Can Australia's Music Festivals Be Saved? Industry Leaders Unite to Combat Rising Costs and Climate Threats

The Australian live music landscape is facing an unprecedented crisis, with some of the nation's most iconic music festivals forced to shut down in recent times. Earlier this year, Splendour in the Grass joined a growing list of major cancellations. High temperatures and severe fire danger cut short the Pitch Music & Arts Festival while attendees were already on site, and Groovin the Moo called off its tour due to insufficient ticket sales. Coastal Jam similarly cancelled, pointing to the cost of living crisis, while Falls Festival was axed last year, and Strawberry Fields was called off at the last minute due to flooding in southern New South Wales in 2022. Most recently, Bluesfest, which has been a staple since 1990, announced that its 2025 event will be its last.

Uniting to Find a Solution

To combat this devastating downturn, veteran music promoter Michael Chugg—who has toured with global superstars like Billie Eilish, Bob Dylan, Coldplay, Elton John, and Lime Cordiale—joined other industry leaders at the Regional & Remote Music Summit in Darwin to discuss ways to revive the sector.

Mr Chugg pointed to soaring expenses as a primary barrier to organizing large-scale events. "It's always going to be about the money," he said. "Back in the 60s and 70s, we used to play a lot of regional events and shows. There's not that many of them anymore." He added that "the biggest problems we face trying to mount anything major is the cost of travelling, the cost of insurance, all those sort of things which have gone through the roof since COVID."

A New Path for Regional Music

The summit focused heavily on establishing new pathways for regional music. Mr Chugg expressed hope that industry bodies could help kickstart local music scenes. "Hopefully, through Music Australia and the other organisations, there will be a circuit created where a young guy who lives in Dubbo or Katherine or one of those towns, wants to be a promoter, gets the funding to be able to do something in the local pub or club and bring in brand new bands," he said.

The Threat of Climate Change

In addition to economic pressures, environmental challenges are severely impacting the industry. Berish Bilander, the chief executive of Green Music Australia, reported that 50 festivals have been fully or partially cancelled over the past ten years due to extreme weather, leading to skyrocketed insurance premiums.

"It sounds catastrophic, but there's no music on a dead planet," Mr Bilander warned. "You know, we can't rock up at an event where it's flooded. We can't rock at an event where there's fires nearby." He stressed that "I think until we take this really seriously and we start to be really innovative in the way that we deal with this crisis, it's going to shut down more and more events."

Government Backing as a Lifeline

Amid the widespread struggles, Darwin's Bass in the Grass has managed to stand resilient as the Northern Territory's largest music event. Mark Smith, the executive director of Music NT, attributed its stability to strong support from the Northern Territory government.

"Specifically in the NT, you've got these crazy high prices for flights and accommodation and costs, so that just adds to artists not being able to tour here," Mr Smith explained. This successful model of government backing is something many in the industry want to see adopted nationwide. Commenting on the prospect of increased government support across the country, Mr Chugg stated, "I'd like to see a lot more of that, 100 per cent."