Splendour in the Grass 2024 cancellation may be the end of generalist music festivals trying to please all audiences

One of Australia’s most renowned music festivals announced it won’t return for a second year running. Naturally, the oft-used “death of the festival” narrative is gaining more steam.

Following the announcement from Splendour in the Grass festival organisers on Thursday — a note published on its website to say it needs “more time to recharge” — media and commentators alike are “doom and glooming”.

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It’s no secret production costs are higher than ever, and so are big-name artists’ fees, and the cost-of-living crisis has resulted in more conservative spending from music fans. This doesn’t mean the death of the music festival however, although a death of some sort has undoubtedly occurred.

One only needs to look at the festivals that are thriving amid increased costs, and compare them to those taking time off, to understand what’s working and what isn’t.

The national Laneway Festival achieved record ticket sales for its 2024 and 2025 festivals. When it tours the country next month, it will include sold-out stops in Sydney and Melbourne with limited tickets left for Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth and Auckland.

As reported by AFR, Bluesfest Byron Bay is selling so well that its promoter, Peter Noble, is reconsidering plans to make the 2025 edition its last.

Wollongong’s Yours & Owls festival, which largely celebrates electronic music, has sold 80 per cent of its 30,000 tickets ahead of its March staging.

Fellow electronic music festival Beyond The Valley, which took place over the new year in Victoria’s Barunah Plains, sold all 38,000 tickets for the four-day camping event.

PJ Morton performs during Bluesfest 2024 in Byron Bay, on Sunday, March 31, 2024. Credit: Jason O’Brien/AAP

So yes, there has been a death in the music festival sector, but it’s not a contagious plague picking them off one by one — 2025 marks the death of “generalist festivals”.

Generalist music festivals cater to everyone by offering broad, mainstream lineups across multiple genres. They often lack the depth and purpose that resonate with our most feverish music fans, making the event feel transactional.

Generalist festivals prioritise mass appeal and ticket sales over meaningful experiences, resulting in a loss of clear identity or focus on curating for a community. Naturally, this sees them struggle to foster genuine connections with an audience in desperate need of authenticity and connection.

One of Australia’s biggest festival promoters on Thursday had his own term for the failed festival. As we touched on a clear change in consumer behaviour for music fans in Australia he said fans have a stark disinterest in “transactional festivals” — music festivals that prioritise commercial gain over meaningful audience engagement.

If the festival is targeted at everyone, lacking a genuine connection to the community it serves, it’s for no one.

Splendour in the Grass is a product of the times and the times they are a-changing. Its 2024 cancellation was due to a combination of economic pressures, waning audience interest, and lineup criticisms.

Rising production costs, compounded by a weakened Australian dollar, made it more expensive to secure international acts, while high ticket prices alienated many festival-goers already feeling the pinch of the cost-of-living crisis.

Perhaps its Achilles heel was the festival’s 2024 lineup. With a varied amalgamation of music genres and diverse headliners from pop icon Kylie to hip hop heavyweight Future and indie rockers Arcade Fire, it failed to generate excitement. Some critics labelled it uninspired and out of touch with its audience.

In an interview with music industry blog, The Black Hoody, Laneway Festival promoter Danny Rogers discussed how he built a business that maintained its success without being dependent on headliners.

“Laneway was always primarily focused on trying to create a cultural event that prioritised future icons vs. artists that were already massive headliners.”

“A lot of people think you can build festival lineups on radio play and data,” Rogers added, “but that doesn’t create a culture, it feels homogeneous and pretty samey. We have passed on so many acts over the years which would have sold us more tickets but they didn’t fit what we were trying to say as a festival.”

Laneway Festival achieved record ticket sales for its 2024 and 2025 festivals. Credit: Supplied

The fall of transactional festivals highlights a crucial lesson for the future of Australia’s live music scene: knowing your audience is everything.

Festivals that prioritise commercial gain over fostering a genuine connection with their fans are struggling to stay afloat. In contrast, events like Laneway, Bluesfest and Beyond The Valley thrive because they understand who they are speaking to, curating experiences that resonate deeply with their communities.

Personally I have full faith that Splendour in the Grass will come back swinging. As a “rite of passage” experience, it has soundtracked a formative obsession with live music for so many — myself included.

The message is clear however; culture is created through nurturing the most engaged contributors. Music festivals that fail to engage authentically with their audience won’t survive this new era of live music.