Check if your venue is eligible
To access these incentives, your venue must meet the eligibility criteria and appear on the published list of approved venues.
Your venue must also be one or more of the following:
- a live music venue
- a live performance venue
- a participating venue in a Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP).
Finding out which one of these categories your venue belongs to will depend on your licence type and where your venue is located.
Eligibility for live music venues
A ‘live music performance’ is an event where a venue engages one or more persons to play or perform live or pre-recorded music in person.
A live music venue must hold one of the following liquor licences:
- a hotel licence
- a club licence
- a small bar licence
- an on-premises licence
- a producer/wholesaler licence.
To be eligible, live music performance must form a significant part of your venue’s normal operations. To meet this test, you must be able to show your venue:
- Holds an average of 2 live music performances per week.
- Has a room or space dedicated to live music performances. This room or space must be a significant part of the venue and contain the infrastructure to support the regular performances.
Eligibility for live performance venues
Your venue must be an on-premises public entertainment venue primarily used for live performances or other cultural events.
Venues likely to meet this requirement include music, concert and dance halls or theatres.
The primary use of the venue must be for live performances or other creative or cultural events.
An ‘other arts and cultural event’may include a focus on other creative and artistic disciplines that relate to a cultural theme. For example:
- other types of performance arts like theatre shows
- visual arts like an art exhibition
- literary arts events.
Incentives for eligible venues
Live music and performance venues have access to the following incentives:
- an 80% reduction on annual liquor licence fees, including base fees and trading hours risk loading
- an 80% reduction on permanent extended trading application fees
- a 2-hour liquor trading extension on nights with 45 minutes or more of live music after 8pm, if allowed by your venue's development consent.
Under section 12A(4) of the Liquor Act 2007, this extended trading incentive overrides the special licence condition ‘liquor sales cessation period’ for certain venues in Sydney CBD and Kings Cross that need to comply with the condition.
Eligibility for participating venues located in a SEP
Special Entertainment Precincts (SEPs) support live entertainment by providing extended trading hours for live music venues and fee reductions for participating venues. A SEP is a precinct designated under section 202 of the Local Government Act 1993.
To be a participating venue in a Special Entertainment Precinct:
- your venue must be located in a designated SEP
- you must notify Liquor & Gaming NSW of your intent to hold live music performances or other arts and cultural events at the venue.
To notify us, submit an application.
Incentives for SEP venues
Participating venues in Special Entertainment Precincts may be eligible for:
- 80% reduction on annual liquor licence fees, including base fees and trading hours risk loading
- 80% reduction on permanent extended trading application fees
- 1-hour liquor trading extension on all nights of the week, if:
- your venue hosts live music or other arts and cultural events for at least 45 minutes after 8pm, on at least 2 nights in any 7-day period
- it is within the hours under the Special Entertainment Precinct Management Plan or the venue’s development consent permits the extended trading hours.
You can learn more about SEPs on the NSW Planning website
Accessing the 2-hour trading extension
Being registered as a participating venue in a Special Entertainment Precinct only gives access to the 1-hour liquor trading extension.
To access an additional 1-hour (2 hours in total) liquor trading extension, your venue must also:
- be registered as a live music venue or a live performance venue
- host a live music or arts and cultural event for at least 45 minutes after 8pm on the night of the extension
- have development consent that permits the extended trading hours.
If your venue meets the eligibility criteria, you can be included on the live music and performance venue list.
How to apply
If your venue is eligible, you can apply to join the list of participating venues.
To apply, submit an application to L&GNSW.
View the current list of approved venues that can access these incentives.
Mandatory recordkeeping
Under section 12B of the Liquor Act 2007, venues with extended trading under these incentives must keep records of each live music performance or other arts and cultural event held or provided on the licensed premises.
A licensee must follow any conditions to which the licence is subject.
The licensee must keep these records for at least one year, with the below information for each event:
- date of the event
- type of event (either a live music performance or other arts and cultural event)
- a brief description of the performance or event
- start and finish times for the event
- main contact details for the event organiser, including name and phone contact
- if a live music performance, the name of the performer/s or act/s.
Venues can maintain a register in either hard-copy or digital format. Venues must make it available to Liquor & Gaming NSW compliance officers or the NSW Police Force if requested.
Excluded venues
L&GNSW has discretion to not apply these incentives in a range of circumstances, including:
- For any venues with a poor compliance record. Where the licensee has been liable for compliance history risk loading in the last two years or will be liable in future.
- Where the venue is operating as a karaoke bar or primarily provides adult entertainment of a sexual nature.
We will remove a venue from the list if its business model changes and it no longer meets the eligibility criteria. We may also remove a venue if it doesn’t meet its obligations, such as keeping the required records.
Once removed, the venue will no longer be able to access the incentives.
Common questions
What if I can’t use the liquor trading extension due to my development consent conditions?
Venues can only make use of the liquor trading extensions if their development consent also permits the venue to stay open during the extended time.
Venues should contact their council if they need to change their development consent trading hours.
City of Sydney Council has established arrangementsfor venues in late-night trading areas that host cultural events and live performances to apply for an additional operating hour when hosting music, visual or performance art or other cultural events. These may be of interest.
Will I pay extra trading hour risk loading if using the liquor trading extension?
No. There are no additional charges.
What happens if I am applying for a licence to establish a new venue with a focus on live music and performance? Am I eligible for these discounts?
Once your application for a new liquor licence has been granted, you may apply for the live music discount.
I have paid the full fee for an extended trading authorisation (ETA) and I am also on the list of live music venues. How do I get the 80% fee reduction?
We can refund 80% of the application fee for a permanent extended trading authorisation, if your venue appears on the list within 12 months of making the application.
What if I stop providing live music or performances due to changed operations?
Upon knowing you are no longer eligible to access incentives available for these venues, you must notify and email Liquor & Gaming NSW as soon as possible.
Liquor & Gaming NSW will also rely on operational information to make assessments about ongoing eligibility from time to time.
We will remove venues that are no longer eligible from the list and we will confirm this with the licensee.