Ring in the festival season

Melbourne Herald Sun, Friday December 17, 2010

'Tis the season to be merry, and 'tis the season to get down and dirty at one of Victoria's many summer music festivals.

Being a festival promoter can be a rocky ride. You stage a hit and tens of thousands of kids charge in, tossing big money at you. Run a flop and you're the one doing the running, from your creditors.

Now I've got to admit that I'm more Woodstock than Summadayze, but well I remember summers past.

Promoters are always looking at next summer and ways to make it a hit. Some know they are safe. Big Day Out have already sold out in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and have set up ballots for tickets.

Theirs is a dream success story. Ken West and Vivian Lees started the festival at the Horden Pavilion in Sydney in 1992.

Being low budget their big act was Violent Femmes. Then they took a punt on a US alternative group called Nirvana. Between the booking and the Day, Nevermind came out. And so did the punters.

Ah how the cookie can turn to gold. But it can also turn to mush.

Golden entrepreneur Richard Branson gave us a further Virgin brand, The V Festival which plays around the world. But even with the support of Virgin Mobile and Virgin Blue, it won’t lift off this summer. The official announcement is “We are taking a break”.

Market research group IBISWorld points to an over-saturated market. There are only so many kids, and so many days of summer. So around the country, big events like Homebake, Days Like This, and Lost Weekend festivals have cancelled.

In Queensland, Bam! also pulled the plug with too few ticket sales to cover the overheads.

Those who remain in the game have a great advantage this year. Our strong Australian dollar has put acts within our reach who might not have been so keen to come this far before.

We are looking at the likes of Public Enemy, LCD Soundsystem and Iggy Pop at BDO and other festivals, with U2, Eagles and Bon Jovi planning tours this summer.

At Soundwave on March 4 we’ll see Queens of the Stone Age and Iron Maiden. While just last month we saw Leonard Cohen at Hanging Rock.

And to top it off, we have Bob Dylan, BB King and Elvis Costello. You’ll have to go to Bluesfest in Byron Bay to see them, though there is talk of bringing the tour to Melbourne.

In the national accounts, the live performance business is not a major source of finance. IBISWorld quote it at $114 million. But for the artists involved it is important income.

One of the reasons why so many old rockers are back on the road is the simple fact that money from record sales has declined.

The income from an iTunes download, one song at a time, just does not make up for the millions of albums that these stars once sold.

Piracy has also slashed sales growth, making it just too easy for the music lover to steal their favourite songs and in the process kill the acts they love.