Is the future of Music Festivals in free fall?
- Jun 14
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 17
Music Festivals over the last few years have experienced a massive upheaval.
The Big Pineapple Festival went from being close to selling out its May 2020 to having to cancel and run one year later under crippling financial circumstances due to Covid restrictions/ requirements.
Post Covid all the big festivals were ready to hit the ground running after a long lay off.. but something had changed dramatically…
After the 2021 edition, Big Pineapple festival took a 2.5 year break and seriously questioned whether we wanted to run another festival again. We were one of the only music festivals in Australia to run during Covid. Post Covid, all the big festivals were ready to hit the ground running after a long lay off.. but something had changed dramatically…
There was a mind shift in festival goers buying behaviour. Festival Goers started to become far more frugal when it came to spending on festivals which unfortunately coincided with a cost of living crisis / super high interest rates/ house rentals and high cost of goods such as food.
In the 2.5 years our festival had been away we noticed increases of up to 100% on big hit items when we came back… insurance, security, rubbish removal and so much more had risen dramatically. We were looking at an extra $400,000 in costs for the same goods as 2021.
A Perfect Storm….
So here’s where the perfect storm began for music festivals. Festivals started charging what they needed to charge in order to offset the crazy price increases they were dealing with across the board. Only problem is… festival goers were experiencing their own cost of living increases. So something had to give… and it did…
Some of our biggest events in OZ like Splendour in The Grass and Grooven The Moo went down the mine due to extremely low ticket sales. The Sunshine Coast’s much loved Caloundra Music Festival decided to call it a day after analysing the challenging conditions, concluding that if it went ahead the financial impact would be way too much. There were other casualties as well.
Fast forward to now....
Nothing much has changed apart from that Government and local councils are starting to realise the financial implications of letting large festivals disappear. Big Pineapple Festival alone brings over $10 million to the local economy. Of that the government takes in over $2.7 million in tax.
The Sunshine Coast Council’s forward thinking has seen a great relationship develop with the Big Pineapple Festival. I also see the NSW government has just given $500,000 grants to four like-minded music festivals so as to keep them afloat over the next year. Smart move when you weigh up how much return these festivals generate for that $500,000 investment.
Is there a viable future?
YES. Some festivals like Spilt Milk are still selling out…. it obviously helps having Kendrick Lamar as headliner. Fisher’s concert on the Gold Coast sold over 30,000 tickets and some big international concerts are also selling out …Festival goers are looking for a point of difference... either a massive headliner, or a festival with many artistic elements which stimulates the senses…. (the same old same old will not cut it anymore).
Festivals need to be more engaging with their marketing and overall offerings. They also need to account for the what ifs…. What if you are not selling enough tickets? Can you scale back?
Make sure what you are offering is truly what people want… you don’t want to find out after you go on sale… that means being tapped into your audience.
Get your audience involved… make them feel a part of the whole event…. nobody does this better than Woodford. Those guys truly care about the patron’s experience, and this shows even prior to tickets going on sale.
Definitely be smarter with your overall budget … you must shop around and get as many quotes as possible. You can save a lot of money this way. I fight for every cent in regards to the Big Pineapple Festival and that’s why we are still alive and ready to blow minds with our 10 year anniversary later this year.
You need to be passionate otherwise you will be chewed up and spat out. It’s definitely not all doom and gloom… in fact there is a lot of opportunity. Work on your event relationships and don’t be afraid to partner up with like-minded events.
This is your time!!
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