In an exclusive first interview, DARREN LEVIN caught up with Music Victoria’s founding CEO Patrick Donovan a few days before the August 21 federal election.

Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan is four days into the job when I met him and project officer Rebekah Duke at the Retreat Hotel on Brunswick’s busy Sydney Road. After 15 years at The Age – the past 12 as music reporter – Donovan took a leap of faith when he accepted the post as the first CEO of the state’s newly established peak body for music. And with $250,000 of state government seed funding just banked, he’s already hit the ground running – although he’s the first to acknowledge that, for now at least, the organisation will be running off the “smell of an oily rag”.

“The money came through on Friday, I’m on my fourth day and we’ve been extremely busy,” says Donovan in the beer garden of the Retreat, where Music Victoria plans to hold its official launch party later this year. “Our doors are open, our ears are open. We’re trying to bring everyone together because we all want the same thing. Music is very important to this state and we really need to set the parameters for the next 100 years.”

Music Victoria was set up earlier this year after a consultation with more than 650 artists, industry workers and business people. Providing advocacy and support for the local music industry, it’s been in the works for nearly 18 months, but was fast-tracked by February’s SLAM rally, which saw 20,000 people protest the state government’s liquor licensing regime and The Tote’s closure. Many saw its establishment as a token gesture by the state Labor government ahead of November’s election; a concern which Donovan addresses in our candid hour-long chat which covers, among other things, the state of the Live Music Accord, order of occupancy regulations and his five-year plan for the organisation.

Later, I’ll get a quick tour of Music Victoria’s new office. Housed within the nearby Brunswick Town Hall (on the same floor as youth musical initiative The Push), it’s a modest space, furnished with little more than ex-rental furniture and posters of a trio of Mexican gunmen. Leftover from a recent birthday party, Donovan says the posters perfectly sum up Music Victoria’s ethos. “We’re banditos who mean business,” he quips.

“If I get something stuck in my mind I have the will power and know the processes to push through and get a result – and that’s what you need in this job.”

Looking at it objectively, do you think it’s right that they picked someone like you over a suit with experience in the corporate sector?
Well, that was my argument. Music and Melbourne are my two passions, I firmly believe in them and have pretty good contacts. I argued that point. I said there could be a bit of cynicism about this being set up as another bureaucracy and I feel like I’d bring different attributes to the job … It ended up turning into three long-winded interviews and I got heavily involved in that whole process to the point where, when I got offered the job, I felt like I was already doing it … I’m glad they chose someone like me and I’m heartened by the reaction of local musicians, who feel like I’ll have their best interests at heart.

I guess tour managing Iggy Pop will prepare you for just about anything.
[Laughs] I’d like to think so! I was in a band for five years early on too, so I do know how difficult it is to write some songs, find time to get everyone together to rehearse and put out a record. There was some cynicism about me being a journo – “Oh, they just write about things, don’t they?” – but I pushed fairly heavily in the interview process about some of the campaigns I’ve been involved in. The ACDC Lane campaign was fraught with weaving our way through bureaucracy and the EG Awards was an example of how hard it was to get something up as a journo at a big company like The Age. If I get something stuck in my mind I have the will power and know the processes to push through and get a result – and that’s what you need in this job.

Obviously, being a reporter would give you experience with dealing with government.
Yeah, a little bit. Knowing the nuances is important. I think it was more things like the ACDC Lane campaign, which we had to sit through five council meetings for. There was heavy protest from Rosati Restaurant, who didn’t want a bunch of AC/DC bogans hanging outside their restaurant, so there was this suggestion to have ACDC Lane behind the old Brashs, which is now Dame Edna Lane. It’s just this stinky, disgusting lane where nothing happens. We ended up going back and saying, “It’s Corporation Lane or nothing”, because you end up getting all these tourists visiting who want to see ACDC Lane, and then they want to go and hear it … Certainly reporting on what SLAM was doing and The Tote protest, I was at the coalface and I got to see the machinations of how all of that worked.

Was SLAM the catalyst for you to get involved? Just seeing its capacity to make a difference.
I felt like being a journalist at The Age I could influence opinion, and certainly politicians would read page one and three stories in The Age and it could have an influence. But I felt like I was limited in what I could achieve. I felt like this job would give me the opportunity to lobby the government, to help change laws, to work with existing bodies and try and get more done.

You were at The Age for 15 years?
Yeah, 15 years full-time. Five years part-time.

It obviously would’ve been a difficult decision to leave.
Yeah, it was. I went from university to The Age, although I’ve done lots of other jobs, so it was a big call to make the move. We’ve got enough funding to run on the smell of an oily rag for a while at this stage. I’ve got a 12-month contract, so hopefully we’ll secure enough funding and get enough done to get the support of the industry to continue. I envisage doing this for at least five years, but there is some uncertainty. I certainly had a guaranteed job at The Age … but this was too good an opportunity to refuse.

Were you approached for the position?
Some people suggested I should maybe go for it and I thought, “What could I lose?”

Who facilitated the interview process?
A recruitment company and it was actually Tracey Curro, the old 60 Minutes reporter, so that was kind of bizarre. I felt like I was on 60 Minutes and the cameras were about to come out. There were different members of the board and it was well over an hour, an hour-and-half. I felt like if I did enough to persuade them that I should get the job, I might have what it takes to do the job.

And you’ve been in the job now for four days?
Three-and-a-half. [Laughs] It feels like three-and-a-half months.

What’s on the agenda for the next month?
Obviously the membership drive is quite important. We want to have a launch, probably here [The Retreat Hotel], and we want people to know where we are, so they can come and have a chat in our office or a beer after work. We’ve got subscribers who get sent out the newsletter, which goes out monthly, and quite a few of them are signing up as members. It’s $33 for an individual, $66 for bands, $22 for concession and $220 corporate. It’s just about letting people know who we are, putting a face to a name. We want to try and secure finding from as many different areas as possible, not just relying on state government funding because we need to take it up to them … We’re also a member of AMIN [Australian Music Industry Network], which is a national organisation for all the peak [music] bodies. We’ve been speaking to them a lot … We’ve run the “I Love Music and I Vote” campaign [in the lead-up to the federal election], which is an awareness campaign that’s not targeted at any party. It’s about reminding politicians out there about the power of the people and music fans and to consider contemporary music strategy as part of their policies. These will obviously be relevant up until the November 27 state election.

Music hasn’t been a focus at all of this federal election. Are you expecting it to feature more in the November state election?
The most important issue there is the [Live Music] Accord and that deadline comes up on Monday [August 23]. The government are madly wheeling and dealing at the moment to cut a deal.

What’s on the table?
It’s all in a state of flux at the moment, so it might be premature to talk about it. The government agreed that the link between live music and alcohol-fuelled violence was wrong and that compliance costs are too high, so they agreed to come up with a solution in six months which comes up on Monday. They’re also considering revisiting the issues raised by the Live Music Taskforce in 2003.

Those turn on noise restrictions?
The big issue there is order of occupancy. In 2004 I was reporting for The Age at the Rainbow Hotel and [former minister for the arts] Mary Delahunty stood up there next to [former Rainbow proprietor] Chick Ratten (rest in peace). My dad lived just around the corner from The Rainbow and it used to be surrounded by knitting mills and factories and suddenly there were all these apartments surrounding it. Mary Delahunty stood there and held up the Live Music Taskforce recommendations and said they’d take them on board including the first use occupancy, or “agent of change”, which she admitted was the most radical recommendation, but she indicated they’d accept it. However, at this stage, we’re not sure if they’re going to take that on … That’s a concern. Basically it [order of occupancy] means developers or owners next to pubs, the onus is on them to double glaze [their windows] and one phone call to the EPA won’t shut them down.

We’re pretty hopeful they’re going to remove the proxy, the link [between live music and alcohol fuelled violence], and that was the number one thing SLAM was set up to do. It’s just whether SLAM accepts that and we look at order of occupancy down the track as the next battle, or whether they try and get everything done by Monday, and time’s running out a bit. But the removal of the proxy is the main thing, and we’re hopeful of that being achieved.

Depending on what the government does with the proxy, will order of occupancy be your next focus?
Yeah. Considering I saw Mary Delahuntly, who was the arts minister of this very government, say they were going to set the recommendations and put it through, that’s something we’d like to hold the government too. If it doesn’t happen in this round that’s certainly going to be a priority.

And I guess it’s something you need to get on the agenda before the November election?
Yeah.

“I felt like this job would give me the opportunity to lobby the government, to help change laws, to work with existing bodies and try and get more done.”

To the uninitiated, what exactly does Music Victoria do?
It’s the peak body for the music industry. Let’s go back to the start: the Australia Council said to AMIN that they need Victoria represented, and AMIN put up the funding for some focus groups and research to see if there was support within the music industry for a peak body like Music Victoria. We asked for submissions on the APRA [Australasian Performing Right Association] website and a number of music websites asking people to fill out a survey. We got the results from 650 people and we consider this our mandate. The priorities for the music industry were advocacy ie. working to improve artists’ rights and increase the music economy; lobbying state, federal and local governments; and promoting Victorian music nationally and internationally.

People were also really interested in a knowledge hub … a space where there could possibly be our offices, a music hall-of-fame, an information hub and a live venue space, and an online hub as well … We love the idea of there being a hub with symbiotic businesses. So much of the industry is these sort of micro-businesses, so the idea is for a warehouse with promoters, band bookers, all facets of the industry within offices under the same roof … That’s certainly a priority. The website is going to be pretty good. We’re going to spend a lot more time updating the website and we’re going to have a lot more fun with it too. Coming from a journalist background, I’ll be writing comment pieces about things that are happening. If we have the resources we’d love to have a gig guide there. We want the website to be really thorough, because for anyone with any questions that will be their first port of call.

Other priorities were grants; online resources; and a magazine, which is a newsletter at the moment. There’s also support for a music industry conference. We’re backing [The Push’s] Face The Music conference [in November], and we’re curating two events there. There was talk of a Victorian music awards, but we think the market is pretty crowded at the moment. Rather than give people a trophy let’s tell them how to get a grant. We don’t want to double up on anything. I suppose we’re coordinating and liaising with all the current bodies. We’re working closely with Fair Go [4 Live Music], Push and SLAM, because we don’t want to double up.

SLAM was created primarily for the rally, but will Fair Go’s role diminish with Music Victoria in full swing?
They’ll still exist, but SLAM is the focal point at the moment and they’re updating their website to push people towards Music Victoria … Hopefully if we get the results with the accord that the industry is after, there’ll be no need for SLAM. Jon [Perring from Fair Go 4 Live Music] is running four music venues [Pony, Yah Yah’s, Bar Open and The Tote], Quincy [McLean] and Helen [Marcou] have neglected Bakehouse [Studios] because they’re working so hard on all this, so everyone’s really excited that there’s actual a specific body now with some paid funding and employees that can do all that work.

Are you feeling more positive about the way things are going, especially with [former Liquor Licensing director] Sue Maclellan out of the job?
[Current Liquor Licensing Director] Mark Brennan was quoted in The Age in his first week of appointment as saying that he doesn’t see a link between live music and violence. Certainly, the implication was there that he’d treat every application on its own merits. The concern is the venues that have those draconian restrictions on them at the moment. There was an opportunity for only 40 venues to reapply. The concern is that they’re afraid of drawing attention to themselves. We’ve got to respect the government’s processes and it might be a case of phasing out the proxy. Certainly, Mark Brennan came on board and seemed genuinely more sympathetic to live venues, not classing them in the same category as nightclubs.

Have you met Mark yet?
Haven’t had a chance to, although I’m going to be on the Liquor Licensing Board as the music industry representative. We’ll be meeting every month or two, so I’m hoping that being on that board, we can avoid something like this happening again.

If all goes well and the government removes the proxy, do you anticipate that some of the red tape will be removed for the venues?
The biggest issue is the red tape, the compliance issue. The compliance costs and security costs just have to come down. The amount of money people have to spend on security and soundproofing is just obscene. The great thing about SLAM is that it had some wonderful academics like [Dr] Kate Shaw, who worked on the “Save The Espy” campaign, put forward some very eloquent well-researched arguments. It’s all very complex, but they’ve been working hard pushing for all of that. The Greens have also been quite sympathetic to this cause, so we’re hoping the time is right and they [the government] will reduce the compliance costs.

Obviously, you’re very new to the job, so this might be a question for down the track, but do you think the biggest threat to live music in Victoria is regulation or apathy from punters?
I suppose the first priority is to fix the regulations so musicians can make money out of gigs, so they have a place to play and are not under threat. In terms of music fans getting out there and attending that’s also part of our job. It’s celebrating Victorian music. We’ve got a live week of music [Melbourne Music] coming up and that’s an initiative of Melbourne City Council. We got briefed on it yesterday and it’s all looking good. There’s a lot of free gigs and it’ll be a huge celebration with some great bands…

It’s a really pivotal time for the music industry. There are a lot of concerns and hurdles, but once the accord is signed off, that’s certainly going to be one of our priorities: reminding everyone out there how wonderful Victorian music is. That’s why I took this job on. So much of the music I reviewed and loved was Victorian music. We live and breathe it and we’re going to be doing as much as we can to get bums on seats. The 20,000 people who marched – are they going to The Tote? They protested the demise of it and we hope that’s not a symbolic thing, that they can’t imagine Melbourne without The Tote or Luna Park.

I just wanted to deal with a few of the criticisms regarding Music Victoria, some of which have been raised on this website. One, is that a lot of people see a conflict with the government funding its own lobby group.
Lobbying is a small part of what we do. Advocacy is probably our number one role … Yes, they’ve provided the seeding funding, but we were set up well before the state government injected any money. There’s no guarantee that there’ll be any more money injected. If the Liberals get in [in November’s state election] they’ve indicated that they won’t be funding things like Music Victoria. That was an early indication I got from the Liberal Party, but things might change.

It’s interesting because they were on the steps of Parliament House throwing their support behind live music at at the SLAM rally.
They were on the steps of Parliament House, but they don’t know much about Music Victoria. They’re of the belief that, “Why bite the hand that feeds you? What’s the point of funding a group to lobby us?” But I think they’ll find we have many different roles. We really hope that a lot of these problems are going to be fixed, and we won’t need to be lobbying the government.

Do you feel like you’re adequately funded?
Not yet. The quarter-of-a-million dollars is basically just setting things up. We’re doing it on a shoestring. We have a pretty good deal on rent, we have secondhand furniture and we’re using a lot of The Push’s resources at the moment. We’re basically not going to be spending much money at all until more funding is locked in or we do a big membership drive.

One of the other major criticisms is that people saw the establishment of Music Victoria as a token gesture in an election year.
It probably expediated the funding. One of our priorities is that we have to put in a really serious, comprehensive business plan in the next five months. We have to employ a consultancy group to carry that out. We have to submit that before we get funding for the next five years.

Rebekah Duke: This is something that’s been 12 to 18 months in the making to complete the national circle of peak bodies. A year-and-a-half ago this was initiated and certainly the whole liquor licensing issues and the SLAM rally expediated the process a little bit and actually shored up the $250,000.

Am I right in saying that Victoria is the last state to get funding for something like this?
Tasmania is just coming on board.

It’s incredible that Victoria is one of the last. Do you think people took what we have for granted?
I think so. Victoria Rocks was set up many years ago and the music industry has changed since then, particularly with online piracy, liquor licensing and the gentrification of the city. Missing Link’s merger and Shock going under in the past few weeks is a huge concern. There are a lot of problems, and I think more than ever there’s a need for Music Victoria. The time is right, the time is now. There are a lot of concerns out there and we want to bring everything together.

I think that’s a good point to end it on. Is there anything else?
In terms of funding, AMIN has been lobbying the Federal Government because 90 percent of Australia Council’s $90-million funding goes towards heritage acts, opera companies and classical music. Only 10 percent goes to contemporary music. It’s a pretty astonishing figure … We’re hoping the federal government will even that up. Having all the states on board lobbying the federal government, we’re hoping it’ll balance out a bit more.

Is Music Victoria only concerned with contemporary music?
Pretty much, yeah.

How is that defined? What about world music?
It’s very hard. Our doors are open and our ears are open to anyone who thinks we can assist them, but there are other bodies out there representing classical music and opera. We feel that contemporary music is people creating currently.

I guess the classical scene doesn’t face the same issues.
Well, they’re so heavily funded. Another thing is that Arts Victoria has commissioned a report on the contribution of the Victorian live music industry.

Further to that other report?
That was the LPA [Live Performance Australia] report. They concluded that the industry contributes $1.88-billion and that was conservative … We want it to be taken seriously as a very viable, profitable, professional industry and that’s not even taking into account the social or cultural impact.

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For more information on Music Victoria click here.