The 2015 instalment of Soulfest, “Australia’s first neo-soul, jazz, and hip hop festival”, was cancelled last week amid a storm of controversy, with some punters calling foul on promoters’ reason for cancelling.
As Tone Deaf reported, Soulfest organisers claimed the sophomore instalment of the festival had to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales, but punters on social media claimed they were told the event was sold out when they attempted to purchase tickets.
The backlash has now prompted Soulfest promoter John Denison to respond. Speaking to triple j, Denison reiterated promoters’ initial statement, explaining that a cancellation was necessary to avoid devastating financial losses.
Revealing just how bad ticket sales were, Denison explained that Soulfest 2015 had to sell “37,000 tickets nationally” just to break even, but “as at Friday we had sold 48% of our break even target!” with Melbourne alone selling under 7,500 tickets.
“It was a simple case of cancelling now or going ahead with the festival and leaving a trail of millions dollars of unserviceable debt to local suppliers and leaving a raft of businesses in tatters,” Denison said.
“That was clearly not an option – the decision to cancel was made with a very heavy heart. We had already invested millions of [dollars] in artists payments, venue deposits, marketing, accommodation, and travel deposits that are non refundable.”
“We tried till the very last minute to lift ticket sales thru [sic] offers but there was simply not enough interest to cover the $2M plus shortfall… The only person out of pocket here is the promoter and rightly so. No one else should suffer financially.”
“This was a massive slap in the face for the festival, thinking we had an event and high profile artists that would appeal to at least 10 – 12,000 people per show. But when you have Melbourne having sold under 7,500 tickets – it’s really a disappointing show of support and demoralizing to all involved.”
“When you have Melbourne having sold under 7,500 tickets – it’s really a disappointing show of support and demoralizing to all involved.”“We took a punt on staging a festival that celebrated certain types of genres – we invested heavily in some fantastic talent but the majority of the public simply didn’t support it! That’s life – I understand the game.”
Denison also addressed the numerous irate punters who claimed they’d been told the event was sold out. “It would be ludicrous to think we would be telling people that we are sold out when we were desperately looking for ticket sales,” he said.
“I think people may be alluding to the fact that VIP was sold out.” Denison confirmed that Soulfest had sold out of advertised “VIP packages, which was merely 2000 tickets a show but that’s where the good news stops.”
“We are sincerely apologetic about the inconvenience caused to customers – absolutely! But in the context of mitigating financial damage I believe we have done the right thing. The punters will receive a full refund and there will be no service providers out of pocket.”
Following the cancellation of the Australian festival, Soulfest Asia took to Instagram to announce the postponement of their event, which sparked rumours that Australian promoters had failed to live up to their commitment to artists.
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“There are a lot of hurtful comments in the marketplace saying that artists were not confirmed or not coming – hence the cancellation – all you have to do is to sight our visas secured for each one of the artists,” Denison said.
“All the artists were supportive to the end – not one negative comment came from their mouths and that should be a testament to the event we were trying to put on. There was general excitement from everyone that was attending the festivals, to working on the festival to performing on the festivals.”
“Moreover the easiest thing to do is point the finger at a promoter and start insinuating all sorts of things and personally attacking someone’s bona fides and integrity. It’s not only hurtful but you ask yourself ‘why bother?’ next time.”
