Everyone Wants a Festival: The Growth and Development of Western Australia's Contemporary Live Music Festival Sector

Abstract

This article explores the development and growth of Western Australia's (WA) live music festival sector. Historically analyzing activity occurring between 1999 and 2009, festivals of varying scope are discussed, with a particular focus on those that heavily feature indie pop/rock music and include WA artists in their lineup. Seven legs of national touring festivals as well as WA-only and one-off events are examined, being the Big Day Out, Blackjack, Rock-It, Rollercoaster Festival, St Jerome's Laneway Festival, Southbound, Wave Rock Weekender, and West Coast Blues 'n' Roots. These festivals program local artists in one of three ways: as an opening or "support" act, as part of a local music stage or, as a "headliner." Grounded in a discussion on the role of live music performances in the development and sustaining of musicians' careers, the analysis presented draws predominantly from semistructured research interviews with promoters of the festivals in question. By examining the motivations behind development and growth of WA's live music festival sector within the study's timeframe, this article offers commentary on what this growth—and the resulting "saturation point" of the market—means for the present-day market, and critically, to the opportunities for local musicians to perform at these events.