Released at a time when several major pop and rock festivals have announced temporary or permanent cessations to their operations, Creative Australia has today released a research report, Soundcheck: Insights into Australia’s music festival sector.

The first of its kind, the report highlights the cultural, social and economic impact of music festivals, and includes information on ticketing and attendance trends, and the where, when and what of music festivals around the country.

The report forms part of the Federal Government’s National Cultural Policy Revive and draws is insights from 2022-23 financial year data.

Photo © Jacob Morch / Pexels

Creative Australia Executive Director of Strategic Development and Partnerships Georgie McClean said:

“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.”

In recent years, however, music festival organisers have been faced with unprecedented challenges due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events, regulatory changes and rising operational costs, particularly those relating to transport, labour and insurance.

Among its key findings were that 535 music festivals were presented across Australia in the 2022–23 financial year, with Victoria and New South Wales presenting the highest number of festivals – 149 each. That is almost 1.5 music festivals for every day of the year.

Australian music festivals represent a diverse range of music genres, with almost one in four music festivals devoted to electronic music/EDM. Other popular genres are rock (21 percent), country (19 percent) and indie (17 percent). Classical music focused festivals made up 4 percent of the total.

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. 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.

The report also notes that 18–24 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 18–24 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.

The most significant barrier to running a music festival is rising operational costs (47 percent of festivals say this has a severe or major impact on their festival), followed by lack of funding and grants available (39 percent of festivals say this has a severe or major impact on their festival). Other significant barriers which have a severe or major impact on festivals include insurance (31 percent) and extreme weather events (22 percent).

Festival organisers are also challenged by complex and inconsistent regulatory requirements across states and territories. The two key regulatory barriers for festival organisers are navigating planning and/or local government/council requirements and navigating police and/or security requirements (both 27 percent of festivals).

Download the report at this link.