Down Under: Sustainability, DICE, ONE LOVE, Executive Moves, Love Machine

Australia’s live sector introduced a number of sustainability initiatives in the wake of damning reports released at Green Music Australia’s second Cleaner Campsites Industry Roundtable. 

The reports showed 50% of festival litter is generated at campsites; 63% of patrons didn’t see it their responsibility to clean up the mess of others; and of the 20% who brought new tents, 36% were “not fussed” if these were destroyed and left behind.

Roundtable attendees included festivals and promoters from Falls Festival, Splendour in The Grass, Woodford Folk, Island Vibe, Unify Gathering, Untitled Group, Strawberry Fields, Rainbow Serpent, Lost Paradise, Earth Frequency and Party in the Paddock were among those to respond to statistics. 

They have set up a formal alliance to tackle the growing problem of campsite litter with an educational campaign stating that those who don’t take home their tents are “seriously uncool” and set up tent-repair centers on-site. Elise Huntley, GM of Falls Festival and Splendour in the Grass, remarked. “We know that people want to do the right thing” and that “forming an alliance to tackle campsite waste at festivals is a massive step in the right direction.”

Melbourne venues The Corner Hotel, Yah Yah’s and Northcote Social Club joined 120 Australian artists against plastic pollution by ceasing using plastic water bottles and advocating for the #BYOBottle movement within the community.

This was initiated by Green Music Australia, whose co-CEO Berish Bilander said that with venues “engaging millions of fans each week, what better places to shift our throw-away culture and instill new sustainable values around reuse.”

FEAT. (Future Energy Artists) is a new climate control initiative where artists and companies invest in new and existing solar farms to offset the environmental destruction caused by live gigs and tours. 

Artists can put in a lump sum or a percentage of their touring income with renewable-focused superannuation fund Future Super. Heidi Lenffer of Sydney band Cloud Control, who initiated the idea said the first of these, Brigalow Solar Farm in Queensland, is scheduled to be completed in nine months. 

18 artists – including Midnight Oil and Vance Joy – are joined by Mushroom Music Group, St Jerome’s Laneway festival, Unified Music Group, Village Sounds, Green Music Australia, Lunatic Entertainment and Collective Artists.  

The UK ticketing & discovery app DICE is launching in Australia Aug. 1, first in Sydney and Melbourne, with 200 events. 

As was the case with its U.S. launch this year, DICE technology impress promoters and venues. Tickets are animated so they can’t be screen-grabbed, and a QR code on the mobile ticketing activating an hour before showtime thwarts scalpers. 

It is also a resale facility which prevents any markups, lists events in each city and offers a map to guide patrons. 

“People are realising just how much of activity is really going on in their city which they don’t know about,” says CEO Phil Hutcheon. 

When he set up DICE in 2014 Hutcheon said he always meant to introduce the app Down Under, as he spent his teens in Sydney.

New Zealand’s long-running ONE LOVE, which sold out the past four years, announced a strong lineup for its Jan. 25-26 staging at Tauranga Domain. 

It includes international names Sean Paul, Shaggy, Toots and the Maytals, Common Kings, Etana, Collie Budz and Third World while the local roster has Katchafire, Sons of Zion and a reunion of Nesian Mystik. 

Pato Alvarez of Pato Entertainment, who expected the event to be its fastest sellout ever, posted that he was “overwhelmed” after tickets went on sale July 3.

Phil Tripp, senior business development manager for SXSW for Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii for 17 years, exited his role on July 4.  

When the U.S.-born 68-year old retired from the music industry in 2010 and closed his conference, marketing and publishing, he continued with SXSW. 

In 2019 Australia had the sixth highest tally of delegates, with 800, and the number of showcasing acts grew from five in 2002 to 40 this year.

Asia-Pacific ticketing, live entertainment and data analytics company TEG made two hires at its Sydney HQ.

Corporate digital and data expert Chris Johnston is GM of TEG Digital, also leading Ticketek’s marketing operations. Dominic White is new head of communications and corporate affairs. 

He had 20 years of experience in media and communications, in Australia as media and marketing editor for The Australian Financial Review as well as in the UK where he was communications editor for London’s Daily Telegraph.

Three youths were charged with the April 14 drive-by shooting outside Melbourne nightclub Love Machine, which killed security guard Aaron Osmani and patron Richard Arow and injured four others. 

Police allege Jacob Elliott, 18, fired the fatal shots. Elliot his also being charged with three counts of attempted murder. He is a son of Nabil Moughnieh, who has links to the Comanchero bike gang, said the Melbourne Age. 

Allan Fares, 22, was arrested July 3 and faces two counts of murder and three of attempted murder. 

Moussa Hamka, 25, was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, making threats to kill, stalking and firearms offences. 

All three men are remanded in custody and face court again in November. Police continue to trawl through CCTV footage for more suspects.