Soundwave Festival dead due to ACC?

[Wayno]

I spoke with a couple of Councilors.

A new fee structure is "work in progress" and event organisers (such as A.J. Maddah in this case) have been brought in early as a part of a consultative process. The goal is to determine a fair & just fee structure that reimburses the Council for the true cost of using and restoring Park Lands post-event. More people at an event = higher restoration fees.

Also, the council is working on the basis that the Park Lands are open grounds for the use of all. If an event organiser wants to 'seal off' a section of park lands for a commercial venture then further increased fees may be payable. Public (open) events may attract lower fees.

Days taken for set-up & pull-down may also incur a charge (goal is to reduce durations - think Clipsal 500). The pre/post event days may be charged at a partial rate.

All above is being negotiated and will be finalised in the June 2010 budget process.

This 'user pays' approach seems fair to me - CBD residents & businesses have obviously been subsidising to date.

[Wayno]

...and more from Clr Stephen Yarwood at his blog site (http://stephenyarwood.blogspot.com/)

12 May 2010 - Soundwave Festival

I have received a number of complaints that council is stopping the Soundwave Festival from going ahead due to increased fees. This is not totally correct.

Council is considering a change to parklands fees to encourage quicker bump in and bump out times – this is to make sure the parklands are not fenced up any longer than they need to be.

We also need to rehabilitate these sights and that costs money. Keeping in mind festivals may have 30 00 people at more than $100 a go I am sure they can afford to pay a fair price to ensure the parklands are restored.

If not restored the festival is not sustainable and eventually the site will not be desirable for such events!

The reality is no decision has yet been made on increases to fees and charges for future music events in Adelaide; they are a little ahead of themselves and telling only one side of the story.

Council has written to the organisers seeking their feedback on a review of fees and charges for events in the Park Lands, as part of the draft 2010-11 Business Plan and Budget public consultation period.

I personally welcome organisers’ and festival goers submissions on these proposed changes which will be presented to Council on 25 May 2010.

Being a serious music fan who has missed precious few Big Day Outs I will be bending over backward to make sure we don’t send festival’s away from the Parklands; it’s the best place to celebrate living in this great city during the summer months!

More info is at Rip It Up - http://ripitup.com.au/article/893

[Pikey]

The ACC is being completely reasonable here, and I agree with what Clr Yarwood has said.

If they want to use the facilities, pay for it! If not, I guess the organisers have a case of "fishus anus terribillus." They'd make a heap of coin form the even, how about they pony up and pay for it!

[Wayno]

Further consensus - here's Clr Plumridge's stance:

Council has made no decisions about changing fees for events to date.

However, we are considering a revised structure of fees and Council’s administration put out a possible changed basis of fees for limited consultation amongst event organisers. Soundwave is reacting to that and their reaction will be taken into account along with other feedback from other stakeholders.

The Park Lands are a valuable resource which do not have unlimited carrying capacity. We need to consider price signals which reflect that fact. The true cost of the impact of major events is nowhere near reflected in the fees charged for events in the Park Lands. Long term damage to grasses areas and the gradual destruction of mature trees due to soil compaction and other issues need to be factored into the cost recovery of Park Lands use in my opinion. Also, events which require fencing and which charge full prices for admission, alienate the Park Lands from general community use which is their principal purpose.

We want to actually reduce fees for community events such as cultural festivals but increase fees for full commercial events for the reasons outlined above. One event last year in Bonython Park attracted over 10,000 people paying in excess of $110 each, locked up the Park for many days either side of the event and only paid Council about $3000 fee for the event on the present scale of charges. This is totally unacceptable in my opinion.

One factor is the time it takes to ‘bump-in’ and ‘bump-out’ for an event and we think there should be a charge for those days in the hope that it might reduce the number of days taken to set up etc. Perhaps the full daily fee is a bit harsh but that is the purpose of the consultation.

The matter will be considered by Council as part of its Budget adoption process in June.

[Wayno]

Soundwave paid $2500 for use of Bonython Park this year. This could jump to $77,000 if the full fee structure is implemented (which is unlikely according to Lord Mayor Harbison).

Harbo quoted as saying:

I emphasis that council has not given the directions on this and has not made a decision. It was a draft put together by staff. I absolutely expect it to be revised

Source: Independent Weekly.

[Nathan]

Soundwave paid $2500 for use of Bonython Park this year. This could jump to $77,000 if the full fee structure is implemented (which is unlikely according to Lord Mayor Harbison).

Harbo quoted as saying:

I emphasis that council has not given the directions on this and has not made a decision. It was a draft put together by staff. I absolutely expect it to be revised

Source: Independent Weekly.

Only $2500? That's ridiculous. No wonder the council wants to change the fee structure.

[Wayno]

Appears middle ground has been found on the issue of fees:

From AdelaideNow:

EVENTS in Adelaide's parklands will benefit from a city council backdown on proposed hire fees.

At a meeting last night, the council scrapped plans to force organisers to pay 1 per cent of ticket sales for hire of the parklands.

Soundwave music festival promoter Sacha Sewell said the changes to the prices structure should make the event viable, but he could not confirm whether it would run in Adelaide next year until he saw the fees.

"Hopefully the council has seen the value in events in the parklands," he said.

Commercial events will now pay $1000/ha per day of the event and up to $500 per day for setting up and packing away. Last financial year major events (5001 people or more) were charged a flat rate of $2700 per event day.

[ghs]

The organisers of soundwave have announced that the event will come to Adelaide (bonython park) next year on March 5.

Adelaide is doing well with these festivals at the moment, with Parklife in October, Stereosonic in December
and Soundwave in March. There's also a few others around like Future, Womadelaide, BDO, Summadayze and there was Supafest
a couple of months ago.

I remember a few years ago the BDO was the only decent music festival in adelaide. These days bands need to tour more to
make money because they don't do so well from retail sales as a result of the internet. I would say this would be the major
reason why we are getting more festivals.

[monotonehell]

...I remember a few years ago the BDO was the only decent music festival in adelaide. These days bands need to tour more to
make money because they don't do so well from retail sales as a result of the internet. I would say this would be the major
reason why we are getting more festivals.

Most bands don't make money from retail sales of their music full stop. They haven't for decades. It's nothing to do with the Internet. The music industry just doesn't work that way. The only way a band can make money from retail sales is to sell their music direct to their fans.

[rev]

The organisers of soundwave have announced that the event will come to Adelaide (bonython park) next year on March 5.

Adelaide is doing well with these festivals at the moment, with Parklife in October, Stereosonic in December
and Soundwave in March. There's also a few others around like Future, Womadelaide, BDO, Summadayze and there was Supafest
a couple of months ago.

I remember a few years ago the BDO was the only decent music festival in adelaide. These days bands need to tour more to
make money because they don't do so well from retail sales as a result of the internet. I would say this would be the major
reason why we are getting more festivals.

Bands tour in these festivals because it's cheaper for them to do so rather then go on tour alone.
Unless they are the really big bands like ACDC who can afford to go on tour on their own because they will sell 50-60,000 ticket concerts in every city they play in.