THE WHOLE SHEBANG

TO PROVIDE HIGH-QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT, PUBS NEED TO INVEST IN A COMPREHENSIVE RANGE OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. WE LOOK AT THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS, AS WELL AS ONE NEW LICENSING POLICY THAT IS GOING TO HAVE A BIG IMPACT ON IN-VENUE MUSIC.

Pubs are many things to many people, but they can be so much more than just a place for a pint and a feed. Great pubs also provide various forms of entertainment for their patrons, from the latest in live sports viewing, to live music, to some form of nightclub/dancing component.

These sorts of offerings can define how a pub is categorised – from a sports pub, to a party pub and everything in between. Regardless of the offering though, it’s important to get the equipment for the offering right – as low quality and the wrong technology will have patrons heading elsewhere. Technology is constantly being updated, so let’s take a look at some of the latest equipment to consider investing in.

INDOOR LED SCREENS

Nothing draws a crowd like sport on a big screen, but you need a screen big enough to comfortably accommodate the crowd. In a sizeable venue what you need is a screen that is metres across, not inches.

Technology has finally arrived that can readily do this, without imposing the compromises found with previous technologies like projection or composite LCD video walls. LED display is coming indoors in a big way. LED technology

is no longer restricted to huge billboards. New forms of LED display can now be located at close range. Some of these newly released screens are also pixel perfect for Foxtel HD.

The impact LED will have on sports bars is immense. Really large crowds will successfully be able to watch events together, bringing a greater level of excitement and patronage.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that LED is a technology where it is really easy to make a terrible mistake. One common error is in not getting the quality level right. LED componentry varies in price greatly. Another potential error is in not getting the specification right and that can see you paying way too much or simply choosing the wrong screen for your purpose.

LED display technology is best purchased from a supplier with the necessary technical capability to determine the right screen. It is also regenerative technology, so it needs to be purchased from a supplier that can properly support it over its lifetime. Unlike a TV that you replace in entirety, you upkeep LED display by replacing tiny portions. It needs to be maintained.

Ci has been responsible for some of Australia’s most acclaimed LED projects like Yagan Square in Perth, the Adelaide Festival Centre, Emporium Melbourne, QUT’s interactive LED wall and the MCG and Etihad perimeter/parapet LED – so it knows the importance of tailoring screens for a business.

“Being the best in LED entails matching the right product with the project. We have access to all the best brands and manufacturers globally and can help customers select the option most appropriate to their needs. We can also install and support to the standard required,” Ci’s national account director Ben Britten explains.

Getting the most from a big screen in a hotel scenario also involves audio, so you need a supplier adept at both. It should also be noted that LED can successfully be installed outside in beer gardens and unlike LCD and projection be comfortably viewed in direct sunlight.

Whether outdoor or indoor, one thing is certain. LED display is about to change pub entertainment. So it’s worth assessing the business case for such a screen at your venue sooner rather than later.

DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT

An in-house background music system is essential to create the right mood for any type of pub, and nowadays these systems include a visual component – playing coordinated music videos or content to match.

MooV Music has been providing background music systems for almost twenty years, but recently invested heavily in the next generation of software for a new product – MooV – that enhances the user engagement experience, and gives publicans the chance to push promotions to patrons to entice them back into the venue.

Created specifically for on-premise operators, MooV encompasses a digital component where operators can pick the playlist, send marketing messages in-house on screens and push promos out to patrons through its app and website CMS.

The system takes advantage of new technological opportunities to create several benefits for operators when creating the right mood for their venue.

High-quality music/video output: Choose a playlist that most reflects the vibe of your pub – think current pop hits, R&B number ones, golden oldies and more – that has been curated by award-winning radio programmers and DJs. These playlists are also updated constantly and digitally, without the operator having to do anything. Pub managers still have complete control of the playlist though, so you can pick and choose tracks as you please.

Customer engagement: Allow patrons to feel like they are truly a part of your venue by having a say in the music that is playing. Using the MooV app, customers can view all of the tracks on your playlist,

and influence what plays next by voting for songs. The more votes a song gets the faster it will be played – all the while engaging your crowd, keeping them around and capturing data. And don’t worry, management can take back full control of the playlist at any stage.

Marketing power: Promote your activations through more direct avenues, with in-venue, on-screen advertising including screen takeovers, video ads and rolling on-screen tickers. You can also reach your patronage off the premises, by sending push notifications of activations through the MooV app. Initially publicans can set a radius around their venue to target patrons using the app, with the second release scheduled to allow you to reach all MooV users that have ever visited your pub. All promos are easily uploaded through the website CMS.

The MooV app interface for pub management

MUSIC LICENCING WOES

There is one further development concerning entertainment that is on the minds of hoteliers across the country, this time surrounding music licence fees. In an effort to streamline the complex maze of fees being paid to both APRA AMCOS and PPCA, the two organisations are in the middle of merging into one organisation, OneMusic.

As part of this process, the music licencing fee structures for hotels for everything from background to live music to music played in dining areas, is in the middle of being reviewed and overhauled. Hoteliers and the AHA are taking part in consultation on the new fee structure across Australia, with AHA CEO Stephen Ferguson stating that the prerogative is to create a simpler fee structure that is fair for both hotels and artists.

“Our main concern is that hotels don’t pay more than they’re required to. It’s important to ensure that hotels are encouraged to play music and support Australian music, and it not be so expensive that people don’t put live music on,” stated Ferguson.

“After seeing venues such as The Basement [in Sydney] close, we don’t want venues discouraged, especially from playing live music.”

While the industry and organisation consult and compromise on the proposed fee structure, the greatest concern raised by both the AHA and hotel operators in the first round of consultancy was the proposed change to charge live and featured music fees based on capacity of the venue, rather than attendance. This immediately raised red flags across the industry, as very few gigs are filled to total capacity of the venue or of the venue’s live music area.

The impact of an LED screen

“Our concern on that is it simply doesn’t take into account the volume of people through. So the hotelier’s profitability is driven by the number of people through the venue, and just because you’ve got a venue licence to hold 100 people, doesn’t mean you’ve got 100 people there, so you shouldn’t have to pay 100 times the fee, to do that. So that’s an issue. I think that’s the greatest problem we have.”

The worry is that if the charge on capacity were to go through, venues would minimise the number of live music acts they put on throughout the week. While headline acts on Friday and Saturday night may continue, smaller gigs during the week may be culled to avoid a fee that doesn’t match the event’s profitability.

Matt Mullins, director of the Melbourne pub group Sand Hill Road, said the company was following this issue very closely, and is worried about how it will impact business, but also the country’s live music scene.

“We are very worried about the risk of unsustainable licencing fees and the impact they could have on the viability of our pubs. More than that, we’re worried about the impact they could have on our music programs.

“A lot of pubs like ours run live music and DJ programs because we believe in supporting live performance, not because live performance makes us money – sad to say, in our industry, live performance rarely pays for itself. An increase in licence fees, albeit inadvertent, could put an end to a lot of live music in the first instance, and a lot of live music venues in the second.”

A spokesperson for APRA AMCOS said that OneMusic representatives have heard this concern from the industry, and is hoping to amend the fee structure in the second proposal it puts to the industry, but suggested that capacity structure is based on ease and fairness.

Operators can take control of music and promotions through the MooV app

“The reason we suggest pegging fees to a capacity figure is for simplicity – it saves licensees keeping track of nightly attendance and gives us an indicator of the scale of an operation so larger and smaller hotels are treated equitably.”

The other major hurdle is with so many pub businesses differing in scale, entertainment options and business models, there is a concern that any fee structure will not be equitable to all pub businesses, and that many hotel operators will actually see their fees increase under the new OneMusic proposal – an added cost that will not be sustainable for a lot of operators.

“Australia has one of the most expensive licence regimes on earth. A similar scheme in New Zealand for instance, sets fees at a fraction of Australia’s. We’ve spent our entire professional career supporting live performers. We think a licencing regime is a key way to continue that support. We just hope that regime doesn’t end up costing live performers gigs,” stated Mullins.

With the growth of the live music sector being a key motivator for OneMusic, the APRA AMCOS spokesperson reiterated that it is willing to work with industry to find a satisfactory outcome.

“We’ve done what we can to minimise any huge variations for hotel operators and we have amended the fee structure in the second consultation paper. This is why feedback to us is so important.”

Ferguson said that while OneMusic Australia may want to get the new structure rolled out by the end of the year, the AHA would continue to push for a proposal that would not only benefit artists but also be just and sustainable for the pub industry.

“The day it’s fair and equitable, that’s the day we’ll close the deal.”

The second proposal should now be released to the industry, and there is a six-week opportunity for further consultation. AH