ABOUT US

VROOM - The Venue REsource of Original Music 

The VROOM is a practical and accessible tool designed to help NSW musicians, promoters, agents, artist managers and venues present live and original contemporary music.

Background

Musician Tracy Redhead concieved the idea after spending many years touring the country,  feeling that venue information being accessible for free would greatly help artists and venues alike. “The most consuming part of touring is finding venues and places to tour,” says Tracy “It costs so much money in phone calls alone to research venues but if this info was easily accessible it will save musicians, booking agents, promoters and managers heaps of time and money.” Upon presenting her idea of an online venue database to MusicNSW, VROOM was born and the project began its development.

Regional touring has been a key issue for the music and performing arts industries for many years. While there is funding available for local touring through programs like the Performing Arts Touring Program (NSW Ministry), Contemporary Music Touring Program (DCITA), and the Music Board (Australia Council), there is a significant resource gap.

The development of an Online Venue Resource will help to bridge this gap and complement the work already done by those funding programs by assisting music industry professionals in planning and implementing regional tours. Many artists do not tour regional NSW because of the perception that there are neither audiences nor venues outside the large leagues and RSL club circuits that are mainly only available to more prominent or established touring acts. It takes time and money to research a venue and for emerging or independent artists and bands already struggling to break through, it is difficult to put the time and effort necessary into examining whether they'll be driving large distances for a potentially unviable show. Artists on the whole, however, are keen to play for regional audiences, and there are many potential small-to-medium-sized venues and regional audiences hungry for more diversity in their entertainment choices.

VROOM Objectives:

• Facilitate the development of a network between venues, agents, promoters, artists and managers across regional and metro NSW.
• Disseminate NSW venue information to the music industry
• Increase touring opportunities for self sufficient artists
• Assist Artists to develop regional fan bases
• Provide regional audiences with a more diverse range of original music
• Reinvigorate the live music scene in NSW
• Assist and educate venues to present live original music that meets their own technical, financial, and audience needs
• Address key issues as outlined in the "Vanishing Acts" investigation into the state of live popular music opportunities in NSW.
  

What does the VROOM do?

• VROOM is comprehensive free resource for artists, venues and the wider Australian music industry.
• There are fact sheets and a resource centre to assist the music industry and venues on all aspects of touring.
• Users can log onto a forum to meet bands and industry from other states; to organise tours, ask questions and network.
• Venues can be searched via town, region, suburb, genre, capacity, music day, venue type etc
• VROOM will allow you to develop your own tour circuits
• View, download and print venues booking contacts, production and facility information
• The site will be regularly updated
• Venues can update their info at anytime using their username and password
• Venues can also log into an online private forum to discuss issues and network with other venues
• The following information is available about all venues; technical and production specifications, music genre preferred (and on which night), licensing arrangements, capacity, noise restrictions, accommodation, booking contact details etc
• The types of venues listed will include licensed and unlicensed venues (i.e. bars, cafes, restaurants, clubs, universities community centres, ovals, PCYCs, and entertainment centres) and cover all genres of original contemporary music
• The guide will be searchable through region, town and large selected areas, from maps provided on the site. For example, if a band was touring from Sydney to Byron Bay they could do a search for all venues that could accommodate their genre and capacity between the two cities
  

NationAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

• Paul Bodlovich -WAM Executive Director /AMIN Chair
• Andy Rantzen - Australia Council
• Millie Milgate - Creative Director MusicNSW
• Milly Petriella – APRA Members Services General Manager/MusicNSW Board Member
• DEWHA Contemporary Music Touring Program
• Dean Omstorm- APRA - Cooprorate and communitcations Director
• Stuart Watters – CEO AIR   

Supporters:

The first stage of the project relating to the development of the NSW database has been funded by the NSW Ministry for the Arts. The principal sponsor in the development of the National Touring Guide is APRA. The project also has cooperation from ClubsNSW, the Australian Hotels Association, the Music Managers Forum and other state music industry associations.

National Development of VROOM

VROOM is being developed nationally with the assistance of principle sponsor APRA and AMIN (Australian Music Industry Network). Each state music industry association has committed to developing VROOM within their state and territory. Once completed these collective databases together will create a national touring network. The first of its kind for Australia and internationally!