The man responsible for bringing some of the biggest names in metal, punk and rock to Australian shores as part of Soundwave, revealed the price of running one of the country’s biggest music festivals.
Promoter AJ Maddah has locked in another impressive Soundwave festival bill for 2014– including Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold and a massive 2nd lineup announcement last week– and finally disclosed the cost of operating the hugely popular annual event.
Maddah responded to a fan query via Twitter, saying the festival costs well over $50 million each year.
“Off the top of my head artist budget was $26M, production was around $7M, sites around $10M, travel $4.6M. Then you have marketing, office costs, wages, insurance, APRA, etc on top of that,” Maddah tweeted.
“People have no idea how expensive things are. And even then I forgot trucking and freight with 62 trucks and 100 drivers on the road! Kching another $1.6M”
“Most people would rather assume it’s all profit driven. Making tons of money, overpriced ticket, etc,” Maddah tweeted. “[But] I paid myself $40K last year. Everything else went back into the business. The good thing about working 120 hours a week is that you don’t have enough time or energy left to spend money!” Except on chocolate, apparently…”
Maddah also said last year’s anniversary special- that featured Metallica, Linkin Park, Blink 182, A Perfect Circle and Garbage– cost 15-20% more than the 2014 lineup.
“We’re not going to top it,” Maddah said after Soundwave 2013 back in March. “It was our 10th anniversary, so a 1 off big show.”
Soundwave begins in Brisbane on Saturday, February 22 before making stops in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
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