Cultural value and urban governance
A place for Melbourne’s music community at the policymaking table
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.32968Keywords:
cultural policy, cultural value, live music, Melbourne, music city, urban development, urban policyAbstract
A city of diverse use and function is predicated on informed urban policymaking that can equitably negotiate competing economic and cultural uses of urban space. I investigate such urban policymaking in relation to liquor licensing and its mediating effect between venue-based live music and amenable residential and business districts in Melbourne, Australia. Firstly, I explore the positive externalities that flow from the operations of urban music venues, specifically the Tote Hotel and its integral place in Melbourne’s music community. Secondly, I examine how such value can be integrated with policymaking spheres that are typically dominated by economic considerations, analysing a specific instance of participatory urban governance that developed around liquor licensing in Melbourne. I conclude by evaluating the role of political agendas in achieving favourable cultural policy outcomes, inferring that cultural organizations with less political and economic relevance may be excluded from the policymaking process and, thus, the shaping of urban space.
References
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Bennett, A., and R. Peterson. 2004. Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Brown, A., J. Connor and S. Cohen. 2000. ‘Local Music Policies within a Global Music Industry: Cultural Quarters in Manchester and Sheffield’. Geoforum 31/4: 437–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7185(00)00007-5
Cameron, S., and J. Coaffee. 2005. ‘Art, Gentrification and Regeneration: From Artist as Pioneer to Public Arts’. European Journal of Housing Policy 5/1: 39–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616710500055687
Carter, J. 2016. ‘Unintended Consequences: The Story of Australia’s Live Music Industry and Government Regulation’. Radio National, 16 August. Online: https://tinyurl.com/abc-7735922 (accessed 23 August 2016).
Cohen, S. 2015. ‘City Scapes’. In The Routledge Reader on the Sociology of Music, ed. J. Shepherd and K. Devine, 231–44. New York: Routledge.
Creative Victoria. 2016. Music Works—Good Music Neighbours. Online: https://tinyurl.com/funding-2017 (accessed 18 January 2017).
Crook, A. 2010. ‘New Tote Proprietor to Press Brumby on Liquor Changes’. Crikey, 12 April. Online: https://www.crikey.com.au/2010/04/12/new-tote-owner-to-press-brumby-on-liquor-changes/ (accessed 19 January 2017).
Donovan, S. 2010. ‘Brumby Backs Down on Live Music Laws’. The Age, 23 February. Online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-23/brumby-backs-down-on-live-music-laws/339826 (accessed 23 August 2016).
Dungen, N. (dir.) 2012. Persecution Blues: The Battle for the Tote. Melbourne: Informit. Online: http://edutv.informit.com.au.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/watch-screen.php?videoID=216789 (accessed 23 August 2016).
Florida, R. 2002. The Rise of the Creative Class: and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.
Gibson, C., and S. Homan. 2004. ‘Urban Redevelopment, Live Music and Public Space: Cultural Performance and the Re?making of Marrickville’. International Journal of Cultural Policy 10/1: 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/1028663042000212337
Google Maps. 2017. Location of the Tote Hotel in Relation to Melbourne’s City Centre. Online: https://tinyurl.com/tote-799486 (accessed 8 February 2017).
Holt, F., and C. Wergin. 2013. ‘Introduction: Musical Performance and the Changing City’. In Musical Performance and the Changing City: Post-Industrial Contexts in Europe and the United States, ed. F. Holt and C. Wergin, 1–24. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118617380.ch0
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—2013. ‘From Coombs to Crean: Popular Music and Cultural Policy in Australia’. International Journal of Cultural Policy 19/3: 382–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2013.788164
—2016. ‘SLAM: The Music City and Cultural Activism’. Law, Social Justice and Global Development 1/1: 1–12.
—(forthcoming). ‘The Music City: Australian Contexts’. In Made in Australia and New Zealand: Studies in Australasian Popular Music, ed. G. Stahl and S. Brunt. London: Routledge.
IFPI, and Music Canada. 2015. The Mastering of the Music City: Key Elements, Effective Strategies and Why It’s Worth Pursuing. Online: http://www.ifpi.org/downloads/The-Mastering-of-a-Music-City.pdf (accessed 7 June 2016).
Kelly, J., and P. Donegan. 2015. City Limits: Why Australian Cities are Broken and How We Can Fix Them. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
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—2003. ‘Artists, Aestheticisation and the Field of Gentrification’. Urban Studies 40/12: 2527–544. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098032000136192
Leyshon, A., P. Webb, S. French, N. Thrift and L. Crewe. 2005. ‘On the Reproduction of the Musical Economy after the Internet’. Media, Culture & Society 27/2: 177–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443705050468
Mommaas, H. 2009. ‘Spaces of Cultural Economy: Mapping the Cultural-Creative Cluster Landscape’. In Creative Economies, Creative Cities: Asian-European Perspectives (Vol. 98), ed. L. Kong and J. O’Connor, 45–59. Netherlands: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9949-6_4
Murfett, A. 2010. ‘Time Called on the Tote’. The Age, 15 January. Online: http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/time-called-on-the-tote/2010/01/14/1263058330040.html (accessed 23 August 2016).
Music Victoria. 2012. Melbourne Music City: A Guide to the Music Capital of Australia, Melbourne.
O’Connor, J. 2010. The Cultural and Creative Industries: A Literature Review, 2nd edn. London: Culture and Education Series, Creativity, Culture and Education.
O’Connor, J., and X. Gu. 2014. ‘Creative Industry Clusters in Shanghai: A Success Story?’ International Journal of Cultural Policy 20/1: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2012.740025
O’Connor, J., and K. Shaw. 2014. ‘What Next for the Creative City?’ City, Culture and Society 5/3: 165–70.
Perring, J. 2016. Interview with the author, 12 July, conducted at Bar Open, Melbourne, Australia.
Pratt, A. 2005. ‘Cultural Industries and Public Policy: An Oxymoron?’ International Journal of Cultural Policy 11/1: 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286630500067739
—2008. ‘Creative Cities: The Cultural Industries and the Creative Class’. Geografiska annaler: Series B, Human Geography 90/2: 107–117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0467.2008.00281.x
Pratt, A., and T. Hutton. 2013. ‘Reconceptualising the Relationship between the Creative Economy and the City: Learning from the Financial Crisis’. Cities 33/1: 86–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.05.008
Scott, A. 1999. ‘The US Recorded Music Industry: On the Relations between Organization, Location; and Creativity, in the Cultural Economy’. Environment and Planning A 31/11: 1965–1984. https://doi.org/10.1068/a311965
—2004. ‘Cultural-Products Industries and Urban Economic Development: Prospects for Growth and Market Contestation in Global Context’. Urban Affairs Review 39/4: 461–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087403261256
Shaw, K. 2005. ‘The Place of Alternative Culture and the Politics of its Protection in Berlin, Amsterdam and Melbourne’. Planning Theory & Practice 6/2: 149–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649350500136830
—2009. ‘The Melbourne Indie Music Scene and the Inner City Blues’. In Whose Urban Renaissance?: An International Comparison of Urban Regeneration Strategies, ed. L. Porter and K. Shaw, 366–85. London: Routledge.
SLAM. 2012. About SLAM. Online: http://slamrally.org/about-us (accessed 23 August 2016).
Stahl, G. 2004. ‘“It’s like Canada reduced”: Setting the Scene in Montreal’. In After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture, ed. A. Bennett and K. Kahn-Harris, 51–64. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21467-5_4
Stanley, R. 2016. Interview with the author, 17 July, conducted at the Tote Hotel, Melbourne, Australia.
Straw, W. 2004. ‘Cultural Scenes’. Loisir et société/Society and Leisure 27/2: 411–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/07053436.2004.10707657
Tote Hotel. 2016. ‘The Tote: About’. Online: http://thetotehotel.com/about/ (accessed 26 July 2016).
VCGLR (Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation). 2013. Liquor Licensing Information Sheet: Licensing Conditions for Live Music Venues. Online: https://tinyurl.com/vcglr-8e57947a-PDF (accessed 20 June 2016).
2015. Liquor Legislation and Regulations. Online: http://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/home/laws+and+regulations/legislation+and+regulations/liquor+legislation/ (accessed 16 August 2016).
Victorian Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee. 2010. Inquiry into Strategies to Reduce Assaults in Public Places in Victoria. Online: https://tinyurl.com/images-dcpc-PDF (accessed 15 August 2016).
Victorian Government. 2014. Plan Melbourne. Online: http://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/the-plan (accessed 13 August 2016).
—2016. Live Music and Entertainment Noise. Online: https://tinyurl.com/0024-13479-PDF (accessed 18 January 2017).
Victorian Government, FairGo4LiveMusic, Save Live Australian Music and Music Victoria. 2010a. Live Music Accord 2010. Online: https://tinyurl.com/vcglr-livemusic-PDF (accessed 20 June 2016).
—2010b. Agreement Regarding Live Music Venues. Online: https://tinyurl.com/vcglr-resources-PDF (accessed 20 June 2016).
Watters, S. 2015. ‘The Need for Independence’. Australian Independent Record Label Association. Online: https://www.air.org.au/news/story/the-need-for-independence (accessed 15 October 2015).
Zajdow, G. 2013. ‘I Vote and I Tote: Moral Panics, Resistance, and the Failure of Quiet Regulation’. In The Ashgate Research Companion to Moral Panics, ed. C. Krinsky, 335–48. Surrey: Ashgate.
Zukin, S. 1982. Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change. Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.
—2008. ‘From Industrial Cities to Eco-urbanity: The Melbourne Case Study’. Planning News 34/1: 6–11.
Arts Victoria. 2011. The Economic, Social and Cultural Contribution of Venue-based Live Music in Victoria. Online: http://www.musicvictoria.com.au/assets/Documents/DAE_Live_music_report_2011.pdf (accessed 26 August 2016).
Bennett, A., and R. Peterson. 2004. Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Brown, A., J. Connor and S. Cohen. 2000. ‘Local Music Policies within a Global Music Industry: Cultural Quarters in Manchester and Sheffield’. Geoforum 31/4: 437–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7185(00)00007-5
Cameron, S., and J. Coaffee. 2005. ‘Art, Gentrification and Regeneration: From Artist as Pioneer to Public Arts’. European Journal of Housing Policy 5/1: 39–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616710500055687
Carter, J. 2016. ‘Unintended Consequences: The Story of Australia’s Live Music Industry and Government Regulation’. Radio National, 16 August. Online: https://tinyurl.com/abc-7735922 (accessed 23 August 2016).
Cohen, S. 2015. ‘City Scapes’. In The Routledge Reader on the Sociology of Music, ed. J. Shepherd and K. Devine, 231–44. New York: Routledge.
Creative Victoria. 2016. Music Works—Good Music Neighbours. Online: https://tinyurl.com/funding-2017 (accessed 18 January 2017).
Crook, A. 2010. ‘New Tote Proprietor to Press Brumby on Liquor Changes’. Crikey, 12 April. Online: https://www.crikey.com.au/2010/04/12/new-tote-owner-to-press-brumby-on-liquor-changes/ (accessed 19 January 2017).
Donovan, S. 2010. ‘Brumby Backs Down on Live Music Laws’. The Age, 23 February. Online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-23/brumby-backs-down-on-live-music-laws/339826 (accessed 23 August 2016).
Dungen, N. (dir.) 2012. Persecution Blues: The Battle for the Tote. Melbourne: Informit. Online: http://edutv.informit.com.au.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/watch-screen.php?videoID=216789 (accessed 23 August 2016).
Florida, R. 2002. The Rise of the Creative Class: and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.
Gibson, C., and S. Homan. 2004. ‘Urban Redevelopment, Live Music and Public Space: Cultural Performance and the Re?making of Marrickville’. International Journal of Cultural Policy 10/1: 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/1028663042000212337
Google Maps. 2017. Location of the Tote Hotel in Relation to Melbourne’s City Centre. Online: https://tinyurl.com/tote-799486 (accessed 8 February 2017).
Holt, F., and C. Wergin. 2013. ‘Introduction: Musical Performance and the Changing City’. In Musical Performance and the Changing City: Post-Industrial Contexts in Europe and the United States, ed. F. Holt and C. Wergin, 1–24. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118617380.ch0
Homan, S. 2010. ‘Governmental as Anything: Live Music and Law and Order in Melbourne’. Perfect Beat 11/2: 103–118.
—2013. ‘From Coombs to Crean: Popular Music and Cultural Policy in Australia’. International Journal of Cultural Policy 19/3: 382–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2013.788164
—2016. ‘SLAM: The Music City and Cultural Activism’. Law, Social Justice and Global Development 1/1: 1–12.
—(forthcoming). ‘The Music City: Australian Contexts’. In Made in Australia and New Zealand: Studies in Australasian Popular Music, ed. G. Stahl and S. Brunt. London: Routledge.
IFPI, and Music Canada. 2015. The Mastering of the Music City: Key Elements, Effective Strategies and Why It’s Worth Pursuing. Online: http://www.ifpi.org/downloads/The-Mastering-of-a-Music-City.pdf (accessed 7 June 2016).
Kelly, J., and P. Donegan. 2015. City Limits: Why Australian Cities are Broken and How We Can Fix Them. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
Ley, D. 1996. The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
—2003. ‘Artists, Aestheticisation and the Field of Gentrification’. Urban Studies 40/12: 2527–544. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098032000136192
Leyshon, A., P. Webb, S. French, N. Thrift and L. Crewe. 2005. ‘On the Reproduction of the Musical Economy after the Internet’. Media, Culture & Society 27/2: 177–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443705050468
Mommaas, H. 2009. ‘Spaces of Cultural Economy: Mapping the Cultural-Creative Cluster Landscape’. In Creative Economies, Creative Cities: Asian-European Perspectives (Vol. 98), ed. L. Kong and J. O’Connor, 45–59. Netherlands: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9949-6_4
Murfett, A. 2010. ‘Time Called on the Tote’. The Age, 15 January. Online: http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/time-called-on-the-tote/2010/01/14/1263058330040.html (accessed 23 August 2016).
Music Victoria. 2012. Melbourne Music City: A Guide to the Music Capital of Australia, Melbourne.
O’Connor, J. 2010. The Cultural and Creative Industries: A Literature Review, 2nd edn. London: Culture and Education Series, Creativity, Culture and Education.
O’Connor, J., and X. Gu. 2014. ‘Creative Industry Clusters in Shanghai: A Success Story?’ International Journal of Cultural Policy 20/1: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2012.740025
O’Connor, J., and K. Shaw. 2014. ‘What Next for the Creative City?’ City, Culture and Society 5/3: 165–70.
Perring, J. 2016. Interview with the author, 12 July, conducted at Bar Open, Melbourne, Australia.
Pratt, A. 2005. ‘Cultural Industries and Public Policy: An Oxymoron?’ International Journal of Cultural Policy 11/1: 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286630500067739
—2008. ‘Creative Cities: The Cultural Industries and the Creative Class’. Geografiska annaler: Series B, Human Geography 90/2: 107–117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0467.2008.00281.x
Pratt, A., and T. Hutton. 2013. ‘Reconceptualising the Relationship between the Creative Economy and the City: Learning from the Financial Crisis’. Cities 33/1: 86–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.05.008
Scott, A. 1999. ‘The US Recorded Music Industry: On the Relations between Organization, Location; and Creativity, in the Cultural Economy’. Environment and Planning A 31/11: 1965–1984. https://doi.org/10.1068/a311965
—2004. ‘Cultural-Products Industries and Urban Economic Development: Prospects for Growth and Market Contestation in Global Context’. Urban Affairs Review 39/4: 461–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087403261256
Shaw, K. 2005. ‘The Place of Alternative Culture and the Politics of its Protection in Berlin, Amsterdam and Melbourne’. Planning Theory & Practice 6/2: 149–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649350500136830
—2009. ‘The Melbourne Indie Music Scene and the Inner City Blues’. In Whose Urban Renaissance?: An International Comparison of Urban Regeneration Strategies, ed. L. Porter and K. Shaw, 366–85. London: Routledge.
SLAM. 2012. About SLAM. Online: http://slamrally.org/about-us (accessed 23 August 2016).
Stahl, G. 2004. ‘“It’s like Canada reduced”: Setting the Scene in Montreal’. In After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture, ed. A. Bennett and K. Kahn-Harris, 51–64. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21467-5_4
Stanley, R. 2016. Interview with the author, 17 July, conducted at the Tote Hotel, Melbourne, Australia.
Straw, W. 2004. ‘Cultural Scenes’. Loisir et société/Society and Leisure 27/2: 411–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/07053436.2004.10707657
Tote Hotel. 2016. ‘The Tote: About’. Online: http://thetotehotel.com/about/ (accessed 26 July 2016).
VCGLR (Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation). 2013. Liquor Licensing Information Sheet: Licensing Conditions for Live Music Venues. Online: https://tinyurl.com/vcglr-8e57947a-PDF (accessed 20 June 2016).
2015. Liquor Legislation and Regulations. Online: http://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/home/laws+and+regulations/legislation+and+regulations/liquor+legislation/ (accessed 16 August 2016).
Victorian Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee. 2010. Inquiry into Strategies to Reduce Assaults in Public Places in Victoria. Online: https://tinyurl.com/images-dcpc-PDF (accessed 15 August 2016).
Victorian Government. 2014. Plan Melbourne. Online: http://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/the-plan (accessed 13 August 2016).
—2016. Live Music and Entertainment Noise. Online: https://tinyurl.com/0024-13479-PDF (accessed 18 January 2017).
Victorian Government, FairGo4LiveMusic, Save Live Australian Music and Music Victoria. 2010a. Live Music Accord 2010. Online: https://tinyurl.com/vcglr-livemusic-PDF (accessed 20 June 2016).
—2010b. Agreement Regarding Live Music Venues. Online: https://tinyurl.com/vcglr-resources-PDF (accessed 20 June 2016).
Watters, S. 2015. ‘The Need for Independence’. Australian Independent Record Label Association. Online: https://www.air.org.au/news/story/the-need-for-independence (accessed 15 October 2015).
Zajdow, G. 2013. ‘I Vote and I Tote: Moral Panics, Resistance, and the Failure of Quiet Regulation’. In The Ashgate Research Companion to Moral Panics, ed. C. Krinsky, 335–48. Surrey: Ashgate.
Zukin, S. 1982. Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change. Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Published
2017-10-03
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Martin, D. (2017). Cultural value and urban governance: A place for Melbourne’s music community at the policymaking table. Perfect Beat, 18(2), 110-130. https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.32968
