SLAM Day celebrates Australia's live music scene on February 23!
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
More than 100 music venues from around the country will celebrate Australia’s thriving live music scene at National Slam Day on February 23rd 2012.
"We are so excited to see over 100 venues already signed up, from Tennant Creek to Hobart, Gosford to Melbourne, Fremantle to Adelaide, artists and venues are coming together to celebrate local live music, with more being registered each day. Giving thousands of music lovers the opportunity to get out and support their local live music scene” SLAM Day organizer Helen Marcou.
When 20,000 passionate music fans marched down Melbourne’s Swanston Street on February 23rd 2010 for the inaugural SLAM Day in response to crippling Victorian liquor licensing laws, they created the largest cultural protest in Australia’s history.
And music fans will create history again on February 23rd 2012, as it will be the first time so many venues have simultaneously supported a single cause.
National SLAM Day celebrates our small venue culture. Head over to the website (Slamrally.org) to see our gallery of musicians holding speech bubbles with their answers to the question: “What does live music in small venues mean to you? Jump on the SLAM Facebook page and tell us your answer! http://www.facebook.com/SLAMrally
Small venues are part of our cultural fabric. All Australian acts, from AC/DC to Men at Work, Cold Chisel, the Divinyls, Kylie Minogie, Cut Copy and Temper Trap, started out in small venues. As Paul Kelly said at the 2010 SLAM Rally: “You don’t learn how to write a song at school, you don’t do a Tafe course on how to play in front of an audience, small venues were my university.’’
Live gigs at small venues are fun, dynamic, intimate, and compared to arena concerts or a movie ticket, great value for money.
So get out there and support your local venues and musicians on February 23rd. For more information, or to register your venue for National SLAM Day, go to: slamrally.org
According to the 2011 report Life’s Better with Live, live music contributes $1.2 billion to the economy and supports nearly 15,000 jobs nationally. An estimated 42 million patrons attended 328,000 venue-based gigs at 3,900 venues in 2009/10. Yet the report revealed that Australian musicians earn a mean average of just $12,200 from live performance.
For more information on National SLAM Day, click here.
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