Heavy music fest Legion gets $30k pledges, on track to breaking record
Following the fall of heavy music juggernaut Soundwave Festival last month, Devil You Know drummerJohn Sankey – with the support of a few industry heavyweights – are pushing for a world-first crowdfunded festival in Australia, Legion Music Fest.
Having launched the crowdfunding campaign on Pozible in late December, the festival’s founders Sankey, Mark Spillane (CEO at Unbreakable International) and Kristie Lawrence hope to raise $3.27 million in just under one month. It should be noted that the most successful Australian crowdfunding campaign to date raised $1 million and the largest music crowd funding campaign globally to date raised $1.2 million.
The first day the campaign went live on Pozible, over $100,000 was raised. It’s now averaging approximately $42,000 in pledges per day.Speaking to TMN, Sankey said the festival is confident it will reach its goal.
“We absolutely believe that we will reach the target of $3.275M,” said Sankey, who has spent just $200 on marketing and publicity so far. “We have a few key, international headline acts that we’re very close to finalising that we’re confident will take us across the line. We also believe that hard music fans here in Australia are one of the most passionate and outspoken communities around and that they will rally together to make this thing happen.”
Art time of publishing, Legion has raised $236,974. The largest amount pledged so far is two donations of $30,000 from audio and production services company JPJ Audio and merchandise, design and touring company Love Police. The campaign ends on January 25, with the festival scheduled for the Easter Long Weekend.
From March26 to April 2, over three stages in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane, Legion will showcase 10 International acts and 20 Australian acts. Already announced are international bands Devil Driver (USA), Darkest Hour (USA), Battle Cross (USA), and Frontline Assembly (Canada), as well as local acts Aversions Crown, Dream on Dreamer, Caligula’s Horse, Darkc3ll and Rick Dangerous and the Silkie Bantams.
The festival is now in discussions with “several major international headliners” and has locked in six event partners: Oztix, Global Event Management, Love Police, Jaden Social Bulletproof/Riot Entertainment, and of course Spillane’s company Unbreakable International.
The response to Legion’s Pozible campaign is just one more reminder that not only is heavy music alive and kicking in Australia, it’s fans are still willing to pay for it.
“We knew that the fans, the artists and the local industry didn’t want to see touring rock festivals die out,” Sankey told TMN. “So we figured that, if we could create something that was a true collaboration, we’d have a shot at it.
“The fans have a voice – a loud voice – and they’re the ones buying the tickets and essentially funding the festival,” Sankey added. “We have no option but to make them a major part of our decision making.”
Legion has also been entirely transparent with its costs budget. Its organisers have outlined exactly where each dollar of the $3.275m pledged will go.
“Its such a great model that takes all of the risk out of the equation for everyone involved,” said Sankey. “Everyone knows that the artists and local suppliers are being paid properly, and upfront, and the fans know that there’s no chance that the gig will be cancelled because of poor ticket sales. If we don’t reach the crowd funding goal, no one gets charged a cent – so there’s really no risk at all.”
As delved into in the costs budget below, the artist fees for the three festival dates are $535,000, while $120,000 has been budgeted for staff costs.
Melbourne $1,025,000
Sydney $1,025,000
Brisbane $1,025,000
Adelaide $100,000
Perth $100,000
Total costs across all shows $3,275,000
COSTS BREAKDOWN (Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane)
Each east coast’s event costs can be broken down into the following:
SITE COSTS $250,000
Fencing
Toilets
Tents
Turf
Electrical
Vendors
Parking
Permits
Transport
PRODUCTION COSTS $200,000
Audio
Lighting
Video
Staging
Generators
Backline
Barricades
Freight
STAFFING COSTS $100,000
Police
Event Staff
Ticketing Staff
Cleaning
Runners
Ambulance
Doctor
Management
Security
Catering
Traffic Management
Sound Monitoring
ARTIST COSTS $475,000
Artist fees
Visas
Riders
International travel
National Travel
Accommodation
Freight
Ground Transport
COSTS BREAKDOWN (Adelaide/Perth)
Each mini-fest’s event costs can be broken down into the following:
PRODUCTION COSTS $20,000
Venue Hire
Audio
Lighting
Video
Staging
Backline
Barricades
Freight
STAFFING COSTS $20,000
Event Staff
Ticketing Staff
Cleaning
Runners
Management
Security
Catering
Sound Monitoring
ARTIST COSTS $60,000
Artist fees
Visas
Riders
National Travel
Accommodation
Freight
Ground Transport
Announced LegionFest lineup
DevilDriver (USA)
Front Line Assembly (CANADA)
Aversions Crown (AUS)
Devil You Know (USA)
Darkest Hour (USA)
Battlecross (USA)
Caligula’s Horse (AUS)
Darkc3ll (AUS)
Rick Dangerous And The Silkie Bantams (AUS)
Dream on Dreamer (AUS)
28 Days (AUS)
My Secret Circus (AUS) *Melb only
Horrorwood Mannequins (AUS) *Syd only
MofoIsDead (AUS) *Bris only
Saturday, 26th March 2016
Melbourne Showgrounds, Melbourne
Sunday, 27th March 2016
Venue TBA, Sydney
Monday, 28th March 2016
Venue TBA, Brisbane
Friday, 1st April 2016
Venue TBA, Adelaide (Club mini-festival)
Saturday, 2nd April 2016
Venue TBA, Perth (Club mini-festival)
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