Key Points
- Mitch Wilson, managing director of the Australian Festival Association, says Australian music festivals are in crisis.
- Our smaller events may offer an insight into what the future of Australian music festivals could look like.
- The House of Representatives on Thursday announced an inquiry into the challenges facing the sector.
The cancellation of this year's edition of Splendour in the Grass has called into question the future of Australia's biggest music festivals, with industry insiders suggesting they may be out of touch with what festival-goers actually want in 2024.
The elimination of Splendour from the festival circuit this year follows a series of
Dwindling ticket sales and surging costs are largely to blame; the Australian Festival Association (AFA) said organisers are facing post-COVID increases in supplier costs of 30 to 40 per cent.
AFA managing director Mitch Wilson said the soaring price of running a large music event was making it increasingly difficult for the industry to operate.
"The Australian music festival industry is currently facing a crisis and the flow-on effects will be felt across the local communities, suppliers and contractors," he said.
The AFA has called on state and federal governments to bolster funding and grants in upcoming budgets to help keep the sector afloat.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives announced an inquiry into the challenges facing the sector.
Labor MP and committee chair Brian Mitchell said the hearings would look into a full range of hindrances.
"The industry sits on the cusp of transformation and it's important opportunities are harnessed while the traditional community nature of experiencing a live event is retained."
In the meantime, what can these larger music festivals learn from smaller, local events?
A need for accessibility and sustainability
Rod Davies, a lecturer in popular music at Monash University, told SBS News the tastes of festival revellers had evolved over the years.
"Trying to do festivals in the current day in a similar way to what we did in the 90s is not as viable because of social changes and economic constraints," he said.
He added that improved accessibility to a wider audience was crucial to music festivals' survival, with the "mud and slush experience" no longer cutting it.
"People are happy to go if their access is going to be unimpeded."
Anna Whitelaw, festival director and co-founder of Gaytimes boutique festival in Gembrook, Victoria, said accessibility was one of her key considerations when she founded the event.
The festival was held outside Lorne for four years before it moved to its current site of Gembrook in the Dandenong Ranges, an hour east of Melbourne
"It's accessible in the sense that we try and make it affordable and sustainable, so we really encourage people to stay in pre-pitched tents and take the bus," she told SBS News.
Many of Australia's smaller music festivals, like Gaytimes, are focused on connecting with the community and improving accessibility. Credit: Anna Whitelaw
"[The audience] appreciate the music but don't necessarily want to be standing at a stage in one place the whole time," she said.
"[They want to] come back feeling refreshed instead of exhausted from their weekend."
Going local
With many of Australia's music festivals run by volunteers, people were more willing to give their time to a local event, Whitelaw said.
"Smaller festivals are grassroots or community-run [and] are run by people who work on them as a labour of love.
"Something quite unique about festivals is the experience for the community."
It's a sentiment reflected by Christopher Smith, who has overseen Yackandandah Folk Festival in Yackandandah, Victoria, for the past 14 years. The event started as a fundraiser for a local school and has since become a three-day community event that focuses on local as well as overseas musicians.
"Community has to come first, then you bring in your outside talent," he told SBS News.
Smith believes that festival organisers need to understand their community and what they want, and cater to those desires.
Davies agrees that festivals need to go smaller-scale and focus on local talent, which is key to the survival of both festivals and the wider music industry as a whole.
"The focus needs to be local live music, especially the festivals that might be low-cost or free and that have quality music."
"If we ignore grassroots ... we can't make a quality version of our live music culture."
With Australian Associated Press
