Australasia News: Ultra Gold Coast, WOMADelaide; Perth Venue Naming; Red Hot Summer Wins; Exec Moves; Eventfinda Expands

AUSTRALIA

Ultra Gold Coast Debut Sells Out, WOMADelaide Extended

Ultra Australia’s debut Beach Gold Coast, at Broadwater Parklands April 12, is a sellout. The flagship event in Melbourne on April 13 has a 40,000 capacity at Flemington Racecourse.

Headliners include Zedd, Armin Van Buuren, Steve Aoki, Darren Styles and Brennan Heart.
At the end of WOMADelaide (March 8-11), the South Australian government announced it was extending its funding until 2029. Last year the festival injected A$35.1 million ($23.2 million) into the state after drawing a record 110,000.

Queensland’s CMC Rocks had a A$747,420 ($459,101) negligence claim by a patron who slipped on his way to the toilets in 2019 after heavy rain. Lawyers for the man, who contended the event should have been canceled after the weather report, said the issue was resolved.

Western Australia’s Fairbridge Folk was the latest regional event to cancel 2024, citing poor ticket sales (it drew 15,000 in 2016), increased production costs and insufficient volunteers.

Perth Venues Finding New Names

Perth-based VenuesWest is seeking new naming rights for its 12,500-capacity arena and 4,500-seat indoor arena after health insurer HBF declined to continue after 10 years.

But HBF extended its sponsorship until 2027 to the 35,000-capacity rectangular stadium HBF Park, which most recently hosted Harry Styles and Foo Fighters.

Red Hot Summer Wins At Ticketmaster Awards

Duane McDonald’s tour Red Hot Summer, which has reached 220,000 in a year, won festival of the year at Ticketmaster Australia awards.

Three runs in 2024 had Jimmy Barnes, Icehouse, Simple Minds, Suzi Quatro and Cheap Trick.

In December 2023, the 13-year old Red Hot and fellow nominees SummerSalt and By the C’s parent company was acquired by Live Nation.

Other music winners were P!nk (most anticipated live event), Harry Styles (live act) and Guy Sebastian (Aussie artist).

TEG, BIGSOUND, Second Sunday Name Execs

TEG Group appointed Simon Cahill as head of commercial to drive global opportunities in addition to his role as SXSW Sydney’s head of marketing and commercial partnerships.

September’s BIGSOUND showcase and conference in Brisbane tapped booking agents Casey O’Shaughnessy (Select Music) and Katie Rynne (Village Sound) as music programmers.

NEW ZEALAND

Eventfinda To Up Presence In Australia

Auckland-headquartered online event discovery, ticketing and marketing service Eventfinda is amping its presence in Australia’s A$2 billion ($1.32 billion) market.
The Music Network reported it is to offer a monthly subscription to its software with no locked-in per-ticket fees.

Able to see ticketing revenue upfront, venues can decide whether to keep booking fees or wave them.

With small venues struggling with rising operational and insurance costs, an Eventfinda source said the market “is ripe for disruption.

Eventfinda was set up in 2016 by the late Michael Turner and James McGlinn initially as an events listing platform. Last year it processed 20 million tickets in New Zealand.

In 2012, it entered the Australian market and “far exceeded initial expectations,” said Turner. Within two weeks it had 4,000 listings and 1,500 visitors a day.

The company now generates annual ticket sales of NZ$100 million ($61.7 million) in Australia and New Zealand.

There are 52 ticketing agencies in New Zealand, with the events ticket market expected to reach NZ$262.60 million ($162.24 million in 2024, with a 26.4% market penetration.