By Bernard Zuel
Forget breath-testing, lockouts, or downloading - it is sex which is killing live music. Or at least the search for it on Tinder and Grindr.
That's the startling but serious claim made by a music venue owner and live music booker, James Young, who says that more and more people prefer to "stare at their phones and swipe left or right " rather than head out to a bar where they might meet somebody.
Looking for a hook up on Tinder instead of listening to the musicCredit: Simone de Peak
"Grindr, the gay app, came out about two years before Tinder and has destroyed the gay hotspot [in Melbourne]," Young says. "That is a textbook, identifiable case. And here we are, two years later, with Tinder following in its footsteps". He says young people are hanging about hunched over their phones instead of going out to bars and clubs.
Surely the point of music venues hasn't just been to meet someone though? No, says Young, but "bars are fragile businesses" and anything that affects even three or five percent of business on already thin margins can be hard to recover from. "And what we are talking about is 10 per cent loss of business and for some businesses, that's their profit margin."
The online dating obsession is taking its toll on the live music scene.Credit: Andy Zakeli
Young, who owns and books music for Cherry Bar, in AC/DC Lane, and Yah Yah's in Fitzroy, argues that "sex has always been a big part of rock 'n' roll but we're not saying the sole purpose of venues is to pick up". It is, however, a problem with a ripple effect because people used to meet - or hook up in the modern parlance – at venues where music was being played.
"If there are less people at the bars, that's going to affect sales and there is also a parallel issue in the type of dates you go on," says Young. "A Tinder date is a safe date so 'let's meet at a cafe, let's meet at the latest, chic pop-up restaurant'. They're not taking their first date to a rowdy live music event. Maybe because they can't talk to them and also maybe the fear that they will lose their date to someone else."
In Sydney you can add lockouts and earlier closing of bars to the Tinder-effect. Young also raises another fear, that "Netflix, Stan and binge TV series watching have become the new dating", with the simplicity of an affordable entertaining option capped off by the fact that "you're already on the couch".
Could it be the Cherry Bar or other music venues attract too many good looking people who pose a threat to first time daters? Maybe, but solutions need to be found Young says, maybe even speed dating which has been tried "and massively oversubscribed" at a couple of music festivals.
Young says this year they've already hosted two wedding receptions for people who met at the Cherry Bar "and someone named their baby girl Cherry because the baby was conceived at the Cherry."
Don't say that won't bring back the crowds!