Australian Bands Benefit As Global Festivals Return

Of the 330 international music festivals announced this year, three Australian bands are in-demand.

They were Timmy Trumpet, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

This was according to The Post-Pandemic Festival Report by music analytics firm Viberate, which noted that the 330 events booked 9,651 acts.

Electronic dance music acts were most in-demand, with 38.8% of slots so far.

Rock acts accounted for 15.9%, indie-pop representing 12.7% and hip-hop 12.6%.

Lower down were metal (5%), R&B (4%), country (3%), punk (2%) and ‘other’ making up 6%.

Timmy Trumpet was the most in-demand EDM act, playing 24 of the analysed festivals.

Then came Martin Garrix (22), Alan Walker (21), Steve Aoki (17), DJ Snake and Alesso (both 16).

Most of the EDM acts were Dutch (19.5%), followed by Americans (16.8%), the British (15.8%), Germans (9.1%) and French (5.7%).

The most in-demand in the EDM top 10 were techno and hardstyle/hardcore.

Rock, on an upsurge after featuring heavily on TikTok, had its most booked acts mostly from the U.S. (33.8%) and the U.K. (25.0%).

Fontaines D.C. and Turnstile were the most booked, playing 21 of the analysed festivals.

They were followed by IDLES (19), grandson (17), Måneskin (16), Inhaler (15), Gorillaz (15), King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Wolf Alice (all 13).

Glass Animals were the most retained indie-pop act with 20 festivals, followed by Girl In Red (19),beabadoobee (18), Phoebe Bridgers (17), Remi Wolf (16), and Stromae, Sigrid, Lewis Capaldi, Kenny Hoopla and Arlo Parks all at 13.

But while Megan Thee Stallion topped the hip-hop and overall festival rankings with 25 top festivals, the Viberate report spotlighted a disturbing factor.

Males still dominated bills, despite a campaign before the pandemic to make them equitable.

Of the 100 Most Booked Artists list for 2022, 76 were all-male groups or male solo acts.

These festivals were estimated to make an average of US$10.7 million from ticket sales.

The sums ranged from $302,000 for a ‘small’ event that drew up to 5,000 fans, to an average of $54 million for those drawing over 80,000.

A survey of festival promoters found 75% will not ask for Covid-safety measures from punters.

Half don’t expect them to grow their attendances this year, and not until 2025.

Only 68% considered an artist’s online/social media profile.

Artist fees were on top of the reason for making a bid, with live performance experience, good relationship in the past, a significant local fanbase, industry recommendations and good social media performance, all factors.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.