News October 27, 2015

Promoter Harvey Goldsmith: Music industry is struggling

Former Editor

Promoter and manager Harvey Goldsmith, who has toured Led Zeppelin, Queen, Madonna and the Rolling Stones in the UK, made some bold comments at the Hay literary festival in Wales at the weekend.

Echoing the sentiment of Mushroom Group’s Michael Gudinski, Goldsmith said, “The festival circuit has peaked. It really peaked about two years ago. There’s too many of them and there are not enough big acts to headline them.”

In April this year Mushroom Group made the decision to axe Future Music Festival, citing ailing ticket sales for the last two festivals as the reason. At the time Gudinski said hebelieved the days of large scale touring festivals "in its current form is unfortunately numbered". Future Musicalso cancelled itsAsia leg this yearafter the Singapore Government turned down its application to hold the festival there for the first time.

While Soundwave festival promoter AJ Maddah has teased he’s working on a 2016 lineup via Twitter, this year’s Soundwave had a less than smooth run. Maddah dubbedsales of Soundwave’s Adelaide leg "pathetic" and made the decision not to return to the city next year.

In June last year Big Day Out's ownerC3 Presents announced the festival juggernaut would not return this year andpromoters of Warped festival announced it would not return following light attendance in 2013.

Harvey Goldsmith also

said the UK music industry is struggling to open new factories to keep up with the rise in vinyl consumption.

"Sales of vinyl have gone up 100-fold in the last two years. And in fact, the biggest problem we've got now is that we can't find the factories,” he said. "They're opening them up as fast as they can, but they've got to find the craftsmen who know how to make a vinyl record.”

Globally, vinyl sales increased by 54.7% in 2014 to US$346.8 million, representing 9.2 million units. In the first three months of 2015, sales were 53% higher than for the same period last year. Vinyl record sales now represent2% of the global recording industry’s US$14.97 billion.

Australia is the 9th largest vinyl market with ARIA reporting we posted a revenue growth of 127% to $6.4 million for vinyl between January to December 2014, the largest posted in any country last year.Turntables purchased from hi fi shops for around $500 to $6,000 are in such demand that customers are put on waiting lists.

While only a small portion of vinyl is actually pressed in Australia, with artists and labels choosing to have their products manufactured offshore,Australia’s only vinyl plant, Zenith in Melbourne’s East Brunswick, is struggling to keep up with demand. Ithas its three pressing machines going at full capacity and its employees work 14 hour days, seven days a week, yet the plant is still two months behind in orders. It has an anticipated production of about 400,000 records a year.

Since inception in 1967 Zenithhas been owned and run by Corduroy Records, then Obese, then shareholder Chris Moss. Its current owner Paul Rigby toldThe Vinein 2013 that for a long time its only competitor was The Vinyl Factory in Sydney, but it folded in 2012.

The Top 10 global vinyl markets are: