Soundwave’s failed mogul AJ Maddah has blamed “the haters” for the downfall of his beloved festival. Well he is about to get 18000 more.
Maddah is saying he will not refund the 18000 punters who bought tickets to Soundwave 2016. He says it is not his responsibility, it is the responsibility of the ticketing agent. Well that is technically correct … sort of.
SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR CORPORATION trying to get out of refunding fans and heaping it on broke promoter via dirt tactics. #LifeIsGrand
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) December 17, 2015
Generally a ticketing agency will hold ticket revenue in escrow until an event gets underway. This year Maddah did a deal with the ticketing agency Eventopia for an advance so that he could pay deposits to artists. Eventopia agreed to the demand and advanced a portion of the money. That money was spent on costs associated with preparing for the event. In other words… the money has now gone.
When a tour is cancelled for whatever reason, reputable ticket sellers like Ticketmaster will release the money from escrow and refund the fans. Eventopia cannot do that because, as I said … the money has now gone.
Eventopia says Maddah should refund punters. Maddah says he can’t because he didn’t do the transaction to start with. He cannot pay Eventopia back the money because … the money has now gone.
Eventopia has released the following statement:
Soundwave Festival 2016 – Event Cancellation and Ticket Refunds
We regret to inform customers of the cancellation of Soundwave Festival 2016 due to poor ticket sales, as advised by the Promoter on the 17th of December.
Eventopia was appointed as the ticket sales agent for the Soundwave Festival to be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in January 2016.
Throughout the onsale period, Eventopia complied with all of its obligations under its ticketing services agreement with the Soundwave Festival Promoter, Hounds of Hell Pty Ltd.
In line with our ticketing sales agreement, Eventopia has advanced ticket sales funds to the Soundwave Promoter. This is standard practive within the festival sector.
The Soundwave Festival Promoter currently holds the ticket sales funds. When the Soundwave Promoter returns this money to us, Eventopia will happily refund you. Eventopia has issued the Soundwave Promoter a letter of demand to return proceeds that were advanced.
You can contact the Promoter of the Festival directly to request your ticket refund in full using the email [email protected].
Eventopia will keep all Soundwave Festival customers informed of the progress of the situation as more information becomes available.
Maddah’s company was already in administration with debts around $26 million to more than 180 creditors when allowed to continue with Soundwave 2016. The administration was convinced that by allowing Soundwave to throw the dice one more time that Maddah could trade his way out of administration.
Ticket sales for 2016 were far less than anticipated. 18000 tickets were sold across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The festival needed four times that to break even.
It has since been learned that Maddah had not confirmed acts he was advertising nor had he actually booked the three venues the event was to be held.
This debacle now looks like a class action waiting to happen.
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