Creative Australia report outlines role of music festival sector and the challenges it faces

April 10, 2024

Karen Sweaney

A new research report from Creative Australia has presented an overview of the role and contribution of festivals within the broader creative industries as they face multiple challenges.

Given the number of recent festival cancellations - highlighting the struggles festivals continue to face - the research is timely.

Billed as the first widespread report of its kind, Soundcheck: Insights into Australia's music festival sector highlights the cultural, social and economic impact of Australian music festivals, including information on ticketing and attendance trends during the 2022/23 financial year.

Spanning the 535 music festivals held nationwide in that time - that's almost 1.5 festivals per day - the 116-page report reflects the scope, scale and diversity of the Australian music festival landscape.

The report revealed that the average cost to run a music festival is $3.9 million while only 56% of music festivals in 2022/23 were profitable (with a median profit of $731,579) - more than one in three music festivals reported a deficit (35%, with a median deficit of $470,000).

Festival organisers nominated rising operational costs as having the most severe impact on almost half of festival organisers (47%) with overheads including artist fees, production, suppliers, freight, transportation and insurance.

Other major barriers included a lack of funding and grants, as well as extreme weather events. Almost one third of festivals said skyrocketing insurance costs were a major challenge.

Australian live music venues' public liability insurance policies increased 10-fold in the past financial year, climbing from $20,000 per year to as much as $120,000.

The Creative Australia report also found that that young audiences are no longer the sector's primary market.

18 to 24-year-olds are purchasing tickets at lower rates than before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018/19, before the COVID-19 pandemic, young Australians aged 18 to 24 years were the primary consumer group for music festivals. However, in 2022/23, those in their mid-to-late 20s were purchasing tickets at greater rates.

Ticket sales in 2022/23 indicate the industry is recovering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2022/23 financial year, 9,506 tickets per festival were sold on average, up from 8,116 tickets in 2018/19. However, despite an increase in ticket sales in 2022/23, data suggests that patterns of later ticket buying are continuing; however there has been a slight shift back towards advance purchasing.

There's been a growing list of festival cancellations, from major events like Splendour In The Grass, Groovin The Moo, Mona Foma and Fairbridge Festival to newer players like This That, Summerground, Vintage Vibes, Tent Pole, Valleyways, Costal Jam and more.

Notwithstanding these cancellations, genre-focused events such as Good Things, Knotfest, and Listen Out are still proving popular, and summer favourites including Laneway Festival, Beyond The Valley and Field Day are successfully adapting to current challenges. Peter Noble, Festival Director of Bluesfest acknowledged the success of this year’s edition of the event while also highlighting the challenges the industry is facing.

The Creative Australia report also showed that the vast majority of Australian festivals predominantly feature homegrown line-ups, with four out of five acts being Australian. The most popular genre offering was electronic music, accounting for almost a quarter of Australian festivals. Other popular genres included rock (21%) country (19%) and indie (17%).

More than half (53%) of festival organisers view supporting local tourism as the key strength of music festivals. Additionally, 45% identify creating a sense of community as a key strength.

Creative Australia was tasked with conducting the research as part of the Federal Government's National Cultural Policy Revive.

Creative Australia Executive Director of Strategic Development and Partnerships, Georgie McClean noted "music brings us together and millions of Australians attend festivals annually. Yet, until now, the size, scale and impact of the industry has not been well documented or understood. We hope this report will serve as a useful tool for festival organisers and help us to better understand the role and contribution of festivals within the broader creative industries as they face multiple challenges.

“To inform the future work of Music Australia, we will be undertaking further research into how Australians discover, engage with and consume music, in order to better understand the broader ecosystem that underpins live music including festivals."

Australian Festivals Association Managing Director, Mitch Wilson added "Soundcheck is a game changer for music festivals in Australia. This is the first ever national research on the size and benefits of our industry. Thanks to Creative Australia for their work on the report. It will be the bedrock of data for the AFA in our advocacy work for years to come."

Access Creative Australia's research report ‘Soundcheck: Insights into Australia's music festival sector’