LIVE music in Melbourne is under threat again, as new owners of the East Brunswick Club lodge plans to build a five-storey apartment block on the site of the popular mid-size venue.

While the Heritage-listed pub is likely to remain, plans lodged by Contour Consultants on behalf of the unidentified developer include shops, offices and apartments but allow no possibility for live music. Recent international acts at the club include Hollywood actor Tim Robbins, local band Jet, post-punk legends Swans and New York indie band the Drums.

An impression of the proposed five-storey building (marked by red arrow).

Gigs are booked until February and venue bookers have told music website Mess+Noise that news of the club's demise ''was as much of a surprise to us as everybody else''.

While the club's staff are not returning calls, Melbourne's musicians say that losing the East Brunswick Club would leave a big gap in the market between small pub rooms and barns dominated by international acts and bigger names.