Caloundra Music Festival 2024 Is Cancelled

Queensland’s 2024 Caloundra Music Festival has been scrapped, with organisers citing punishing operating costs and the cost-of-living pressures among the factors.

The 2024 edition, scheduled for Oct. 4-6, 2024, is the latest in a succession of festivals that have cancelled in recent weeks due to a difficult climate for doing business, a list that includes Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo and Mona Foma.

Set on King’s Beach on the Sunshine Coast, the Caloundra Music Festival is one of the Sunshine State’s most popular regional fests, regularly pulling in more than 30,000 punters and winning festival of the year at the Queensland Music Awards.

Its three-day lineup is typically a mix of A-list homegrown acts, with a smattering of internationals and rising artists, staged at the start of the warmer months.

Busby Marou, Jack River, Wolfmother, Icehouse and Baby Animals have played recent editions.

“We are devastated to inform you all that we have had to make the very tough decision to cancel the 2024 Caloundra Music Festival,” reads a statement issued Tuesday, April 16.

“Our much-loved festival has joined a number of major events Australia-wide to be paused due to higher operating costs and the impact of cost-of-living pressures on ticket sales.”

It’s not the end of the show. Instead, say organisers, CMF will “take a break in 2024 due to the impact of rising operating costs and cost-of-living pressures on event ticket sales.”

CMF, like many other festivals, reads a statement, has experienced rising operating costs, including event infrastructure, production, security, policing, labour/crew costs, travel/ transport, accommodation and other issues.

Additionally, the impact of higher interest rates, rent, fuel, power and food costs on household budgets means “patrons have less disposable income for festival tickets and other entertainment.”

The troubled times for Aussie festivals was addressed in the Soundcheck report, published last week by Creative Australia, which found a “highly complex” climate was to blame.

Among the key findings of the study, operational costs were one of the most significant barriers to running a music festival, with almost half organisers (47%) putting their hand up.

Others issues included lack of funding and grants available (39% of festivals say this has a severe or major impact on their event), insurance costs (31%) and extreme weather events (22%).

Researchers mapped 535 festivals in 2022-2023. The average festival cost $3.9 million to run, with half of all events producing a profit, one-third reporting a deficit and the remainder somewhere in-between.