The Death of a Boutique Music Festival

In recent years Australia has seen an increase in boutique music and arts festivals. Paradise, Camp Nong and A Festival Called Panama all offer a more personable niche experience with smaller lineups and attendance. Though the sizes may be smaller the risks of running a festival remain high.

After a number of successful years that included lineups featuring Japanese Wallpaper, Canyons and The Harpoons, Melbourne based Inca Roads Music Festival recently cancelled their 2015 event and all future incarnations of it. Festival director Daniel Camilleri released a statement detailing the issues involved in gettng this year's festival over the line. These issues included council approval, location and resident’s opposition.

But in the end it came down to one thing. Numbers. The number of tickets sold. Or lack thereof.

Camilleri ended the presser with:

“People take for granted the incredible amount of creative talent Melbourne and Australia has to offer. Go out and see a show, spend a few dollars on an EP and support the industry that makes this city and country so amazing.”

Of course people should be encouraged to support local music but alluding that part of the blame lies with punters can be problematic.

This isn’t just specific to Inca either, but placing the onus on punters and their wallets hides some of the festivals own shortcomings. There are a number of reasons why people don’t purchase tickets to a music festival. Here are a few:

Location

Although Inca Roads’ location was moved to the western plains near Ballarat, its original locale was also on a farm in the rural flatlands of Victoria. Two of Australia’s most successful music festivals Golden Plains and Meredith are based on similar grounds - but punters want a niche location too. Sitting on flat dry ground for 3 days can be considered passé for some. Snoozeville for others.

Paradise is held just under the summit of Lake Mountain; Camp Casual situates stages in between trees and dams, Camp Nong lets you play in a pool while being serenaded by a DJ; Panama is set on a forested cider farm in rural Tasmania. For the kids of Thornbury and Northcote the thought of another farm festival just isn’t as interesting.

Food/Drink

Similar deal. Yes food trucks are a convenient and fashionable form of fast food, but there are only so many sliders/poboys/banh mi people can stomach. A niche festival calls for niche food options. Paradise switched to a caterer that provided cheap bulk food of every variety; Camp Nong has a canteen system where punters help cook cafeteria settings and there are purpose built cafes, cooking classes, picnics etc.

Creative Direction

A solid creative direction is a must. Set some goals and put them on show for the punters. Punters aren’t stupid and they can see when a festival has stolen an idea, or if they’re only in it for financial gain. Festivals are becoming more about the ‘experience’ - and an interesting, honest direction goes a long way to deliver that.

Camp Casual believe in the small festival landscape, director Thomas Watson wishes to “see more support for the independent, sponsor free, DIY style events that can offer so many positive attributes and a chance for the ton of underground talent to perform for a larger audience in unique settings.” Whilst Paradise director, Andre Hillas has wanted to re-invent festival settings for an urban culture: “Why do we need be become pseudo-hippies for a weekend when we are urbanites at heart? Paradise takes our urban attitude and transplants it into Lake Mountain Alpine Resort”

Inca Roads also laid out a strong direction, and was a not-for-profit organisation – but for other events that have failed, a lack of understanding into direction can be attributed to their demise.

Social Media

Social media is a great tool for promoting a festival but it can also backfire. It can be pretty smart when deals are made with an act/brand/outlet to release a ticket promo code on social media. In the case of Inca, that kind of promo code was sent to every act on the line-up and flooded the Facebook feeds of many punters. Punters aren’t stupid. They saw this as a desperate move caused by a dire ticket based situation.

Lineup

It may seem weird but the main reason people are still attending music festivals is for the music. All of the frills and experiences are pluses, but a niche music festival should have a niche lineup. Why go to the effort of creating all these special extras if your lineup is just stolen from the locals at Meredith? Whether you are looking at local or international artists, every genre and scene is bursting with brand new, full-of-potential, never toured, brilliant musicians.

Locals like The Ocean Party, Major Leagues, I’lls, and friendships are at the top of their live game consistently, whilst acts like Bent Denim, Literature, Alvvays, Cheatahs, etc. are wowing crowds the world over, yet still haven’t made it to Australia.

For the record, Inca Roads’ 2015 lineup that included Scotdrakula, Good Morning and Sunbeam Sound Machine was strong but for festivals that opt for a safe bet/Triple J friendly/plays-every-weekend act, they lost the interest of a large number of lineup-invested punters.

There has been a dramatic shift in the Australian music festival market with larger festivals cutting days, cities, line-ups and whole operations. Punters are searching for alternatives for traditional styled events, opting for a smaller-scale niche adventure. Festivals need to adapt to the changing market and customer demands. Blaming poor tickets sales on the audience are a reactive measure to what could be avoided by better planning, promotion and curation.

Speak to any music promoter and they will laugh at the old ‘Build it and they will come’ adage. It's more like, ‘Build it, with a quality line up, interesting location and well-valued ticket price and there is a stronger chance that they may come.’