Secret Sounds''Splendour in The Grass' festival logo.
In a push into the Australian festival market, Live Nation Entertainment announced the purchase of a controlling 51 percent stake in the Australian festival producer/promoter Secret Sounds, which puts on two of the nation's most beloved festivals: New South Wales' Splendour in the Grass and the Falls Music & Arts Festival.
The deal also includes a stake in the company's touring, sponsorship, PR, artist management and domestic agency business, but not the Dew Process & Create Control Record Labels, Dew Process Publishing or its interests in the North Byron Parklands festival site and The Triffid venue in Brisbane.
"To reassure our festival audience, nothing will change with Splendour in the Grass and Falls. It’s business as usual. Our ethos and concepts will remain as they always have – to bring the best artists and experiences from around Australia and overseas to our events," said company principals Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco in an exclusive statement to Venues Today. "We’ve had multiple investors over the years and we are thrilled to welcome Live Nation on board who understand the music business completely. We’re really excited about the future."
Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino looks forward to expanding the partnership in a statement announcing the deal. "Splendour in the Grass and Falls are the two most iconic festivals in Australia," he said of adding the two festivals to the list of more than 80 fests already under the LiveNationglobal umbrella, from Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo to Electric Daisy Carnival and the Reading and Leeds events in England. "Jess and Paul have created events that attract the biggest artists in the world but still feel uniquely Australian. We look forward to partnering with them to find new ways to grow our live event footprint across Australia."
During a stretch when a number of homegrown festivals have fallen on hard times – including the cancellation of such high profile events as Stereosonic, Soundwaves, Big Day Out and Future Music — Secret Sounds has had success with their signature events, drawing the likes of Kanye West, the Strokes, Florence & the Machine, Blur, Jack White, Band of Horses and Coldplay to the 16-year-old Splendour at North Byron Parklands, Byron Bay, the largest contemporary music festival in Australia.
Everyone from Bloc Party and Australian star Courtney Barnett to the Cold War Kids, Run the Jewels and Halsey have played the two-decade-old Falls Music & Arts (Lorne, Marion Bay, Byron Bay and Fremantle) over the past few years, which hosts more than 60,000 people per day nationally at one of Australia’s longest running coastal New Year’s Eve festivals. The move is Live Nation's first foray into the Australian festival market.
Michael Coppel, President, and CEO of Live Nation Australia and New Zealand said in a statement, "We wholeheartedly welcome Jess and Paul and their teams into the rapidly growing Live Nation Australia family. Our new relationship with the Secret Sounds group confirms Live Nation's position at the forefront of the Australian live performance industry." Live Nation did not comment on the deal's terms.