Arvika Goes Bust

Sweden’s Arvika Festival has canceled at three weeks notice and is expected to file for bankruptcy within a week.

The annual gathering at Arvika Folk Park, which would have celebrated its 20th anniversary July 14-16, owes “millions of kronor” and had no choice but to throw in the towel.

Last year it went into administration and made a deal to pay its suppliers about 25 percent of what they were owed, but now those suppliers have become wary of the festival and want their payment in advance.

“After last year the festival got a bad name and so now we’re forced into going bankrupt,” Olov Hallberg of Galaxen, the nonprofit organisation that’s run Arvika since it started in 1992, explained.

The festival came out of last year’s financial problems with a leaner operation and plans for a more modest lineup, but a bill that included Aphex Twin, Röyksopp, Front 242, The Sounds, and Digitalism still needed to do between 6,000 and 7,000 per day. It had done less than 3,000 when the rug was pulled.

The festival’s problems began earlier than 2010. In 2009 it pulled 20,000 for a bill topped by Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, but the break-even point was closer to 30,000.

Hallberg told Pollstar that Arvika’s demise may be because it’s become unfashionable, particularly in comparison to the new festivals that have emerged in the last five years.

Asked if German promoter FKP Scorpio harmed sales by scheduling its recently acquired Hultsfred Festival on the same weekend as Arvika, Hallberg said “It was a factor but not the biggest factor.”

He said Scorpio’s other new festival planned for an old military airbase in the Bråvalla district of Norrköping, a site capable of holding 50,000, will eventually have a bigger impact on the Swedish outdoor market.

Scorpio chief Folkert Koopmans hopes to start in Norrköping in 2012 or 2013 at the latest.

The 2,000 or so fans who have already bought tickets for Arvika will get at least some sort of compensation while they wait to see if they’ll get their money back.

Denmark’s Roskilde Festival June 30 to July 3 is offering Arvika ticket-holders free entrance to see a bill that includes Iron Maiden, Kings Of Leon, Mastodon, and Beatsteaks.

“It’s always sad when a great music event waves the white flag. Most of all it’s a shame for the audience, who are suddenly deprived of a festival experience,” said Roskilde spokeswoman Christina Bilde. “Therefore, we welcome them at Roskilde, and it will not cost them anything but their Arvika ticket.”

Where The Action Is, a new festival started by Live Nation in 2008, benefited from its move from Stockholm to Gothenburg, pulling 25,000 to the city’s Slottsparken June 28.

Ola Broquist of Luger, which has been wholly owned by LN since June 2008 and now runs the event, said the change of venue also brought about a welcome change of weather.

The festival has traditionally suffered because of rain but this year Broquist proclaimed it “ideal festival weather.”

The acts on the bill included Coldplay, Glasvegas, Brandon Flowers, Bright Eyes, and The Ark.