SET THE MUSIC FREE | 13 October 2024

Yesterday, on Sunday 13 October, the Noosa and Sunshine Coast communities united for a powerful and moving protest, Set The Music Free led by Jay Bishoff & Oz Bayldon 🎶💪

With locals gathering at Noosa Junction, the streets were alive with music, joy, and solidarity as performers and supporters alike came together to stand up for the live music scene. ✊🌞

In the heart of Noosa Junction, over 5,000 residents voiced their collective outcry, sending a clear message to local and state leaders: it’s time to recognize, preserve, and nurture Noosa’s thriving live music culture. 🎤🎸

The community made it known that outdated laws are stifling the Arts and Entertainment sector, with a call to support rather than dismantle this integral part of Noosa’s identity.

With songs filling the air and musicians playing their hearts out, this peaceful protest reminded everyone of the magic that live music brings to our vibrant, creative community.

Together, we can restore Noosa as a creative hub, where the artistic spirit flows freely and live music thrives for all to enjoy. 🎶✨

Thank you to all who came out to show their support! Let’s continue the fight to keep our music alive.

Jay Bishoff’s words on “Set the Music Free”

Community members of all ages and backgrounds are invited to join us this Sunday, 12-1:30pm, in a Peaceful Public Protest to ‘Set The Music Free’ (specifically, the intensely over-governed and oppressed live music/entertainment culture at Noosa Junction).

PART 1. Why are we protesting?

During recent years, Noosa Junction has emerged as the key, thriving, diverse, all-inclusive, unofficial ‘entertainment precinct’ in Noosa Shire. Quality, grass roots live music/entertainment culture has emerged from Noosa Junction venues with community focus and heart. Live music has been the undeniable driving force in the Junction’s evening and nightlife success story.

Against increasingly difficult, and currently impossible odds – due to persistent, individual neighbour complaints and intense, ‘zero tolerance’ policy response from Liquor Licencing, Noosa Junction venues have, until recently, somehow managed to maintain their ‘popular, but precarious’ live music programs. Since the small group of live music-opposing, adjacent neighbours initiated a petition to stop the live music altogether at Noosa Junction, Liquor Licensing’s harassment of our local live music venues finally reached the untenable point. Exhausted by relentless, authoritarian pressure, two important Junction venues were put into situations where they had to halt their entire live music programs. Since this time, all reports coming to me indicate the healthy, thriving night life is no more. Noosa Junction currently feels like a ghost town, a shadow of its recent self after dark.

In response to the small group of neighbours’ petition, opposing live music/entertainment culture at the Junction, a pro-live music/entertainment petition was created, in support of moving forward on Council’s own ‘2020 Noosa Plan’, toward establishing Noosa Junction as an official entertainment precinct. Our goal is to allow live music culture to thrive, for the enjoyment and benefit of local businesses, locals, nationals and internationals, alike. Current petition numbers are respectively: Pro live music/entertainment culture at Noosa Junction: 5,504. Against live music/entertainment culture at the Junction: 391.

We The Community, are gathering at Noosa Junction this Sunday, as a united, peaceful force, to send a clear message to our leaders at Noosa Council, and our State Government representatives: SET THE MUSIC FREE! (at Noosa Junction).

PART 2: What Will Happen at this Sunday’s Protest? (Including the Spirit of the event, Behavioural approach and Boundaries)

— Many of our coast’s favourite performers/acts will be singing and playing (acoustic) performances only), right through our beloved Noosa Junction along Sunshine Beach Rd, from 12-12:45pm this Sunday. Bring your smiles and soak it all up, participate, join in!

— Performers and the all-ages general public are invited to arrive at Noosa Junction at 12pm, bringing unbridled positivity, in the wholesome, joyous spirit of ‘community live music’ filling the air everywhere, from one end of the Junction to the other. There shall be countless acoustic soloists, duos, trios, full bands welcome. IMPORTANT: All music must be performed acoustically ONLY – NO AMPLIFICATION) between 12 and 12:45pm.

— We request everyone honour basic traffic rules for the entire duration of the protest. At no time will it be acceptable to hinder or obstruct road traffic. Anyone who engages in such behaviour immediately separates him/her/it/themself from our protest and is acting alone in self-representation.

— Spirit of the Event: the clear spirit of this protest is ‘united, determined, peaceful demeanour’ to collectively send a clear message to our leaders – SET THE MUSIC FREE! – in community celebration. Ours shall be an unforgettable, exuberant ‘community soul’ expression of live music at Noosa Junction.

— How We Will Respond to any Opposition on the day:

We are fully committed to bringing about quite clear, positive change in the legal parameters and governance of our local community. However, we are never to lose sight of our core, all-inclusive community values. Our event is a peaceful, joyous gathering right through to the positive end, that we will, indeed, achieve together. Example Situation: When we are gathered in front of a shop this Sunday, if an irate shopkeeper emerges (threatening broom in hand!), protesters must simply move on to the next open shopfront area. Maintain respect, and commit to positivity right through the entire protest experience. We are simply bringing a gush of joyous live music community spirit and sounds to Noosa Junction, for no more than 90 minutes, our whole event concluding by 1:30pm at the latest.

— While I feel this should go without saying: NO VANDALISM or damage to any property, whatsoever. We are simply bringing the joy of music. Bring your smile, use it to respond to any smile turned upside down.

— No littering, No rubbish left behind. We love our Noosa Junction. Keep it immaculate. We are simply adding the spirit of music, imbuing the heart of our town with community soul.

PART 3: THE ORDER AND FLOW OF THE EVENT – what, where, when, how!

12-12:30pm Create, participate, enjoy LIVE MUSIC (singing and playing acoustically, little acts everywhere, right through the entire Junction)

12:30-12:40 begin heading to Arcadia Lane, where we will all GATHER from 12:45pm.

12:45-1:30pm Enjoy the organised proceedings, as a united, peaceful, determined live music-loving community at Arcadia Lane.

1:30pm Peacefully, respectfully disperse throughout the Junction, to enjoy our wonderful cornucopia of international cuisine options for lunch! Or head off, respectfully on your way.

PART 4: Moving Forward: Our ‘Call To Action’ For Council and our Government Representatives to act immediately on our Behalf:

—The 2020 Noosa planning scheme called for amendments toward supporting the live music/entertainment culture at Noosa Junction. It took 4 years for the process with Council and State Government. It came back approved, ready to administer. It was met by resistance by way of petition at the ‘11th hour’ by a very small minority. Council has since backtracked; meanwhile, the small group of opposing neighbours have intensified their individual (nightly) complaints – against ‘any’ live music, at ‘any’ hour of ‘any’ night of every week, often as early as 7:30pm. Liquor Licensing’s relentless harassing and yes, bullying, of specific target, live music hubs, has seen the shutdown and closure of many venues throughout Noosa Junction. Most recently, we have seen the total shutdown of the live music programs at two of our key live music venues. Overnight, our once-thriving local culture nightlife scene at Noosa Junction has recently resembled a ghost town. This has shown us how quickly all the hard work of many can be undone by the determination of a very small minority of naysayers, under the current state legislation; meanwhile, our own council lazily, irresponsibly sits on the fence, inactive, disengaged.

— We call on Noosa Council, firstly to immediately step up and make a clear stand and public declaration, indicating what Noosa Junction is going to be. It is undeniably, already a thriving, unofficial entertainment precinct in motion. It is time for Council to ‘grow a spine’ and officially establish the Junction’s obvious, working identity.

— After decades of frustrated locals and tourists, alike, so often with nowhere to go, for a bite to eat or any live music/entertainment after 9pm, Noosa Junction has emphatically proven the Junction can thrive as a nightlife spot any night of any week. Popular ‘open mic’ nights ’til 11:30pm on Thursdays, teeming venues full of delighted, punters at live music venues on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays… how wonderful it has been to finally see Noosa offering some local culture night life, at last living into it’s highly-acclaimed, international tourist destination status, by actually offering some living experience here, beyond the national park, the beaches and the river.

— Outsourcing the governance of our local, live music/entertainment sector to Liquor Licencing simply must no longer occur. Noosa Council must first establish the Junction as an official entertainment precinct. Next, they must commit to full responsibility of local governance of our live music sector, under simple, clearly laid-out requirements and processes. (See bullet points below)

— The current, 75db limit for unlicensed venues, was impossible and ridiculous from the start. 75db is exceeded by three people enjoying spirited conversation at a single table. Regarding the (logical) ‘application for a proper entertainment licence’: due to the excessive, complex, expensive, long-winded process, with endless unexplained delays, countless snags and detailed, nitpicking complications along the Liquor Licencing way…. many venues across the entire Sunshine Coast are forced to operate ‘beneath the radar’, in constant risk of huge fines, or even complete business shutdown’ whenever they feature live music. The application process for a proper entertainment licence has no guarantee of succeeding. In cases where the application is successful, the venue will likely still be harassed, again and again by Liquor Licencing, who continue to aggressively arrive on the scene (of the legally licensed venue!), due to a single, persistent neighbour complaint. This dramatic situation of clear over-governance, by an outside, mis-appropriated, disconnected state government body will no longer be tolerated.

— Once Noosa Council takes over the full, local governance of our local entertainment sector – specifically, as a 6-12 month trial at Noosa Junction – the process is simple to organise, oversee, and monitor.

Firstly, before bullet-pointing the specific pathway and process, as a simple, detailed solution, here’s a little more important background information:

Regular evening live music events in the Noosa Junction lanes, organised by the Noosa Junction Association have never been crashed by Liquor Licencing. How fascinating, considering emanating volume at least equals, often exceeds that from local businesses. Over the course of the last month, I was personally amongst those performers reduced to performing entire local gigs with a tiny, busker’s battery amplifier, playing at inaudible volumes, quieter than the small audience in attendance. This was the result of long months of constant, individual neighbour complaints to Council and the police, who, as a policy, then pass the buck to outsourced Liquor Licensing for the dirty shutdown work to be done.

We have attended local meetings with Council and the opposing small group of neighbours. These neighbours have stated to us, and to Council in a meeting, roughly 6 weeks ago: ‘We do not want music played at the Junction after 9pm on weekdays and 10pm on the weekends. We will complain every day to Liquor Licensing until it stops.’

Currently, Liquor Licensing requires and enforces sound/decibel measurements to be taken ‘3 metres from the source’. This is not only highly-disruptive to any jovial, community atmosphere; it is entirely illogical, immediately destructive of any live music situation. Three metres in front of the speakers is exactly where you want the volume to be, full and vibrant for those in attendance. Folks, may I remind everyone of the obvious: music does not have sound as an aspect: music IS sound! Sound…..sounds, by definition. We HEAR music, and it affects us positively. Sound is not a side effect of music. Music is Sound. Importantly, I ask that we all proceed from here, with this fundamental correction of a crucial, national misunderstanding: music is not noise pollution. Music is an ‘art of sound’.

At the state government level, we require a rewrite of the long-misappropriated legislation. At the local Council level, we must re-establish the ‘site of sound/decibel measuring/monitoring’ (by Council, not outsourced to Liquor Licencing). Complaints must only be followed up on, after a series of – many, not just one – issued neighbour complaint/s. The sound measurement in these situations must be taken ‘at the complaining neighbour’s residence’; NOT 3 metres from the speaker source, as a knee-jerk reaction to a single, grumpy local neighbour’s complaint at 7:30pm on a Thursday…

PART 5: A Simple, Local, Council-Governed Solution

Council can install the following process, under a temporary strategy for Noosa Junction:

— Firstly, Council and state government need to ‘get real’ with decibel level requirements and entertainment licences applied for and granted. The standard 75db, as explained above, makes lawbreakers of us all, audiences included. It is simply impossible for a small group to even enjoy conversation at this level, let alone have any live music in a semi-bustling venue environment. An 86db licence is the ceiling limit for any open-air venue on the coast. Again, this level is entirely unreasonable and makes it virtually impossible to create any thriving live music atmosphere. A feisty audience of 20 clapping at the end of a song will immediately exceed 86db, with no music being played at the time. If an audience dares to sing along with a performer, 86db is immediately exceeded, creating, yet another, ‘unlawful’ situation.

— We require 90-95db established as the standard for the new live music licences granted at Noosa Junction, on the heels of Noosa Council backing its own 2020 Noosa Plan for the Junction as a thriving hospitality/entertainment sector. This speaks to the new licences to be granted, and the ongoing, in-house decibel level measurements maintained by each venue, in weekly reports procured for Council.

— We understand select venues that apply for a licence to play at volumes between 90-95db will require renovation adjustment to help contain emanating sound.

— As put forward by Oz Bayldon, the erection of large ‘sound walls’, strategically, tastefully hidden with careful placement, will definitely help protect adjacent neighbourhoods from excess sound emanation. We look forward to working directly with Council, with highly-qualified professionals to advise and get the job done correctly and efficiently.

— Noosa Junction venues have been granted operating licences til 12am. As clearly indicated by the thriving success of live music at Noosa Junction venues in recent years, we require live music venues 7 nights a week. Rather than push to match the Council-installed,12am operating hours licence, we propose a compromise at 10pm, as finishing time for all live music in open-air Noosa Junction venues, for Monday-through-Wednesday. Thursday through Sunday, we require 11pm as the shutdown time for live music in any non-enclosed venue at the Junction. Question: why grant operating licences until 12am, and then proceed to ban live music after 10pm, even on weekends? This has proven to be entirely counter-intuitive, with counter-productive results, adversely affecting the local businesses and the vast majority of locals and tourists for too long.

— As indicated by Cr Lorentson, Council’s duty of care for the constituencies of its shire, must make the effort to meet with, engage, educate and strongly encourage agitated neighbours toward, patience, understanding and healthier communicative avenues, rather than angrily phoning Liquor Licensing at the first musical sounds heard emanating from our only entertainment precinct in Noosa. We, the performers, local business owners and live music supporters DO NOT wish to proceed with the longstanding ‘Us vs. Them’ scenario, allowed to fester, as long as our local council is unwilling to step in and engage us all together as one community. On our side, we are willing to come to the table with open minds, with ears that listen, open to the possibility of reasonable compromise, as we find our way forward together as one community. We also remind everyone of our nation’s status as a ‘democracy’, and we are clear it will never be possible to please everyone. Our longstanding, poorly-written, misappropriated state legislation currently caters to the impossible goal of pleasing every single citizen all the time. Democracy moves forward based on the expressed wishes of the majority. Such is life; places change; Noosa Junction has changed; life goes on.

— Council’s governing response to, an established number of ‘multiple complaints from different sources’, must be to send out an officer to measure emanating volume ‘at the site of the complainant’s residence’; NOT initially barging in on our local community celebration, wrecking the evening for all inside the venue.

PART 6: Practicalities of Implementation, as we SET THE MUSIC FREE at Noosa Junction

We propose:

Firstly, Council establishes and declares Noosa Junction as an official entertainment precinct. Next, any venue wishing to offer a regular live music program must obtain a licence from Council. In order to obtain this licence, they must: a) install a 24 hr camera system b) A professional acoustic report is required to obtain a council permit. c) A live music venue must record DB (decibel reading) report hourly during live music performances, sent to Council weekly. In this way, we become a self-responsible, self-governing community, always endeavouring to behave with fundamental respect for each other, in spite of our recognised differences.

We look forward to working much-closer (truthfully, things cannot get much ‘farther apart’ than they have been) with our own elected Council, toward achieving all the above-stated community aims, with the full support and determination for real change from the vast majority of local community members.