Future Music Expands

Australia’s Future Music festival has expanded its Malaysian event to two days this year.

It plays the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) March 15-16. The festival’s Sydney-based director, Brett Robinson, told Pollstar that 60,000 are expected over the two days, up from 25,000 in its inaugural year in 2012.

It has a five-year understanding with the Malaysian Government’s Malaysian Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) as part of a bid to draw tourism to the country. The official opening event for the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix week, it is expected to draw 10,000 to the country; up from 7,000 last year.

Robinson says that rather than license the brand to an Asian promoter, his company Future Entertainment set up a separate company with local promoter Livescape Asia.

“We didn’t want to just give them an Australian festival but take the time and effort to build up a brand that was an Asian one,” he said.

Many of the acts from the five Australian shows March 2-11 are playing the Malaysian event, including Armin Van Buuren, The Prodigy, Psy, Rita Ora, Fun., The Temper Trap, Bloc Party, De La Soul, Naughty By Nature and DJ Fresh.

“But we’re also flying in acts from India, Korea, Jakarta and Singapore,” Robinson said.

Expanding Future Music’s reach also helps land big international acts, Robinson pointed out. For instance, they could promise Bloc Party 11 shows: five Australian festival slots and one in Malaysia, as well as four headline clubs shows in Australia and one each in Auckland, New Zealand and Jakarta, Indonesia.