News of the Splendour in the Grass festival cancelling is devastating, and its impact will be felt acutely across the wider ecology.
Director of Music Australia Millie Millgate said,
“Our thoughts go out to the Australian promoters, artists, managers and crew immediately affected.”
The current operating environment is highly complex with several issues, from rapidly increasing costs to changing audience habits – simultaneously impacting the health and sustainability of the global festival landscape.
On Tuesday 9 April 2024 Creative Australia will publish its research report Soundcheck: Insights into Australia’s music festival sector. This is the first of its kind and looks at the social, cultural, and economic impacts of music festivals and the logistics of organising them. Soundcheck will provide a useful tool for festival organisers and help to build a better understanding of the role of festivals within the broader sector and creative industries.
Ms Millgate said,
“Soundcheck shows the size of the music festival scene in Australia and finds that some continue to perform well. While it provides important insights into the challenges affecting the sustainability of festivals, further research is needed to understand the complex issues at play.
“These challenges are not unique to Australia. Other countries like the UK are also experiencing changes in ticket buying behaviour in addition to increasing production costs.
“We will be engaging with the industry and our state and territory government colleagues. We will undertake further research to build a more complete understanding of the ecosystem that underpins live music including festivals, discovery, consumption, and audience engagement, so that we can look to the future with confidence.”
Music Australia has been established under the Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy Revive, a dedicated new body within Creative Australia to support and invest in the Australian contemporary music industry. Cancellation of music festivals is one of several factors, which are disrupting discovery of Australian music and artists.
