As punters spend big on artists like Taylor Swift, live music venue Mo's Desert Clubhouse gets creative

Punters have reduced their spending on alcohol at Mr Tryhorn’s venue by half in the past year.  (ABC Gold Coast: Julia Andre )

It’s been seven years since Christian Tryhorn fulfilled his dream to own a live music venue and he refuses to let an up to threefold increase in costs over the last year shatter it.

“We’re really throwing everything at the wall to try to have a diversity of income streams coming into the venue,” the Gold Coast-based business owner said.

The former musician opened Mo’s Desert Clubhouse with his partner Kim Ferguson in 2017 after touring the country in the band Rinser.

After surviving the pandemic years, he said the last year had been particularly tough with expenses increasing by up to 200 per cent, including insurance, electricity and alcohol.

The 250-person venue hosts five live music events a week, but Mr Tryhorn said that wasn’t enough to cover the increased costs and keep their dream alive.

So the pair — who also have three children together — got creative.

“I’m working like a maniac,” he said.

“We’re just trying to maximise what we do have and if we have a room, we’re going to fill it with something.”

They hire out rooms in the venue for weddings and functions and have also launched a podcast and rehearsal studio, cocktail bar and communal workplace.

The income adds to the $1 revenue from each live gig ticket and bar sales, which Mr Tryhorn said was declining.

He blamed the rising cost of living for patrons’ reduced alcohol consumption.

“A year ago they were spending $40 on drinks per show, now the average is about $20.”

Industry in crisis

This week, owners of Brisbane’s iconic music venue The Zoo announced it was no longer financially viable and its doors would close in July after 32 years in business.

It’s a similar story for other live music venues and festivals in south-east Queensland, including King Lear’s Throne, Bad Luck Bar, Groovin the Moo, Splendour in the Grass, Caloundra Music Festival, which all recently announced they cannot continue.

“Everyone’s running that line of staying afloat or going under at the moment,” Mr Tryhorn said.

“People just don’t have enough money with all the economic pressures and with so many big name artists, like Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish, touring here, there’s not much money left over for small Aussie artists.”

While many in the industry are worried about the impact of the larger events being cancelled, some operators are optimistic.

Emma Milikins, the creative director of Gold Coast venue Miami Marketta, said it was an opportunity for smaller venues to fill the void.

“I think those three-day festivals are starting to phase out because people can’t afford them,” she said.

“We kind of go, ‘Oh God, if they can’t make it, then how can we?’ So we keep pivoting and trying different things.”

She said while live music is the venue’s core business — having attracted artists including The Cat Empire, Grinspoon and Vera Blue in the last two years — due to increased costs “we’ve had to diversify and not rely on live music”.

That’s led to the venue hosting drag queen bingo nights, converting a space into street food and arts markets and hiring out rooms for weddings and functions.

“It’s impossible to just be a live music venue,” she said.

What’s the future?

A major hurdle for venues is the increased cost of average insurance premiums which the Insurance Council of Australia said had surged by 40 per cent for live music venues and festivals since 2015.

Music industry body Australasian Performing Right Association Limited and and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA AMCOS) has called on the federal government to introduce a five per cent tax offset for live music venues that host 18 or more gigs a year.

The industry body said this would boost job growth across the country and secure the industry and artists’ survival.

Last month, a Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance survey found that half of Australian musicians earn less than $6,000 a year.

Mr Tryhorn said the uncertain future of small music venues had him gravely concerned for artists’ longevity.

“If we lose the industry, we lose those building blocks for the future of Australian bands,” he said.

To ensure that doesn’t happen, he encouraged venues to consider ways to diversify what they offer.

“Without us implementing our alternate income streams, along with hosting regular private events outside of gigs, we probably would have folded,” he said.

“The easy way out is to simply change the business model to focus on successful and easy income streams but as someone who genuinely cares about the music scene and local culture, you also have to stay true to your original vision as best you can and often wear losses unfortunately.”