Police are searching for the driver of a car that hit and pinned a man against another vehicle, after a wild brawl involving up to 200 people broke out at a music venue in inner-Melbourne and spilled onto the street.

Police said a fight broke out inside the Gasometer Hotel on Smith Street, Collingwood, about 2:45am during the launch of a record label.

Patrons left the venue but the brawl continued at nearby Mater Street.

At the same time a car crashed into parked cars and pinned a man to another vehicle on Mater Street, not far from the scene of the fight.

The 18-year-old was taken to hospital with serious injuries to his legs.

It is not yet clear if he was involved in the brawl, police said.

The car hit a pedestrian before crashing into parked cars. ( ABC News )

Six men between the ages of 18 and 21 were taken to hospital with injuries stemming from the fight.

"At the moment we have one main offender who was the driver of the car, and then there's potentially some other people who are key persons of interest — I can't divulge at this stage why they're of interest but there's a couple of others we're keen [to find]," Commander Tim Hansen from Victoria Police said.

He said one witness was assisting police and arrests were likely.

The Gasometer Hotel said it "was doing all we can to help police" but would not comment further.

The venue's band room hosts regular gigs and events, and on Saturday night hosted the launch party for 66 Records.

In the lead up to the night, event organisers said on social media: "There will be hired security so troublemakers be aware, we all looking to have a good time".

Police were monitoring music event

Commander Hansen said police were aware of the event and were patrolling the area.

"History shows us that the demographic of the crowd we're talking about, so it's primarily Pacific Islanders and African-Australians … because of that, because it's an event in the CBD or immediate surrounds, it's not uncommon for us to task police units to keep a close eye on certain locations," he said.

The car damaged two other vehicles parked on Mater Street. ( ABC News )

But he said they were not expecting that level of violence.

"There was no intelligence leading into that that it was going to be a particular high-risk event for us so it's come from left field as far as the escalating [of] the behaviour," he said.

Commander Hansen said he was not aware of any weapons being used during the fight.

"I believe the fight has initiated inside and from there it's just naturally spilled out and a group of people have followed it out," he said.

People 'screaming, fighting' in early-morning chaos

Debris from the crash was scattered across the road, and blood could be seen on one of the parked cars.

Josh Whelan, who was spending his first night in a nearby apartment after moving in, was woken up by the brawl.

He described the scene as "chaos".

"It was screaming and smashing, it was riot noise," he said.

"There were people jumping on cars, there was plenty of fighting going on. It was horrible to see, pretty unsettling to be honest."

He said the car was "hurtling" towards Smith St at high-speed, and appeared to be heading towards the brawl.

"It ended up veering off right before the scene where all the action was and into a few parked cars," he said.

Commander Hansen called the behaviour "horrific".

"I can understand that level of concern from residents when they wake up to that," he said.

"We will do whatever we can to hold those offenders, or those who have contributed to that fear, to account."