Badlands Bar, a live music venue in Perth, has blamed soaring insurance costs for its impending December closure.
The news comes barely a month since two live music venues in Melbourne reportedly complained about insurance premiums hikes north of 500%.
Citing a social media statement, PerthNow reported that Badlands faced a 10-fold increase in its public liability insurance premiums.
The increase came despite never having made a claim before, the Badlands Bar management said, noting that it was the only insurance coverage it could get to ensure continued operations.
The management called the issue a “known but rarely spoken about dilemma, affecting Australian live music venues”.
The closure of the Aberdeen Street bar, which has operated for seven years, would be a great loss for the state’s contemporary music, according to West Australian Music executive director Livia Carre.
Badlands has featured the performances of big-name local musicians including Spacey Jane and Kisschasy.
Carre told PerthNow that Badlands is the third live music venue to shut down because of the post-COVID effect of rising operational costs and public liability insurance in under 12 months.
Badlands’ closure follows those of The Aardvark in Fremantle and another Perth-based venue The Sewing Room.
“We still don’t have an answer as to why insurers have dramatically increased the public liability premiums for live music venues,” Carre said, adding that the issue is affecting the entire country and has become a “hot topic” in national conversations.
This dilemma is also faced by Night Owl Entertainment Group, which operates venues in Perth and Fremantle.
According to the group’s Strategic Partnerships Director Jeff Halley, the significant insurance expense harms financial sustainability of the business.
Halley said the group is facing two problems: rising insurance costs and having difficulty finding insurance providers.
Meanwhile, insurance costs posed a barrier for southern suburbs venue Freo.Social despite it having seen more business post-COVID, the bar’s Managing Director James Legge told PerthNow.
“We have worked closely with our insurance brokers to limit premium increases but they have risen significantly over the last few years, which we have had to absorb,” Legge said.
He added that it is important for the live music sector to work closely with government and insurance bodies to deal with the issue to avoid more closures of these businesses.
