Drug use at music festivals has become a public safety concern in NSW, one that has led to a number of deaths in recent years. This paper provides an overview of the main recommendations of the Expert Panel report entitled Keeping People Safe at Music Festivals, released by the NSW Government on 24 October 2018.

This report provides a detailed examination of the live music sector in the Northern Territory.

Music, particularly contemporary music, continues to play a vital role in the economic and social vitality of New South Wales. However, this sector has traditionally been neglected by governments, and as a result the contemporary music ecosystem in New South Wales appears to be slowly disintegrating.

Following the tragic deaths of two young people who attended a music festival in September 2018, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian convened an expert panel to advise the NSW government on how to keep people safe at music festivals.

This paper uses contemporary documentation, interviews and maps to highlight the different types of music careers, and modes of “making it”, seen in the 1986 feature film Dogs in Space. The film concerns a fictional band of the same name, based on The Ears, a minor group active in the Melbourne band scene between 1979-1981...