Australia’s music sector is at a serious crossroads, with the scuttling of major festivals forcing musicians to turn away from full-time music careers.

The long-running Byron Bay Bluesfest is the latest to announce that it would follow several other high-profile festivals in either taking a hiatus or shutting up shop after this year, sparking serious concern about the viability of large-scale music festivals in Australia.

Wil Wagner, the lead singer of ARIA album chart toppers The Smith Street Band, told The New Daily that festivals are a major source of income for musicians, who often use their earnings in Australia to fund overseas tours.

“We lost a lot of great artists who couldn’t afford to get through Covid and those us who did get through, we’re struggling a lot more than most people realise,” he said.

“Artists far bigger than myself, you wouldn’t believe some of the people that have had to go get other jobs.”

He said that landing a spot at large festivals often pays the band’s wages for six months and opens up avenues to tour overseas.

More importantly, they were an opportunity to perform in front of the biggest crowds of their careers.

“I remember the first time I walked out into that amphitheatre at Splendour and the first few songs we played, we’ve never played that fast in our entire lives,” he said.

“I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. It is really incredible walking out in front of that many people.”

Festivals like Splendour drew massive crowds into Byron Bay. Photo: Ian Laidlaw

Doom and gloom?

Many of the events that have been cancelled, like Bluesfest and Splendour, have been a key date on the festival calendar for decades.

Catherine Strong, a sociologist specialising in popular music studies at RMIT University, said that despite the doom and gloom, more than 500 festivals are running regularly in Australia.

“It is just a difference between the big spectacle of something like Splendour in the Grass, which brings in overseas acts, as opposed to something that might be happening on a much smaller, local scale,” she said.

“We talk about music festivals as a commercial venture, but we can’t overemphasise the way in which music festivals are community building.”

She said major festivals struggling can be attributed to several factors, including the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’ve also been increasingly seeing extreme weather events starting to impact cancellations like we saw with Pitch Festival,” she said.

“Cost of living is another factor not just for audiences but also the people putting the festivals on,” she said.

“Those costs are flowing and increasing the cost of supplies.”

Others, particularly in regional areas, are facing the realities of climate change and an increase in extreme weather events.

“We’ve also been increasingly seeing extreme weather events starting to impact cancellations like we saw with Pitch Festival,” Strong added.

The future

Splendour, Bluesfest and Falls Festival may have had tenure, but they all started out as DIY events dreamed up in the 1990s.

Since then, Splendour and Falls Festival have been purchased by Live Nation, a company that has received more than $16 million in state and federal grants.

Live Nation’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, has been accused of being a monopoly by American authorities.

Wagner said that events like Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival being cancelled or on hiatus has been a massive loss to Australia’s music sector.

“It isn’t working for the people putting on the shows and it isn’t working for the punters or artists either,” he said.

“If someone is making something that makes you feel something, and you can afford to financially support them, buy a T-shirt or subscribe to their Patreon”.