On Repeat: Brisbane bars’ Spotify echo chamber

Welcome to Sidecar No Sugar, a weekly Boothby newsletter about Brisbane bars and the people, work and creativity that grounds it. (You can sign up to get it in your inbox each week, right here.) This week, we’re critiquing the music choices of Brisbane bars and how they may have come to be so similar – when’s the last time you updated your playlist?  

If you have info the Brisbane bar community should know, please email me contact@beccawang.com.au or send me a message via Instagram (@supper.partying). 

How do you know you’re in a Brisbane bar? Is it the warm, friendly greeting from someone with patchwork tattoos? Is it a drink with coconut and/or mango on the menu? Or is it the eerie feeling that you’re being followed by Jungle, Neil Frances or Steve Monite? 

When it comes to music, we all want to be unique (cue: “Creep is Radiohead’s worst song!”). We seek out artists that best reflect who we are, how we feel and the communities we want to be a part of. So then why are same 50 songs are on repeat in bars all around Brisbane (and all other major cities)? Are we putting enough effort or too much effort into our drinking discography? 

As a customer, music can make or break a venue. While I acknowledge that music is a subjective experience, the average patron will agree there are songs that feel odd in certain spaces. A playlist that makes no sense stays with someone forever – and not in a good way. Nothing quite destroys ambience like queueing Michael Jackson followed by Black Eyed Peas then Elton John (the only upside is the comical relief). Similarly, hearing appropriate songs over and over gets old very quickly. 

As a former bar host, I was deeply attached to the music we chose to play and surprised at others’ lack of care for it. It represented the venue, attention to detail and in turn, the staff and the service. I took immense pride in my playlists and often made sure there were contrasting iterations that suited different times, days, moods and levels of busyness. Many hours were spent combing through Spotify for new songs for slow weeknights, TGIF/Let’s F*cking Go Friday and fun but-not-too-fun family weekend aperitivo time. There’s also a special vulnerability in it which is perhaps why many people would rather opt out. My ego has been both stroked and annihilated: once, a customer asked my colleague who was in charge of the music and when I approached her, she said the choices were too predictable. Other times, I’ve caught people scrambling for their phone to shazam a song. It can go either way.

Many big hospitality groups and hotel companies have been known to palm off musical responsibility and “tastemaking” to a music curator whose 38-hour salaried week is dedicated to doing what I used to do (and what I do now for Milquetoast for free chip butties). I’ve heard stories about how certain hotels request playlists that are timed to the exact minute, i.e., it’s 3:47pm on a Tuesday in May, time for Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado. How unspontaneous and Groundhog Day.   

When thinking introspectively about bar music, it’s worth noting what kind of music goes best with the concept and current menu – think matchy-matchy or very contrasting (e.g., new-world cocktails with neo-funk or vintage classics with 90s hip hop). Also, removing yourself from the workplace mindset and experiencing the bar as a customer can help gauge if it feels right. If you’re scared of touching the artwork that is your carefully selected 36-hour homage to Sault (don’t @ me), it can’t hurt to swap some old ones out for new hits – the staff will be grateful, I promise. 

The Last Word

A Quick Look at what’s happening this week in Brisbane.

• Milquetoast x Threefold Martini Fest, Saturday 26 July, from 1pm to 6pm.
• There’s also a new cocktail menu at Milquetoast’s sister bar, Before + After.
• The Alliance is on the lookout for FOH all-rounders.
• Brooklyn Standard is hiring a bartender.
• Midtown is hiring a bartender.
• Suzie Wong’s are accepting EOIs for live musicians for their new Monday hospo nights.