Large Festivals Decline in Attendance While Smaller Festivals Continue to Grow

Music festivals are becoming more and more prominent worldwide, but some of Australia’s biggest events are losing their grip.

There was an increase in revenue and a decrease in attendance for Festivals in 2013. Gross revenue increased by 9.2% from $98.37 million to $107.37 million, while total attendances experienced a decline of 9.9%, according to LPA Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2013.

When Big Day Out first opened up in 1992 it had only one venue in Sydney priced at just $40 to catch classics like Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, The Hard Ons, Nirvana, Violent Femmes all in one place.

The crowd consisted of 9,500 music lovers, and thus began the Big Day Out.  The record attendance reached 337,000 in 2010, but since then there has been a steady decline in the number of festival-goers.

The venues have increased and Big Day Out has been all around Australia from year to year, including Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Gold Coast and even Auckland, New Zealand, but this hasn’t seemed to help the attendance in recent years.

According to Big Day Out’s official website, attendance was down to only 110,000 in 2014.  The prices in 2014 were up to the highest in Big Day Out history, at $185, though attendance was nearly half of what it was in previous years.

Sadly, the festival has announced it won’t be returning in 2015.

Smaller festivals such as Groovin’ the Moo have been experiencing continuous growth over the years, rather than a decline in attendance.

When it first began in 2005, 1,400 crew members came together at the Gloucester Showgrounds, NSW to watch bands like Screaming Jets, Killing Heidi, Evermore, the Spazzys perform.

It has branched out each year to multiple venues all over Australia. According to the festivals official website, 2014 brought sold out shows to Oakbank SA, Maitland NSW, Canberra ACT, Bendigo VIC, Townsville QLD, and Bunbury WA with bands like Parkway Drive, The Jezabels, and The Naked and Famous.

Splendour in the Grass began in 2001 and has been held annually near Byron Bay ever since.  It was originally a single day festival for $125 and has since then evolved into a 3-day event in 2014.

The price for the entire 3 day experience is now $365.  In 2005, all 14,000 tickets sold out in the first 26 hours they were on sale, and each year since has sold out as well, though not as quickly.

As of 2014, 30,000 tickets is the limit due to limited camping space.  Splendour in the Grass has only grown since it began, and the lineup is said to get better each year, featuring Outkast, Two Door Cinema Club, Lily Allen, and Foster the People last year, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The larger single day festivals seems to be dying down in Australia, but more local and multi-day festivals are on the rise.

The cause seems to be that people want to have a better experience for the price they are paying for a ticket.  The single day festivals cost nearly as much multi-day festivals and music lovers are figuring out the best way to get the most of their money at these events.