17/04/2024
This is my view on, the increasing trend of festival cancelations.
I co-run a small music festival, that has been, and still is very successful.
The general public really has no concept of what is involved setting up, running a festival, and from a business point of view, the HUGE risks , financially, that are involved.
The blame for most, not all cancellations, is solely the festival goer....before you crucify, and argue this...please read the following reasons....then judge.
lets take an example of a larger festival, and say, select one national, international artists.....
Their fee...maybe $100k for a 1 hr 15 min performance, of which the artists pays their band , and any other expenses, in their contract, would be a cancelation clause....it maybe $30k...if cancelled 4 weeks prior, and $10k...8 weeks prior to festival....the promotor, or event organizer has to PAY....not you the public....multiply this to many artists, this would also include production companies, that bring, in some cases millions of dollars or equipment , and as many as 100 staff/crew, they may also have a cancellation clause, and thats a lot of money...therefore a massive risk. Promotors need to reach certain ticket sale targets, to reduce this risk. BOTTOM line is, over the last 14-18 months the Australian public, for many reasons, financial, social, political reasons, are not taking advantage of, "early bird" tickets, but, instead, just wait and see how things go, then all of a sudden, festival is cancelled......public ask WHY....bottom line is....very few tickets have been sold, and targets have not been met and like any business, decision has to be made, cancel or take an even higher risk...which, is most often..financial....the promotor is the one who has to pay....not you the general public. ................ this is just an example you may relate to.....go and buy shares in a company, and hope you do make money, share prices go up...thats the incentive....but within weeks, those share prices plummet ...what would you do?, sell .....or stick withit.....bet you would sell!!!..., and cut your losses.....thats what the promotor...has to deal with....there is so much more to this festival operations, that the public just dont have any idea......if you want to have festivals..BUY A DAMN TICKET.
