Rising costs have left many festivals with no choice but to cancel this year, and a major Australian EDM festival is the latest domino to fall.
Organizers of Australia's Return to Rio festival have canceled this year's event due to a staggering 529% cost increase, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. In New South Wales, a government mandate called the Music Festivals Act allows the state administration to completely control pricing for police presence, medical needs and more.
Electronic music festivals in New South Wales have reportedly been deemed “high risk”, requiring their organizers to pay for “harm minimization” tactics, including riot squads, strip search facilities, circuit closed television, police boats and interrogation areas. Return to Rio promoters highlighted their decade-long track record of organizing safe, well-coordinated events, but still faced the surprising fee increase.
“This, combined with the additional rules and regulations we have to comply with, meant that last year we incurred more than $300,000 in additional costs,” reads a statement issued by Return to Rio. “For a small family business, this makes it almost impossible not to have losses.
“The sad reality is that electronic music is unfairly targeted in New South Wales,” the statement continued. “And if this continues, we will only be left with beige government events and commercial megacorporation festivals, while smaller, diverse, boutique events will disappear.”
The Australian event joins a number of US festivals, including Backwoods, Imagine and Firefly, which will not take place in 2024.
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