Soundwave Festival Cancelled: The Wrap Up
After a several days of Soundwave’s promoter AJ Maddah once again lashing out at stakeholders and concerns over the financial viability of the Festival, the now least trusted figure in Australia’s live music scene has announced all future Soundwave Festivals have been cancelled, including 2016’s Festival which was due to commence in a month.
Rumours the 2016 Soundwave Festival wasn’t going ahead began earlier in the week when notable international billed acts NOFX and Bring Me The Horizon raised their concerns in public about their involvement in the ill-fated 2016 instalment.
Australia’s own Frenzal Rhomb joined the choir voicing their frustration, saying “if Soundwave manage to find heaps of money under their mattress and realise they can use that to pay the bands what they agreed upon, [we] might actually be able to play a song or two by then”.
Serious concerns about the Festival’s viability were further inflamed with the news American grunge band L7 were pulling out of the 2016 Festival due to “circumstances beyond [the band’s] control”.
On Tuesday, after significant public pressure to clear up the status of the beloved Festival, AJ Maddah tweeted that Soundwave 2017 was “definitely” not going ahead.
A day later Maddah tweeted that Soundwave 2016’s fate was in the hands of “some scumbags at Eventopia/Ticketek”, after it came out they’d refused to give advances on ticket sales to cover artist booking fees and other costs.
Allegedly, the ticketing company for Soundwave 2016, Eventopia, had been advancing funds from ticket sales to Maddah’s company Hounds of Hell Pty Ltd for months.
With the life support of Soundwave effectively turned off, Maddah yesterday afternoon tweeted “I am devastated to have to announce the cancellation of Soundwave 16 due to poor ticket sales. I am very sorry. I tried my best.
“Thank you to all the fans, bands and people who supported the event for the last 12 years. I wish we could have ended it on a better note,” Maddah tweeted.
After a minutes silence for what was once of Australia’s greatest and profitable music festivals outraged ticket holders learnt receiving refunds will be harder than first thought.
Maddah has said ticket holders will be refunded by Eventopia, however the ticketing company has announced due to contractual obligations it’s actually Maddah and his company who should front the cost of refunding ticket holders.
“Eventopia was appointed as the ticket sales agent for the Soundwave Festival to be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in January 2016.
“Throughout the on-sale period, Eventopia complied with all of its obligations under its ticketing services agreement with the Soundwave Festival Promoter, Hounds of Hell Pty Ltd.
“In line with our ticketing sales agreement, the Festival Promoter is responsible for all ticketing funds that were advanced, and is directly liable to all ticket purchasers for issuing customer refunds,” the organisation said in a statement.
The festival’s cancellation raises serious doubts about the repayment of close to $7 million in unpaid debts due to creditors of Soundwave Festival’s previous operation company, which went into voluntary administration back in September.
Just last week a report by Deloitte claimed Soundwave owed debts of $25.8 million to 186 creditors including artists, staging, lighting, and sound production following the collapse of Maddah’s World Stages Pty Ltd.
It is not know how or when those who are owed by Maddah and his companies will see any of what is owed to them, including some 50 bands who took part in Soundwave 2015.
Here are just some of the debts owed to those who played last year’s festival (source Music Feeds):
The Smashing Pumpkins – $1,267,446.43
Faith No More – $751,076.20
All Time Low – $141,144.70
Antemasque – $138,721.43
Fall Out Boy – $394,107.14
Incubus – $571,428.58
Judas Priest – $349,560.55
Lamb of God – $161,323.33
Live Nation Worldwide, Inc – $1,180,325.56
Marilyn Manson – $588,000.56
Of Mice and Men – $29,040.00
Papa Roach – $93,050.93
Slash – $484,628.00
Slipknot – $1,645,299.29
Soundgarden – $2,132,075.00
Steel Panther – $92,517.57
The fallout of Soundwave’s indefinite cancellation is, amongst others, the loss of Australia’s only large-scale touring Festival dedicated to heavy rock and metal.
The Festival had been one of the unmissable events on Australia’s music calendar with appearances by legendary acts like Metallica, Green Day, Linkin Park, Blink 182, and Slipknot providing hundreds of thousands of Australians with memories they’ll cherish forever.
The cancellation has seen the majority of the international bands who were appearing at the 2016 Festival cancel sideshows, leaving behind a massive hole for fans and Australian venues planning to host sold-out shows.
Australia’s favourite heavy and metal bands however won’t be leaving their fans high and dry, with many such as Devil You Know and Bring Me The Horizon already planning shows for later in 2016.
Soundwave 2016 CANCELLED
Saturday 23rd January
Brisbane
Sunday 24th January
Sydney
Tuesday 26th January
Melbourne
