C3 Presents Acquires Australia’s Big Day Out

C3 Presents, the company behind Lollapalooza, released a statement: “C3 Presents is proud to own Big Day Out, one of the most iconic and established festival brands in the world. While we intend to bring back the festival in future years, we can confirm there will not be a Big Day Out in 2015. We love working on BDO and are excited about the future.”

The US company took a 51% stake in Big Day Out May 2012, alongside its co-founder Ken West. In September 2013, West departed and sold his 49% stake to fellow Sydney promoter AJ Maddah, whose hard rock festival Soundwave had become Big Day Out’s major rival.

Published reports claimed tensions between the new team emerged during the 2014 festival’s January run. The six city tour was plagued with artist cancellations (including a last minute bow-out by Blur who were to co-headline with Pearl Jam and Arcade Fire) and low attendances in some cities. The event reportedly suffered losses of between A$9 million – $12 million (US$8.4 million – $11.28 million) although Maddah put the figure closer to $5 million ($4.7 million).

This latest change in ownership hit the Australian media June 25 after the Music Feeds site accessed Australian Securities and Investment Commission documents lodged June 13. These confirmed that Maddah had sold his share. The new Australian director was the festival’s assistant accountant Blake Kendrick and its place of business now registered at Sydney law firm Johnson Winter & Slattery.

This afternoon, Australian time (June 26), Maddah revealed to Australian youth radio network Triple J’s current affairs show Hack he had sold his share to C3 Presents for $1 (94 cents) – with the option to buy it back in a year for the same sum. He indicated he was entering a joint venture with C3 Presents.

He told Hack: “Yes I’m still involved, yes Big Day Out will come back in 2016, yes the festival is still alive.”

Maddah added that changing audience tastes meant the festival was post-2014 always set for a reboot “to the point where it’s a bit more modern and it a bit more appealing.”

At its peak, Big Day Out’s 250,000-reach was regarded by an important catalyst to break international alt-rock acts in the Australian and New Zealand markets (the festival traditionally kicked off with a show in Auckland). These included Nirvana, Tool, Muse, Foo Fighters and Soundgarden. The on-the-road collaborative camaraderie fostered by West and original partner Viv Lees meant close ties were developed between international and Australian acts. These would later help the Aussies when they tried to break global markets.

The cancellation of the 2015 Big Day Out came the same week when two other festivals announced they would take a break this year.

Newcastle’s seven year old Fat As Butter, which draws about 11,000, could not find enough strong acts for its October slot, its promoter Brent Lean said.

Maddah confirmed via Twitter that Vans Warped is not returning to Australia for a second year in 2014 as its American parent could not get strong enough acts. Last year, it staged in cities November 29 to December 8 with a bill lead by The Offspring, Simple Plan and Millencolin and live heavyweight Aussies Parkway Drive and The Amity Affliction.

Earlier this month, Sydney hip hop festival Come Together was axed ten days out citing low ticket sales. Adelaide’s Spin Off, a smaller sister event to Byron Festival’s Splendour In The Grass, threw in the towel when it failed to attract enough international acts on the Splendour bill.