Maddah: Soundwave’s fate lies in the hands of Eventopia

Update 5:40:AJ Maddah has confirmed on twitter that Soundwave 2016 is cancelled “I am devastated to have to announce the cancellation of Soundwave 16 due to poor ticket sales. I am very sorry. I tried my best. #SW16“

Update 4:30pm: In a statement given exclusively to TMN, Soundwave’s ticket sales agent Eventopia has responded to Maddah’s claims it was “supposed to give SW a scheduled advance to pay deposits to NOFX and BMTH.”

“Eventopia is not responsible for the management, or the financing arrangements of Soundwave Festival,” Eventopia General Manager, Martin Curnow told TMN. “The promoter AJ Maddah is.

“If fans have questions regarding Soundwave Festival, then they should direct those questions related to the event to the promoter,” he added.

Update 2pm: Music Feeds has reported none of the three venues for Soundwave 2016 have been booked.Sydney Olympic Park, RAS Melbourne Showground and Brisbane Showgrounds have not confirmed their plans to host the festival next month.

Soundwave festival 2016, the apparent last ever installation of Australia’s flagship heavy music event, may not go ahead.

Promoter AJ Maddah has made the announcement on Twitter overnight, revealing its fate lies in the hands of online ticketing platform Eventopia.

“Essentially here are the brief facts: Eventopia were supposed to give SW a scheduled advance to pay deposits to NOFX and BMTH,” he tweeted.

“Their CFO changed her mind and decided not make the advance but didn’t tell anyone. so we (SW & bands) waited and waited for $.

“If they had informed us that scheduled funds were cancelled we could have made other arrangements. So now we are in bad situation,” he added.

“There have been discussions today. I’m waiting on Eventopia/Ticketek to make their decision. We cannot hold festival without their support. As soon as I hear from them, I will let you know.”

At 4:50pm yesterday, the Eventopia Customer Service team had at told TMN: “As far as we’re aware the festival is still going ahead.”

Maddah has also revealed on Twitter the platform’s lawyer is now involved, requesting him not to discussan incident where Eventopia gave Soundwave pre-sale ticket buyers wrong information.

Yesterday afternoon Maddah tweeted that the decision of whether or not to axe the festival was “down to some scumbags at Eventopia/Ticketel.”

Interestingly, Eventopia was the ticketing platform for the cancelled Echo Festival in New Zealand. Yesterday, as reported in TMN, the promotion company behind the festival announced it had gone into liquidation – creating fears among punters about ticket refunds.

AJ Maddah dropped the heartbreaking bombshell on Tuesday that Soundwave won’t return in 2017. Revealed in a response to a fan of the festival on Twitter, Maddah said: “Definitely no SW17. It’s a lot of hard work, stress & risk in return for which we get hate & stupidity #OverIt.”

Yesterday, he revealed he’s also axing the company behind the festival and some of the biggest concert tours in heavy music, Soundwave Touring.“I’m done,” he tweeted. “Let some new people go for it.”

The cancellation of Soundwave’s final run next month was brought into question last Friday when Australia’s own Frenzal Rhomb took to Facebook to insinuate the festival’s organisers aren’t able to pay previously agreed upon artist fees.

“If Soundwave manage to find heaps of money under their mattress and realise they can use that to pay the bands what they agreed upon, I might actually be able to play a song or two by then,” said Frenzal Rhomb in the post.

Today,LA quartet L7 announced they will not be performing Soundwave next month. “Due to circumstances beyond our control, L7 will not be performing at this year’s Soundwave Festival,” the band posted on Facebook. “Believe us when we say that we are as disappointed as you are. We will try our damnedest to get to you in 2016, maybe even club shows as many of you have requested. KEEP THE FAITH! We hope to see you all soon. We love you Australia! – L7 XOXO”

Bring Me The Horizon also cast doubt on their headline appearance on Tuesday, tweeting: “To anyone hoping to see us @soundwavefest we are awaiting some requested info & hope to 100% confirm our involvement this week. Hang tight.”

In a reply to a Soundwave fan on Twitter NOFX’s manager Kent Jamieson said it was “doubtful” the band would be paid for their inclusion on next month’s tour.