You don't understand, we have done what you said. But the way the city is it's like, one set of rules for some people, and a different set of rules for the rest so that no one can say "Oh they wont let us have fun." The problem is, like, if we could start NOW and go on for 10 years and find a venue to support us through thick and thin then we could put a legitimate business plan into effect, even given our own set of rules that people of our 'calibre' are forced to play by by institutes such as local councils and state governments etc. However, the venues are feeling that strain also and they can't have any people like us come along and support them through the thick and thin. As soon as it starts to look bad, they HAVE to give that crew the ass otherwise, they, as a business enterprise will go down the shitter. Years a go it was different. You could survive a hard few months whilst shit worked itself out and grow from it. Now you can't.
And I'm telling you, the number of people DYING for a night out as good as they were back in the days is, HUGE, and you're 100% correct, they don't all want to be seen with who ever, AND as far as resources go, I have everything I NEED to throw a fucking banging party. AND FURTHER MORE! I have quality Djs, MUCH BETTER than the vast majority of Melbourne (I judge this on the shit loads of demos I receive and on the Djs I see play out), but they don't have a following. My problem is. Those people who DO want to go to these things with out assholes and wankers and people who are just out to be seen, they don't want to go out anymore. They're saying to me "Age I didn't come because, the people who go out to gigs now days are fucking, wankers, and I don't want to be out with wankers anymore." That's them. Not me! And we'd even argue shit like "Don't think of them as wankers based on how they dress" or "we were like that when we were 21-30 as well." or even "Just ignore them."
From what I'm gathering from other people, it's not just an EDM thing. It's also seems to be happening in the Alternative and Live music scenes. EVERYTHING. I'll give you an example.
We used to have a cultural/ family festival called the Lygon Street Festa. It started as an Italian thing. They'd block off the street (which was little Italy) and, you could walk around and try food and buy shit etc. It was great. Then, more cultures got involved. So, the street was blocked off, and there was this whole world of different food stands and rides and everything and it was, GREAT! as a Kid/ Teenager, it was fucking AWSOME! You could go with friends, OR with family and it was fantastic. But, politics got in the way. So, no longer could they close the street. ... Before long, it went to like, one stall in a park playing music and selling pasta. And now, for the last, atleast 6 years, everyone is saying "ugh, Lygon St festa? Forget it. It's shit now."
Now, thats not a Dance music/ club culture thing. That's a, nationality, tradition thing. It feels as though ALL the traditions of celebration we had in Melbourne are dying and making way for a yuppie, high rise appartment, coffee on the footpathe in sun glasses, culture. We had art and everything, yeah, it was a dirty, disgusting, city but, it was ours and we loved it and for the most part it was less violent, less crime, more jobs, everything, the good old days. Now, its as if the rich people have moved in and they want to be seen as living in the shit end of the woods cos it's 'cool and chic' but they don't want to lose any of their luxuries, and the result is, less night clubs and bars etc because "Woops, we've decided to build a residentual high rise next door... Your permits are revoked."
"Oh Im sorry, you can't block off the street for your cultural festival andddd you need millions of dollars in public liability insurance also now."
See what I mean? And so, like, I KNOW for a fact that if we could, we would just go into a park and play music all day until like, 10pm and we wouldn't make money but we wouldn't care. Thats what we used to do when we couldn't get gigs, and what happend? It became successful so EVERYONE started doing it. And of course, the rich folks complained because thats what they do and now we can't even do that.
We are trapped and it feels like a lot of people feel the same way but no one can do anything about it. I even approached the city itself!! IN WRITING and IN PERSON! The people who work for the council of the city of Melbourne, we had a meeting! I said, "This is the situation. You have heaps of young people dying to go out and the places they can go are becoming more and more limited, you also have more and more musicians and artists now, they have no where to play, people are getting bored and it's leading to anti-social behaviour."
Even they agreed with it!
Their solution "Well you go and hold more events for us and then we'll see how it goes in 6 months time and if its all working out we'll grant you permits."
"Well, I kinda need the permits to host those gigs at the momment."
"Hrmmmmmmmmm... Go host more gigs."
See so, how do you host more gigs if you need permits to do them, so that they can grant you more permits if they won't grant you the initial permits you need? Its an ongoing circle of rubbish.
Even the industrial areas! I CAN'T FIND AN EMPTY WAREHOUSE SPACE!!! We've spent years looking and EVERYWHERE, you find one, woh hold on... House's next door. Or something else that gets in the way. It's been planned for years! The city of Melbourne has planned for many, many years now to turn Melbourne into a family friendly city instead of the entertainment melting pot it once was. The result is the entertainment industry is dying.
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Originally Posted by dlove
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