Live Music Taskforce
Live music - The way forward
Supporting a sustainable live music scene
Live music makes a significant contribution to the cultural and economic life of Melbourne and Victoria. Live music is played at pubs, theatres, halls, hotels, clubs, stadiums or at outdoor events, often as part of festivals and concerts.
Settlement trends over recent years, particularly in our inner urban areas have increased the level of residential development concentrating in and around activity centres. Conflict between residential and other land uses including entertainment land uses sometimes emerge as a consequence of these changes. An integrated approach is required to ensure entertainment and residential land uses can co-exist.
About the Live Music Taskforce
The Live Music Taskforce was established to examine the relationship between live music venues and residential amenity and the rights and responsibilities of live music venue proprietors, nearby property owners and residents. A recommendations paper, 'Live Music Taskforce - Report and Recommendations (December 2003)' discusses the outcomes of the Taskforce.
Live Music Taskforce - Report and Recommendations (PDF - 653 KB)
Who is responsible for noise management?
One of the issues that emerged from the Live Music Taskforce recommendations was the need to establish good practice and consistent methodologies in planning and development. In particular, there was an identified need to implement a principle that the ‘onus of responsibility should fall upon the agent of change’.
The agent of change principle
The agent of change principle determines responsibility for noise management. That is, where changed conditions are introduced into an environment, (for example through a new use, or changed operating conditions), the reasonable expectations of the existing land users should be respected. This applies to both venue operators and residents.
- For an existing resident, this means the continued protection of amenity in the event of a change to an existing venue’s operation or the development of a new venue. In these circumstances, the burden of any remedial measures, such as noise attenuation or modified operating practices, falls upon the venue operator – the agent of change.
- For an existing venue operator, this means that where a venue is currently compliant with relevant noise attenuation standards and its operation does not change, new residential or other noise sensitive development should not lead to new compliance costs for the venue operator. The onus of any remedial measures in this instance, falls upon the new resident, owner or developer – the agent of change.
Works undertaken to control noise at a venue are likely to provide the greatest efficiencies and benefits in addressing noise disturbance. For example, attenuation of one building (the venue) will likely be more economically efficient than attenuation of many dwellings surrounding it. A more highly attenuated venue will also reduce the potential for disturbance in the event of future neighbouring development and change. Both existing and proposed venues are encouraged to undertake attenuation measures and employ operating practices that ease noise emissions.
On the other hand, attenuation of dwellings is a capital investment that will often provide wider sustainability and amenity benefits for the occupants, including climate protection. Acoustic attenuation of dwellings will be particularly desirable in locations exposed to noise emissions from different sources.