The cancellation of landmark events such as Splendour in the Grass and Groovin the Moo has called into question the future of Australian music festivals, with local event planners suggesting organisers may be out of touch with what festival-goers actually want. Despite facing high operational fees and cost-of-living pressures, the beat goes on with plenty of local festivals bringing something different to keep festivals in the cultural zeitgeist.

Lachie Calder is a DJ and event manager for Hyde Park Hi-Fi, a collective famous within Perth’s alternative dance music scene for its strong sense of community and one-of-a-kind events. In April this year they hosted their own festival which Calder says was well attended, but not profitable.

“Hi-Fest is only in its second year, so it’s still in its development phase. We did lose a… not insignificant amount of money, but that’s kind of the standard for festivals in their first three years, at least,” Calder says.

“We definitely felt the squeeze that’s been associated with festivals in Australia more generally, but it didn’t go too bad considering. Although we didn’t break even, we got close.”

Calder says organisers at Hyde Park Hi-Fest made a conscious decision to prioritise community over making a large profit, by creating a ‘friends and family’ discount that was shared online.

“We try to make the discount codes as available as possible” Calder says, “by the last week, most people in our audience would have used the discount. I’d like to think it adds something to the community, where people feel like they’re being looked after.”

This isn’t the first time Hyde Park Hi-Fi organisers have made ticket sales easier during the cost-of-living crisis. In March, the collective hosted an event with ‘pay-what-you-want’ entry costs.

“A strong sense of community is so important to a festival like Hi-Fest” Calder says. “A foundation of people you can rely on to help with promoting the event, to show up on the day and to have fun on the day is super indispensable to a smaller festival.”

Calder says Hyde Park Hi-Fi’s events target a unique audience.

“All the big festivals up until this point, have curated their line ups on the basis of there being ‘something for everyone’. We’re targeting the people who listen to this relatively small world of artists, so they can find a community of people with similar taste.”

The harsh reality of making a loss to run a festival is becoming normalised as an ‘inevitable’ risk in the music industry.

Creative Australia’s report of 535 events in the 2022-23 financial year found that 56 per cent of festivals recorded a profit and 8 per cent broke even. 35 per cent reported a loss, ranging from $22,000 to $3 million.

RTR FM Events manager Chris Wheeldon says new independent festivals shouldn’t overshoot themselves.

“You need to work within your means, as odds are you’re going to lose money,” Wheeldon says.

“But if you keep it smaller and based on the community that you’re connected with, I think you’re going to find more success.”

Wheeldon has been busy working with the RTR team on the local radio station’s annual fundraising festival In the Pines. The station’s flagship festival celebrated its 31st year of showcasing WA talent at UWA’s Somerville Auditorium this April to an audience of 1, 200.

“In the Pines is really unique and community based, we’re not going for a huge audience” Wheeldon says, “We’re going for an audience that will really appreciate and really enjoy the event.”

Wheeldon says ticket sales for In the Pines were “pretty good but not anything amazing.”

“We sold the biggest chunk of our tickets in the last week, which is the usual for us, but it is a bit scary when you look at where ticket sales were another week before.”

Like many smaller festivals, In the Pines partly relies on the benefit of government sponsors.

“It’s a nominal amount of money,” says Wheeldon, “but it’s enough to run one stage.”

The report by Creative Australia found that festival organisers say the industry needs additional funding and grants, in order to support employment of specialist staff and payment for international artists.

In the report one organiser said, “Major festivals who can attract commercial sponsorship also receive significant government funding, allowing them to expand and develop. While in reality, the smaller festivals are the ones that discover new acts and promote emerging artists and should be the ones who are financially assisted. These festivals employ more up-and-coming artists and are the backbone of the music industry.”

Wheeldon says one way festivals can attract more government funding, is to become alcohol-free. Although in the Pines makes much of its income from bar sales, he says it’s an opportunity many festivals should consider.

“If the only way to put on a festival or any sort of arts event is through a government body that recommends no alcohol sold, then people should totally take advantage of it,” he says.

HyperFest has used this strategy since its inception in 2012, known for being Perth’s main ‘drug and alcohol free’ festival. They receive support from the City of Swan and Edith Cowan University. Going booze free also means the festival is popular within Perth’s community of music lovers under the age of 18.

“You don’t have to have booze in order to enjoy music,” Wheeldon says.

Research shows that young people are drinking less than they were twenty years ago, and not drinking at all has become more socially acceptable.

“For bigger festivals this is more difficult,” Wheeldon says, “as a fair amount of the money they gain comes from alcohol sales, alongside tickets.”

Nannup Music Festival director Phaedra Watts says while less alcohol at festivals has its advantages, drinking is still too engrained within the festival industry to lose its place overnight.

“I reduced our bar size by 70 per cent to be more inclusive of all ages and for a better experience” says Watts. “I think there’s a lot of festivals and particularly promoter run festivals that rely on alcohol sales and that can be detrimental to the experience.”

“I don’t know yet what the trick’s going to be for venues to be sustainable if they choose to go non-alcoholic because they still rely on bar sales so strongly. People will drink $50 worth of alcohol at night, but they won’t drink $50 worth of juice.”

Isaiah Quintana has worked behind the scenes at many of Perth’s music events, as well as on stage as part of soulful pop band Coco Elise. He has made a name for himself in Perth’s music scene as a session musician and an executive assistant at artist management company Suzette Collective. As a musician, Quintana is one of many mourning the losses of some of WA’s music festivals.

“The fact that Groovin the Moo had to cancel around a week or two after announcing their festival was pretty grim,” he says.

Patternmakers’ 2023 report on WA audiences found ‘financial concerns’ to be the top issue preventing people from attending events, with more people delaying the purchase of tickets until closer to the date.

“People just aren’t pre-buying tickets anymore” says Quintana. “They’re more keen to get closer to the day to see, so they can check that they’re available, or that they have enough time to save up and get the tickets.”

“Overall, it’s just a hard economy right now. Unfortunately, the first thing to go is entertainment, because everyone needs to pay for the necessities. Groceries, rent and such all have to come first, not buying tickets.”

For those who rely on live music to make a living, a solution can’t come quickly enough.

Isaiah bangs out the drums at HyperFest. Photos: Shayla Patchett.

Quintana says one of his friends runs Red Gum Pass, a music and arts festival located in the southern coastal town of Denmark.

“He’s been doing that for three years now and the first year he was running at a loss, the second year, he barely broke even. It was only recently that he broke even in a way that worked out” says Quintana. “It’s kind of expected in this industry, especially in the first few years of organising a festival to run it at a loss. It has to start as a real passion project, that you have to be really keen on doing.”

Quintana hopes festivals will stay around even if it’s hard for them to make a profit.

“I absolutely think festivals are worth being around. They’re not easy to run and you need to have passionate people behind the project, but over time keeping them going will pay off.”

“Right now, we’re in an economy where it’s really hard to have a profitable festival, but with enough perseverance I think we’ll get there.”

RTR’s Chris Wheeldon suggests the festival industry is due for a shake-up.

“If the market out there is telling us that big festivals aren’t working, and people don’t want to buy tickets whether it be the cost of living making it hard to buy a ticket, or the line-up isn’t attracting enough people, then clearly they’re doing something wrong.”

“If people are wanting to see a single artist or a single genre, then maybe festivals have to do that before branching out again. Similar things happened fifteen odd years ago when Big Day Out, Stereosonic and Future Music Festival went away. People sort of adapted and they came up with some new ideas.”

“Right now, the difference is there’s so many factors that are affecting festivals, be it cost of living, insurance costs or even the climate. Now they need a real unique selling point, targeting their own small community of fans as opposed to trying to attract a whole bunch of different groups because that’s just not going to work.”

Wheeldon says attending a festival is a rite of passage.

“It was where you went to learn about what music you like and what sort of world that you fit into. I hope they don’t all go away because they’re such a unique cultural institution. They just have to change to what’s going on now.”