Organisers of the axed FreezaCentral rock mentoring program are confident of a reprieve in next year’s Victorian budget as Premier Ted Baillieu moves to bed down its credentials as a live music saviour.

At the launch of the group’s annual “mixtape” compilation last week, Push CEO Peter Chellew, who oversees FreezaCentral, revealed he would tap funds from the business community to keep the project running “on the smell of an oily rag” while the government ruled on its future.

The program was previously thought to have been lost for good after its half-a-million dollars in annual funding ran dry at the end of June.

But Chellew confirmed to Crikey this morning he will meet with youth minister Ryan Smith on Friday hopeful a fresh deal can be struck. Smith did not return calls and emails requesting comment.

“Obviously we’ve missed out this year but we’re pretty hopeful that the government will take another look,” Chellew said.

FreezaCentral lets youngsters receive hands-on tuition and support from stars like You Am I’s Davey Lane and Angie Hart (who performed at last week’s launch) and has hosted 3500 participants over its seven-year life span. Five-hundred under-26ers have receiving accredited formal training, with many starting successful bands or snagging paid work behind the scenes.

The breakthrough comes in the wake of yesterday’s fanfare at Melbourne’s Tote Hotel — which served up the humorous sight of Baillieu getting blasted by a double guitar attack from 70s-inspired rockers Stonefield — and reviving hopes Liberal ears can be permanently bent in support of the scene.

The Deloitte report launched by Baillieu and consumer affairs minister Michael O’Brien (but commissioned by the previous Labor government) revealed the industry is worth more than $500 million to the Victorian economy and that 1.1 million more people a year attend rock gigs (5.4 million) than AFL games (4.3 million). The cultural benefits, while difficult to quantify, are “significant”, according to the report.

Chellew, who was forced to lay off an employee as a result of the cuts, says the release of the report is proof programs like FreezaCentral could reap huge dividends.

Music industry insiders say the colour and light yesterday came as a shock after little or no action by the Liberals in the nine months since the government has taken office.

May’s budget revealed that funding for contemporary music had been slashed by 56% (or 87% compared with Labor’s pre-election promises), with a $1.3 million music equipment grant scheme ditched alongside FreezaCentral, sparking significant unrest.

O’Brien finally agreed yesterday to reform the Liquor Control Act to ensure live music is taken into consideration in licensing decisions, and to reinstate an industry round table to thrash out the sector’s deep-seated problems.

But according to industry activists SLAM — organisers of last February’s unprecedented protest that drew 20,000 rock pigs to the steps of state parliament — there’s still at least a triple LP’s worth of reforms to get through.

While welcoming the tentative action, lobbyists Fair Go 4 Live Music have called for a new regulatory accord, including concrete legislation enshrining “agent of change” principles to stop yuppies moving next door to venues and then arcing up about the noise.

It has also demanded immediate changes to the  Building Code of Australia’s “Place of Public Entertainment” provisions, that according to spokesman and Tote owner Jon Perring places a small venue into the same regulatory category as an airport if it provides live entertainment.

And the federal government should also act on tax offsets that rule out rock deductions and increase revenue derived from the Alcohol Excise and Wine Equalisation Tax.

If anything, live music is worth much more than the half-a-billion dollar figure in yesterday’s report, which only covered smaller venues. Official Live Performance Australia figures released earlier this month show contemporary musicians sold $659 million worth of tickets annually at larger shows, a significant proportion of which was spent in Victoria.

In other words, of the $757,000 in state funding allocated under umbrella organisation Victoria Rocks in 2008-09, the flow-on or “multiplier” benefits to the economy were at least 700-fold.

And all the while, struggling musos make do with annual salary of under $20,000 a year, with 57% earning less than $10,000, according to Deloitte.

FG4LM’s Perring says the case for extra funding from all levels of government is “self evident”.