BDO Denies Reports Of $15M Loss

The report, published Jan. 31, cited unnamed sources claiming that the six-city festival (Jan. 17 to Feb. 2) is heading for a loss of between A$8 million ($7.1 million) and A$15 million ($13.12 million) and that CEO Adam Zammit was sacked and reinstated.

The Herald also claimed that the relationship between C3 and Maddah had collapsed, that they were heading to court over the losses and that C3 was pulling out of the 2014 festival.

It also claimed that vendors at the Feb. 2 Perth show would not be paid. Maddah had already announced that Big Day Out would not return to Perth again, citing low ticket sales this year (15,000) and increasing costs of bringing the festival to the West Coast.

A tweet Feb. 3 by Maddah also indicated Adelaide may not be included in the 2015 schedule.

C3’s response to the reports: “C3 Presents always pays the hard-working vendors who help us to create music festivals around the globe, A Sydney newspaper reported that vendors would not be paid, and that is simply not the case.”

It added, “Promoting concerts around the globe is a challenging adventure and sometimes the ticket sales do not perform as expected. This is part of the business and something we are prepared to deal with for each unique festival we produce. We thank all who attended Big Day Out this year and were able to experience all the amazing music at the festival.”