Exclusivity In The Grass

Splendour is less than 2 weeks away. I'm excited! The constant drudgery of my shit job is slowly meaning less and less as the thing I've been looking forward to this year approaches. Everyone needs a light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps you do too - and you can still get yourself one because tickets are STILL ON SALE! Despite my predictions (I guess seeing into the future IS a load of horseshit). With the lineup that was announced, and the amount of hipsters that have jumped on the Splendour bandwagon I am really, truly surprised that it has still not managed to sell out. In a way it excites me, the last festival I went to that didn't sell out was the second Sydney BDO this year and it was great. But it raises one question in particular for me...

Both Kanye West and Coldplay (like them or not, they have something to do with my point) are playing Splendour as their ONLY Australian show. I'm also pretty certain that Regina Spektor is also playing her only show of the year there. It makes me wonder why.. at who's behest were these exclusive deals negotiated? Artists like Kanye and Coldplay could easily sell out national tours, multiple nights in the major cities and yet all they're doing is playing an hour or two up in Queensland before buggering off again? When you sit back and look at it, the most logical explanation to me is that the Splendour organisers arranged this themselves (and if you ask me that must have taken some SPECIAL incentive). They were no doubt of the mindset that people would be less inclined to go to Splendour if they could see these acts somewhere else, and an exclusivity deal is undoubtedly the best way to get sales. But you must then look at the target demographic of these artists - and while there are credible people in there, there are also a significant amount of solely pop-listening and underage people who can't really justify paying a considerable sum for a ticket to a festival to see one act.

we just raped and robbed the wiggles.. take that Australia.. see you next weekend!

The website crash also undoubtedly affected sales. But when it comes to these things festival organisers have to retain a certain amount of accountability for the options presented to consumers, system failures SHOULD be anticipated. High volumes of online traffic should also be anticipated. When you crash and are unable to provide the consumer with what they want straight away, resentment starts to build on their behalf, but also thought and consideration take over from impulse and they start to wonder how they're going to justify spending alot of money. Perhaps releasing timetables early and selling tickets per day is an option to assess, because lets face it, the ticket price this year, on top of transport, accom, festival food & drink, etc is alot of money for the average punter. Worth it? I'm almost certain it will be, but uncertain economic times scare people too.

So what am I doing here, having a dig at Splendour? No. I can see why they went with the exclusivity and it makes sense. I suppose I'm just thinking out loud, as confused as anyone as to why this festival hasn't sold out. I've been told that the new site is great but perhaps moving an hour north of Brisbane, adding another few hours onto everyones trip is another factor too. Who knows. If you've made a specific decision to not attend Splendour this year I'd love to know why, so please shed some light. And if you're NOT attending Splendour but really, really want to, you mustn't know that tickets are STILL on sale! So go and get one! I will be there, not that thats any particular incentive.

Splendour In The Grass