Homebake Cancellation
Sparks Festival Debate

The event, held in Sydney since 1996, regularly attracted between 15,000 to 20,000 and was run by a team-up of veterans IMC, Chugg Entertainment and Village Sounds.

This year, fellow outdoor events Harvest, Movement and Pyramid Rock were scrapped, Parklife downsized, the inaugural indigenous Boomerang drew only one-third of expected but went on ahead in October, and Michael Gudinski had to step in as new owner of dance music festival Future Music.

Published reports that Big Day Out 2014 faced a loss of A$10 million ($9.6 million) have been denied by organisers.

The mid-November Face The Music conference has added a panel about the future of festivals, with panelists including Ken West of Big Day Out, Paul Sloan of Rock It and Steve Halpin of Groovin’ The Moo.

Already addressing the issue has been Michael Chugg, who predicted smaller boutique events like Laneway would take over because “they offer better service for the audience.”

Former Violent Femmes member Brian Ritchie, who curates Mona Foma in Tasmania, suggested that too many festivals throw disparate acts together instead of creating “an experience” and building an audience from the ground up.