voting, as these awards can really boost a nominees’ profile and bring attention to the music scenes in each region, encouraging touring and more live music.
See you on the dancefloor.
Laura & the Music Vic crew.
Regional member of the month:
The Sandbar Hotel, Mildura
Located on Mildura’s famous ‘Feast Street’, The Sandbar Hotel is Mildura’s iconic home of live original music. With the largest licensed beer garden, an outdoor stage, and a brand new rooftop bar opening in November, it gives locals and visitors the opportunity to have a great day or night out with friends. Karaoke is held on Wednesday nights, trivia on Thursday nights, and their weekly Sunday Sesh allows people to unwind with live music from 4-11pm. They also often serve all you can eat chicken wings for $20, which is an off-the-charts total bargain.
Regional gig of the month:
Country Daze, Castlemaine – 11 November 2017
Fitzroy-based record label Poison City are bringing a killer line-up of some of Melbourne’s most beloved bands to Theatre Royal, Castlemaine for one day only. Catch 90’s legends Rocket Science, TAMVA multi-nominees Cable Ties, Mod Con, The Pink Tiles, TV Haze (feat. Thomo from Camp Cope), Flour and DJ Fee-B Squared (3RRR) for an absolute steal at $25+bf.
Written by Laura Imbruglia, Project / Marketing Manager at Music Victoria
