The cancellation of this yr’s Groovin The Moo festival has resulted in lots of abroad artists scrapping total lengths of their Australian excursions and left up-and-coming expertise to scrambling to find alternatives in preserving their music desires alive.
One of Australia’s largest music festivals, Groovin The Moo was anticipated to happen in Bunbury this Saturday, however organisers pulled the plug in mid-February, citing poor ticket gross sales.
The occasion is one in a slew of music festivals which were cancelled throughout the nation this yr, disappointing hundreds of regional music followers.
For new artists the occasion is taken into account a chance to break into the Australian music scene.
The ABC lately checked in with a few of these on the invoice to see how they have been dealing with the fallout of the cancellation.
‘An actual low, actual fast’
Up-and-coming rapper Chiggz from East Coast Brotherhood (ECB) mentioned he felt over the moon when he came upon he could be performing on the festival this yr.
“Ecstatic … it was a big achievement,” he mentioned.
But it didn’t take lengthy earlier than the thrill got here crashing down as soon as organisers determined to cancel the occasion for 2024.
“[I was] just gutted really. On a real high and then a real low … real quick,” he mentioned.
Singer Cloe Terare mentioned she first came upon by means of social media that the occasion was not going forward.
“I saw a post on Instagram and I thought it might have been fake news. So I didn’t actually think anything of it,” she mentioned.
“It’s exhausting to build up your artist project and try your best in everything you do, and then you get a really big opportunity like that and then just as quickly, it goes away.”
With no festival for both act to carry out at, each have been forced to search for alternatives, with Chiggz acknowledging not many present alternatives had arisen.
What concerning the others?
Since the cancellation, 9 out of 12 of the international acts on the line-up have averted travelling to Australia or rescheduled their performances.
Overseas artists together with Armani White, Claire Rosinkranz, GZA & The Phunky Nomads, Jessie Reyez, Meduza, Mura Masa, The Kooks and Kenya Grace have all had to cancel their journeys down below.
Canadian act The Beaches in addition to UK act Melanie C have scheduled reveals on the east coast rather than Groovin The Moo.
Home-grown acts together with The Rions, San Cisco, The Jungle Giants, Jet, Alison Wonderland, Hot Dub Time Machine and The Grogans have all placed on separate, smaller reveals as a substitute of touring with the festival.
Why do festivals hold getting cancelled?
Tom Lowndes, also referred to as Hot Dub Time Machine, was due to play at this yr’s occasion and has earlier expertise working within the festival enterprise.
He mentioned the difficulty lay with the enterprise mannequin of festivals, in addition to rising prices.
“When the line-up for [Groovin The Moo] was put out, a lot of people were like … ‘Where’s these huge top-line overseas artists that can sell out a festival?'” he mentioned.
“The answer is they [festival organisers] just can’t afford them.”
The Sydney-based DJ mentioned competitors with abroad music festivals, in addition to the energy of the Australian greenback, additionally affected artists’ choices to journey right here.
“Currency and just the sheer size of overseas festivals means that they can offer a huge amount of money,” he mentioned.
“It’s very hard to go to an overseas artist and say, ‘Will you perform for a pay cut?’ because no one likes performing for a pay cut.”
Instead of performing on-stage in entrance of hundreds this weekend, Lowndes will carry out a live-stream from his kitchen at dwelling.
