Spilt Milk: Another Australian fest goes sour

Spilt Milk has become the latest casualty in Australia’s diminishing festival season.

“We couldn’t get you the Spilt Milk you deserve this year,” wrote organisers on social media last Friday (26 July). “We will come back when [we] can make all your dreams come true.”

The multi-city event started in Canberra in 2016, expanding to the Gold Coast and Ballarat in 2019 and Perth in 2023. Across its run, the festival hosted artists including Dom Dolla, Vince Staples, Lorde, Cub Sport, RL Grime, Peking Duk, Khalid, Juice WRLD, Steve Lacy, and Post Malone.

Spilt Milk is promoted by Kicks Entertainment which in 2022, was bought by Live Nation-owned promoter Secret Sounds.

Secret Sounds heralded one of the highest-profile casualties of this year when it pulled Splendour in the Grass, due to “unexpected events”.

The festival scene has been deemed “in crisis” since the beginning of this year when six notable festivals were cancelled in quick succession: Groovin The Moo, Coastal Jam, Summerground, Vintage Vibes, Tent Pole: A Musical Jamboree and ValleyWays.

“We couldn’t get you the Spilt Milk you deserve this year”

More events have since been cancelled due to a laundry list of issues such as bushfires, floods, the pandemic, rising insurance costs, the cost-of-living crisis and state regulations.

These woes were distilled in a Creative Australia report that revealed that only half of the country’s festivals are profitable. Earlier this month, the Australian Festivals Association pleaded for “the ongoing war on festivals” to end.

Australia’s House of Representatives has responded to the plight of the festival sector – and the music industry as a whole – with a new inquiry.

The standing committee on communications and the arts last week hosted three rounds of public hearings with industry stakeholders such as trade bodies, broadcasters and event organisers.

In the first round, the committee were told that “a national strategy to ensure the live music industry survives”.

Brian Mitchell MP, the chair of the committee, said that “the committee looked forward to continuing its deep dive into the operational and regulatory challenges facing the live music event industry”.

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