Soundwave still may or may not return for 2016. The business is struggling to survive.
As Soundwave tries to recover from the disaster of 2015 that found artists locked out of hotel rooms and operational decisions made and changed on the go, the 2016 event is on tenterhooks.
Soundwave 2016 is scheduled for January, 2016 and with less than two months to go the business of Soundwave is struggling to make ends meet. The company is horrendously in debt.
According to CX Magazine, the business of Soundwave still owes $25.8 million to 186 creditors. That means Soundwave has two options – a: trade out of insolvency and expect creditors to take a fraction of what they are owed (maybe 25 cents in the dollar) and b: fold.
One thing is for certain, even at this late stage, there are some tough choices to be made for Soundwave to get over the line for 2016. Creditors taking a fraction of their entitlements will be a better choice than getting nothing. That could be the only way for Soundwave to move forward.
CX was told that up to 80% of advance ticket sales have been released to the promoter to allow the company to trade. That is reported as 80% of $1.8 million. That doesn’t sound enough to honour deposits and arrange artist airfares so the proverbial rabbit still needs to be pulled from the hat.
An ‘Angel’ investor would have worked, underwriting the debts, but Noise11 understands that one well-to-do Australian entertainment identity and another multi-national events company didn’t like what they saw ‘under the bonnet’ and walked away.
Soundwave has made some massive announcements for 2016. Disturbed, the headline act alone, is worth more for a tour than the total reported net from ticket sales so far. Bring Me The Horizon, The Prodigy, Deftones and Bullet For My Valentine don’t come cheap. The Australian dollar at 73c US is not helping either. International acts get paid in US dollars of UK pounds and the exchange rate right now is not promoter friendly.
2016 is not going to deliver the same level of tours Australia has seen in recent years. There is no Stones or Springsteen even scheduled for 2016. Madonna is touring for Live Nation, a US based operation that can afford to pay artists in American dollars. For everyone else, they are looking at the price, translating to the 73c Aussie dollar and then weighing up if it is still worth it or not.
Australian promoters are loath to book major acts when the dollar tumbles under 70c. It has done so a few times this year so promoters must be nervous. Touring at top dollar is a gamble and most are cautious.
Soundwave doesn’t have the luxury of caution. It needs a win. Meantime, January keeps crawling closer.
TBC.
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