Taylor Swift in concert at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui
Melbourne - rock city. It's that simple.
When it comes to the speed of ticket sales, audience numbers and fan fervour, there is a huge divide between Australia's two main markets, promoters and band managers say. Melbourne likes to think it is the spiritual home of Australian music - where more music is heard and more art is created. Sydney assumes it's the head and wallet of the industry - this is where profit is generated and decisions are made.
But in the real world ''it's very rare that Sydney outsells Melbourne, very, very rare'', said Frontier Touring Company's Michael Gudinski, who in recent years toured the Foo Fighters (two shows in Melbourne; one in Sydney), Neil Young (5000 more tickets sold in Melbourne than Sydney) and, last month, Bruce Springsteen (three Melbourne shows and two more at nearby Hanging Rock; three Sydney shows).
''That's overall tickets and number of shows. I'm not talking 60-40, it's much more in Melbourne's favour,'' Gudinski said. ''Melbourne was way ahead on Bruce Springsteen. The three Melbourne [shows] sold out in seconds but the third Sydney didn't sell out completely. And, we could have done another Hanging Rock and another Rod Laver [stadium].''
Even Michael Coppel, a sceptic about the city divide whose Michael Coppel Presents is probably the biggest player on the touring circuit, has recent history to support Gudinski's contention.
While arguing that if you include the catchment area of Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra then Sydney concerts will draw a larger crowd - and pointing out that Allphones at Sydney Olympic Park is about one third again the size of Rod Laver ensuring a bigger ticket sale - Coppel rattled off figures that suggest not everything is that straightforward.
The most recent tours by U2, Roger Waters and Taylor Swift all sold more tickets in Melbourne. While Waters sold 23,000 tickets at two shows Sydney, in Melbourne he did four shows with total sales of 39,000. And it doesn't stop at the big names.
''At the more niche end of the concert market Melbourne tends to do better unless the Sydney shows are played at the Opera House,'' Coppel said. ''For example, Melbourne shows for Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Lyle Lovett outsold Sydney by significant margins.''
Backing up Coppel's point about the differences extending to the levels below and to local artists are managers Troy Barrott and Ben Preece.
Barrott, whose Sydney-based HUB management roster includes Megan Washington and Pez, said Melbourne was a stronger market for the lower and middle range artists. ''I would attribute it to Melbourne venues who manage their clientele in a superior fashion: databases, EDM [electronic direct marketing], targeted marketing and the like,'' Barrott said.
Preece, of the Brisbane-based Mucho Bravado management company looking after artists such as Hungry Kids of Hungary and Emma Louise, said that ''across the board, Melbourne is better''.
''It's a cultural city and the audiences genuinely love going to shows - small, big, whatever; Sydney is more business-focused,'' Preece said.
A report released last month by Music Victoria found 97,000 people attend live music events at 460 venues on an average Saturday night in Greater Melbourne, with those venues contributing $1 billion annually to the local economy.
Despite the contribution of the music industry, many small venue operators have found it difficult to stay in the black both in Melbourne and Sydney. Grass roots campaigns have met with mixed success, but in line with their greater willingness to attend gigs than Sydneysiders, Melburnians have supported live music rallies in larger numbers.
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