A new report investigating the impacts of climate change on the Australian festival scene finds that increasing extreme weather events in the country are an immediate threat to its live music sector.
Released today by Green Music Australia, the report, titled “Rain, Heat, Repeat: How Music Fans Are Experiencing Extreme Weather,” compiled survey responses from Australian festivalgoers and analysis from academics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and La Trobe University.
Researchers have found that more than 50 Australian festivals have been fully or partially canceled due to extreme weather events, including floods, bushfires, heatwaves, and storms, since 2015. Last month, 26 live music events were canceled in just one week due to the impending arrival of Severe Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Beyond canceled events, the report found that just over one-third of the 1,155 people surveyed said increased extreme weather events have made them cautious about purchasing tickets, with that total rising to nearly 45 percent among weekly showgoers. One in three surveyed said they would skip a festival entirely if temperatures exceeded 35 degrees Celsius (95°F). When they did attend, 85 percent of respondents reported experiencing what they considered “extreme weather” at a festival in the last 12 months.
The report’s co-author, RMIT sociologist Catherine Strong, contends that these shifting consumer habits as a result of extreme weather pose an additional obstacle for festival promoters facing rising costs and safety challenges due to hot or stormy weather.
“The normal way the festival industry does business relies on a certain number of tickets to be sold early and often,” Strong told The Guardian. “People are now getting cautious enough about the weather that they’re starting to leave their ticket buying to the point where they can meaningfully look at a weather forecast.”
She continued: “This in turn affects how festivals can assess whether or not they are viable, and for a lot of them, that’s just not practical.”
Green Music Australia’s recommendations for addressing the issue include government action on climate science, consumer protection for ticket holders, and climate-resilient festival infrastructure such as shaded areas, heat shelters, water refill stations, and flood-resistant staging, among others.
Read the complete report here.
Featured image courtesy: Pitch Music & Arts.
