Future Music Festival ended in 2015, a year after Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Group bought a stake in the festival, after finding its parent company had been in financial strife for years. Financial mismanagement was also the death knell for Big Day Out in 2014 andAshlin Heyward thought she'd be packing her bags to attend Splendour on Friday.
The peak body for the festival industry, the Australian Festival Association , said music fans have changed their ticket-buying behaviours. "We're dealing with lingering health concerns, economic doom and gloom, and shifting priorities in purchase behaviour as a result." However, the time it takes to organise a line-up can be much longer than how quickly an artist can go viral.
Festival lover Rara Brearley, who is headed to this year's Splendour, says this mixed target audience made it seem unclear if the festival is even designed for her.