How Did Easterfest Become a Casualty of the Music Festival Business?

The Easterfest festival peaked in 2011 with around 40,000 festivalgoers across three days, but only a few short years later the writing was on the wall for the much loved event.

So what happened? Ok… I’m not going to give it away – you’ll need to listen to the podcast to find out.

But 2015, the final year of Easterfest, saw many festivals around the world fold, including Sydney’s Future Festival and the iconic Big Day Out, who both called time after poor ticket sales.

Following the cancellation of the Future Festival, Mushroom Group chairman Michael Gudinski told online publication The Music that it had become too expensive to host a good festival.

“The cost to physically stage the events has significantly increased, even in just two years. The fluctuating dollar also hasn’t helped and the increasing popularity of EDM in the States has seen DJ fees escalating out of control,” he said.

Former Easterfest event manager Linda Monteith told ‘The Rise & Fall of Easterfest’ that the last few years of the festival took place under difficult operating conditions.

 ”It was very hard for the team. But we did see the writing on the wall, even back in 2013. So the fact that it kept going for two more years after that was a testament to the team.”

Over the last 10 years Australia has also lost festivals such as Bluesfest, Splendour in the Grass, Stereosonic, Groovin’ the Moo and the Falls Festival.

The reality is that running a music festival comes with an insane amount of risk, and often from things that you may not be able to control. Things like artist cancellations and the weather can play a huge part in the success or failure of an event.

 Creative Australia have reported that more than one third of Australian music festivals lost money in the 2022/23 financial year, with the biggest challenges being rising operational costs and the skyrocketing rates of public liability and event cancellation insurance.

Former Easterfest CEO Isaac Moody said that the festival business model is a challenging one to maintain.

“ The first thing you’ve got to know is it’s a terrible business model! Don’t do it, unless you really want to put yourself through a bit of pain and suffering! It is rewarding as well, but you rely on earning for one weekend of the year, and you spend for fifty two weeks of the year, but you also spend a lot on the weekend that you earn.”

To find out how Easterfest was forced to pull the pin after 17 festivals, listen to episode 4 of ‘The Rise & Fall of Easterfest’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And if you’ve been enjoying the podcast don’t forget to leave a 5 star rating and review – it will help others to find the show.

Main Image: Peter Furler performing on mainstage at Easterfest 2011 (Trent Rouillon).