Lyte Woes Affect Australia’s Lost Paradise & Rabbits Eat Lettuce Festivals

Lyte’s woes have had a ripple effect to the other side of the world, with two Australian festivals admitting to being affected, and one losing an initial $30,000 (US$20,647.49) as a result.

As previously reported, the website for ticketing marketplace Lyte went down as of Sept. 13, with Pollstar receiving multiple tips suggesting the ticketing service faced serious problems rather than a tech glitch. Lyte CEO Anthony “Ant” Taylor reportedly resigned as CEO on Sept. 12 and Lyte “ceased virtually all of its business operations and laid off virtually all of its employees,” according to a court filing that was first cited in a report by Billboard on Sept. 23.

Although a third-party ticketing agency abroad, in Australia Lyte was also used as a primary ticketing platform.

Erik Lamir, whose REL Event set up 5,000-capacity boutique festival Rabbits Eat Lettuce — which is set to take place April 17 to 21, 2025, in Queensland, Australia — estimated he lost $30,000 and doubted he’d get the money back.

Lamir told national Australian radio station triple j that he had already sensed a problem two weeks ago, when the festival’s ticketing page went down.

He started looking at alternative ticketing options. By the time he was told by a Lyte senior executive the company had suspended operations, Lamir announced Sept. 23 that he had made alternative plans.

He switched to Australia’s Humantix and “put our trust in a locally based Australian company for stability, peace of mind and reliable service.”

He told triple j, “Ultimately, with Lyte, they talk the talk. But in the end, they didn’t walk the walk.”

He added,“Fortunately, there was a skeleton crew still left in Lyte that have hung around long enough to at least provide us with all of the ticketing data.

All tickets bought outright through Lyte were automatically transferred to the Humanitix system and reissued to the same email used through Lyte, the festival announced on its socials.

It stressed, “Any payments made on incomplete payment plans will be honoured 100%.”

The festival, known by the slogan “A Place of Freedom, Love & Dance Music,” celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2024. The lineup has yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, organizers of Lost Paradise – another 5,000-capacity boutique festival that takes place in New South Wales, Australia – has been forced to put the sale of its camping tickets and accommodation, parking passes and VIP upgrades on hold. The festival, put on by Finely Tuned, is set for Dec. 28, 2024 to Jan. 1, 2025.

Lost Paradise posted a statement on social media Sept. 16 noting that Los Paradise’s ticketing platform, Lyte, is currently offline and that the accommodation onsale would be rescheduled while “festival organizers were actively investigating the issue.”

A little over a week later Lost Paradise shared an update on Instagram Sept. 24 saying, “We are aware that our ticketing platform, Lyte, is currently offline. We are aware of the news stories reporting that the company has gone under. Communication with Lyte’s senior team has not helped us understand exactly what has happened.”

The statement went on to say: “We are taking this situation seriously as we do everything we can to protect and understand the impact this will have on ticket holders. We are looking to have a resolution to share with you soon. In the meantime, all sales of our accommodation upgrades, Parking Passes and VIP upgrades remain on hold. For context, Lyte’s international clientele includes renowned festivals and major events such as Coachella, Pitchfork, Electric Forest, CRSSD, NYComicCon and more. More concrete updates will be released soon. Thank you for your patience and overwhelming enthusiasm for our tenth-anniversary edition.”

Lost Paradise is held in the picturesque surrounds of Glenworth Valley one hour north of Sydney.

The 10th anniversary edition follows its fastest sell-out last year, with a top bill including Flume, Dom Dolla, Foals and Kelis.

When everything was put on hold, it was heading for another sell-out, with only 500 tickets left three months out.

This year’s bill over five stages includes top Australian drawcards such as Fisher, Flight Facilities, Royal Otis and Confidence Man, alongside U.S. artists Tinashe, Canada’s Caribou, the UK’s AJ Tracey and Denis Sulta, and a host of European acts.

A number of patrons told triple j how they had been affected.

Callum Hendry-Hodsdon, a 24-year old from Sydney, who was looking forward to attending his first multi-day music festival, had bought tickets for himself and his friends as soon as they went on sale.

He tried to upgrade their tickets online but the website wasn’t allowing him access.

“It’s just a confusing time because you’ve purchased these tickets, you’re trying to make these plans, [and] you want to support Australian festivals,” he said.

Earlier this week Lost Lands, the annual bass music-driven festival run by Excision that takes place in Legend Valley, Ohio, released a statement promising to reimburse fans who did not receive a payout from LYTE.

Organizers of Lost Lands have filed a lawsuit against LYTE in Los Angeles court while organizers of Chicago’s North Coast Music Festival have filed their own suit in New York court, Billboard reported.

Requests for comment from Lyte’s media representatives and CEO Antony “Ant” Taylor have gone unanswered.