The Brag Media celebrated the launch of Variety Australia and Twilio’s inaugural live business breakfast at Sydney’s 12-Micron yesterday with an awards ceremony and panel discussion.
The event saw industry leaders issue a rallying cry to the sector to work together more collaboratively, gain a deeper understanding of evolving audiences, and explore what the future of music festivals in Australia looks like.
The industry panel included Dr Christen Cornell (research fellow and manager, research partnerships for Creative Australia), Evelyn Richardson (chief executive for Live Performance Australia), Michael Christidis (co-founder of Untitled Group), and Linda Scott (commercial director APAC for Eventbrite), and was moderated by Lars Brandle, The Brag Media’s newly-appointed head of content.
They proposed solutions for key issues facing music festivals and live music in Australia, including understanding changing audience behaviours and purchasing patterns, the need for a focus on experiences, and problems of insurance and heavy-handed policing.
Christidis said: “The connection between promoters and ticketing companies is more important than ever. You need people to know and believe an event will sell out. If they don’t think it will, they’ll have a sense of security that they know they can wait until closer to the date.”
Richardson spoke to the need for governments at all levels to help reduce operational costs.
“Anything that reduces operational costs is going to be important, and state governments can do a lot to help reduce those costs. Insurance is a major issue, there is clearly market failure there and it needs to be addressed at a federal level.”
Variety Australia and Twilio’s Live Business Breakfast also honoured the achievements of individuals and brands shaping the future of entertainment, spanning music, comedy and theatre. Variety Australia and Twilio presented accolades across seven categories, highlighting talent and innovation within the industry over the past year.
The winners included:
• Festival of the Year: Peter Noble’s Bluesfest.
• Best Australian Theatre Award: Michael Cassel Group’s production of & Juliet for its performances in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
• Best Australian Comedy Tour Award: Jimmy Carr’s Terribly Funny entertained audiences across the country with 89 shows nationwide.
• Best Australian Music Tour Award: P!nk’s Summer Carnival Tour sold 970,000 tickets, including a record-breaking 20 stadium shows.
• Variety Live Business Award: Untitled Group was recognised for selling more than 500,000 tickets in the latest summer season and achieving record results across a range of brands including Beyond The Valley and Wildlands.
• Promoter of the Year: Frontier Touring had a record-breaking 2023 producing 600 shows, 40 of those in major stadiums, and featuring tours for Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Sam Smith, Robbie Williams, BLACKPINK, Kraftwerk, Paramore, plus homegrown talent The Teskey Brothers, DMA’S, G Flip and many others.
• Best Live Event Marketing Campaign Award: Fred Again was recognised for his innovative national ‘pop up’ surprise arena tour.
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