Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, has long been a home for live music. Recent developments, however, have sent sharply mixed signals about the sector’s trajectory. The state government has proposed a 50% excise rebate for venues that book live acts, a policy experiment arriving just as a wave of prominent venue closures and new international tour dates reshape the local landscape.
The Rebate Mechanism
The Rockliff Liberal Government outlined a Live Music Excise Rebate Pilot that would return half of participating pubs’, hotels’ and clubs’ verified spending on live music. Eligible costs include payments to performers and crew, as well as marketing and equipment hire. The rebate would be delivered through a reduction in alcohol excise, directly linking public support to a venue’s actual investment in staging shows.
The pilot is not yet funded or operational, and the initial federal response was cool. Tasmanian Labor Senator Richard Dowling noted that roughly A$1 million has already been delivered to live music businesses in the state, alongside the Australian Government’s A$25 million two-year extension of Revive Live, and called on the Tasmanian Government to invest its own money.
APRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) described the proposal as “an Australian first” and urged the federal government to treat Tasmania as a test case for a national incentive. A survey of almost 3,000 venues, nightclubs and promoters found that more than 70% identified financial pressure as the reason they had stopped programming live music. The same proportion selected a tax rebate or incentive as the most important measure for bringing music back to their stages.
What sets Tasmania’s version apart is its scale. Earlier economic modelling commissioned by APRA AMCOS examined offsets of 5%, 10% and 20% for existing live music venues. Tasmania has put 50% on the table.
Venue Closures and Financial Pressure
Four days before the rebate was proposed, seven prominent Hobart venues announced they were entering voluntary administration, affecting more than 80 workers. The group included Republic Bar & Cafe, a North Hobart institution and popular live music room, along with Cargo Bar, Jack Greene and Post Street Social.
The owners group cited rising supply, utility, insurance and operating costs, coupled with changing consumer behaviour. That is precisely the financial equation the proposed rebate is designed to alter. It cannot fix every pressure facing hospitality, but it would make live music an expense that generates direct support rather than one more risk on a thin-margin night.
Arena Announcements and Touring Challenges
At the same time, Hobart appeared on two significant international tour itineraries. Queens of the Stone Age will bring Primus and Tropical Fuck Storm to MyState Bank Arena on December 11 as part of a six-city Australian run. Delta Goodrem will close the Australian leg of her eight-city PURE World Tour at the same arena in 2027.
Two arena dates do not establish a trend on their own, but they offer a glimpse of what Tasmania is trying to build from both ends. The island’s geography has long made touring expensive and logistically difficult. Music Tasmania told a federal inquiry that crossing Bass Strait to pursue performance opportunities usually costs bands more than they are able to earn.
When major artists include Hobart, it signals confidence that a Tasmanian audience can support a large show. When smaller rooms can afford to program local and touring artists more regularly, they create the continuous ecosystem beneath those occasional arena events: paid stages, working crews, audience habits, and pathways for artists to grow. Arena concerts cannot substitute for a grassroots circuit, but their arrival makes the case for protecting that circuit more visible.
A Test Case for Australia
The proposal represents a financial bet: rather than waiting for venues to fail and then offering rescue money, it would reward them each time they spend on live music. If the pilot proceeds and the bookings follow, it could offer a practical model for other Australian states.
