Rising prices have left many festivals with no alternative however to cancel this 12 months, and one main Australian EDM competition is the most recent domino to fall.
The organizers of Australia’s Return to Rio competition have cancelled this 12 months’s occasion as a consequence of a staggering 529% value enhance, in response to the Sydney Morning Herald. In New South Wales, a authorities mandate referred to as the Music Festivals Act permits state administration to totally management the costs of police presence, medical requirements and extra.
Digital music festivals in New South Wales have reportedly been deemed too “excessive danger,” requiring their organizers to pay for “hurt minimisation” techniques, together with riot squads, strip search services, CCTV, police boats and interrogation areas. Return to Rio’s promoters highlighted their decade-long monitor document of internet hosting protected and well-coordinated occasions, however nonetheless confronted the astonishing fee hike.
“This, mixed with the additional guidelines and rules we have now to stick to, meant final 12 months we incurred greater than $300K in additional prices,” reads a press release launched by Return to Rio. “For a small family-run enterprise, this makes it virtually not possible to not run at a loss.”
“The unhappy actuality is that in NSW, digital music is unfairly focused,” the assertion continued. “And if this continues, we’ll solely be left with beige government-run occasions and industrial mega-corp festivals, whereas the smaller numerous and boutique occasions die out.”
The Aussie occasion joins a slew of American festivals, together with Backwoods, Think about and Firefly, that won’t happen in 2024.
