Thirty-six local venues have already registered their COVIDSafe compliance as part of the initiative.
Yesterday, the Victorian government announced it will ease restrictions for small-to-medium-sized live music venues at the end of the month while asking Victorians to play their part in keeping the community safe as Melbourne continues to repoen.
As of May 28, all venues and businesses required to keep electronic contact tracing records will need to do so through the Victorian government’s Service Victoria app to ensure contact tracing is quick and reliable.
Today, Music Victoria and Save Our Scene, alongside a growing list of local music venues, have pledged their compliance with the Department of Health’s COVIDSafe policy by launching a ‘No QR, No Entry’ initiative which aims to make live music one of the safest industries in the state.
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“We desperately need to keep pushing up the capacities of our music venues. Friday’s announcement has alleviated the pressure on about half of our venue members, but there are still many who remain severely impacted by the density quotient of one person per two square metres,” said Music Victoria CEO, Simone Schinkel.
By meeting the Department of Health’s concerns with a hardline, proactive response and absolute compliance, the live music industry hopes to see further easing of restrictions in June as well as combating the disparities in restrictions between live music and other industries, such as sport.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to have good contact tracing – especially with the delay in vaccine rollout – but for music venues, it’s our chance to prove that we are absolutely serious about working with the health department,” said Venue Booker for 170 Russell, Ben Thompson.
Music Victoria and Save Our Scene have also launched an online registry for music venues to log their COVIDSafe compliance, with 36 venues already jumping on board with the No QR, No Entry initiative.
Venues backing the policy include the likes of The Old Bar, The Night Cat, Revolver Upstairs, The Croxton Bandroom, Max Watt’s, 170 Russell, The Tote, Northcote Social Club, The Corner Hotel, and more.
Many music venues have also implemented mandatory Track and Trace fields through their ticketing systems to ensure every guest is abiding by contact tracing requirements and show the government they are doing everything possible to keep the live music industry COVIDSafe.
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For more information, visit the Music Victoria website.
