SYDNEY—Sydney's iconic live music venue the Metro Theatre has signed a two-year sponsorship deal with Virgin Mobile.
The CBD haunt, which hosts international and local bands, will be renamed the Virgin Mobile Metro.
The deal will give Virgin Mobile customers special access to scheduled Metro gigs and an upstairs members' lounge, as well as a free drink and food and band meet-and-greet opportunities.
Century Venues, the company which owns the Metro Theatre, sees it as a move that will secure the future of the venue, which was facing financial trouble a few years ago.
"As you can imagine it's a CBD George Street property, and it's got very high rental component, even though it's first floor," said Greg Khoury, director of development for Century Venues.
"Show business in a fairly volatile sector, so it certainly does help to ensure its long-term viability."
Mr Khoury said he thought the move would also be a win for music fans, as well as up-and-coming bands who play the Metro as they break onto the scene.
"I don't think from a patrons' perspective there will be much difference at all, and I can only see there's a lot of positives for the bands," he said.
"The great thing about partnering with Virgin is they've got such a long history with live music ... so for bands there's a lot of opportunities to cross-promote their particular shows with the strength of the Virgin databases."
Century Venues owns several live music venues in Sydney, including the Enmore Theatre, The Factory Theatre and The Vanguard.
Bookings manager Sam Nardo said they had been approached in the past by various companies hoping to partner up, but the fit had never been quite right.
"It's something we've not really actively pursued," he said.
"We've had approaches over the years with various venues but we felt this one was a really worthwhile one to look at, because they have a strong background in live music and supporting music ventures."
The new partnership will be officially launched at a special gig on September 29, featuring indie rock bands Dappled Cities and The Seabellies.
Virgin Mobile said it hoped the deal with the Metro would be the first of similar partnerships around the country.
