'It's Crazy Frustrating': The 'Terrifying' Challenges Facing Promoters Post-COVID

The post pandemic live music world was meant to be perfect. We’d all been tucked up in our rooms for close to two years straight and our eagerness to see live music and go clubbing was meant to be at an all time high. As the pandemic wavered, live music was packed, clubs were full and tickets were scarce.

Now, months into the COVID recovery, music events are feeling the full brunt of the hangover that lockdown’s have had on punters, promoters and artists. The world is not what we expected it to be, rather than defeating the pandemic we are now living through it, in one of the most uncertain times in history. What’s resulted is an abundance of events, a scarcity of punters with a range of factors drawing people away from live music spaces.

Promoters are the lifeblood of Australian club and live music spaces. They dedicate ample amounts of time, finances and emotional labour in providing incredible experiences for dance and music lovers. What they’ve noticed is that they’re facing the brunt of this hangover. Ticket purchasing patterns have changed drastically, fans have a new expectation for events and are demanding new, refreshing experiences after being locked down for 2 years.

Initially, coming out of lockdowns and in between lockdowns, enthusiasm for live music had never been bigger. Venue Booker and decade long club promoter Daniel Hundt, who recently started booking agency and promotions company Fruit Bowl commented on the enthusiasm out of the gates for live music.

“The in between periods pre vaccine where there was close to no COVID around was crazy. It was the fastest moving period for local club nights that I have seen in 10 years. That initial gap would have been the best time for local dance music in such a long time,” he stated.

“When everything opened up after the first lockdown, the same energy was reflected. Chatting to other promoters though, who had witnessed and took notes on what had happened in Europe we knew something was going to change. That scene was 6 months ahead of us. Everyone was always going to come out of the gates hard, then it will just drop, which is what we are feeling right now. Everything across the board right now is probably running at about 40%. That’s for everything, across all genres and venues.”

The main initial challenge in this period, that has been mentioned by numerous promoters, is the scarcity of venues and the financial stress that that causes on promoters and new parties emerging. 

“Really, I think the main challenge that’s facing promoters & punters alike right now is a financial one. I’ve been hearing stories of other promoters taking losses on their events, some of them really large ones, all because they didn’t quite make the number of tickets they needed or they had to drop the price,” states Jack Colquhoun, co-head honcho of Lovejoy.

“A financial challenge is the most terrifying one for a promoter, particularly when so many of us aren’t working with huge venues & are having to shell out money on minimum bar spend, hiring gear, a space itself or even security, and not something that most promoters can hack before they just decide to take a break & recoup some cash.”

Isa, who hosts consistent events under the imprint Athletica, reflects this current financial stress.

“My biggest challenge in running events in so-called Sydney right now is only partially related to COVID - all the venues have shut. This has been a massive problem for ages, but in 2022 options for a good club with decent sound that doesn't cost $3k+ to hire are slim. And that's before you consider accessibility and venue location and what the bookers are like to work with. 

“It's crazy frustrating because there's no shortage of ideas, talent, and communities wanting to gather and share their art, it's just very hard to find proper space to do it in. I worry that it's killing new parties because they can start.”

The financial stress on the promoter is far from a new challenge, but combined with changing enthusiasm of punters to go out, due to the COVID climate, adds a whole new level of mental stress on the party thrower. Ticket purchasing patterns have changed, forever as we live through a literal pandemic. This is reflected clearly in the words of the promoters.

“Even with no shows and uncertainty and COVID stress, I honestly feel better about ticket sales/attendance now than I did pre-pandemic. The landscape of the city has changed irrevocably, and lots is still very fucked up, but in the spaces I move in there's an excitement and an eagerness for community that I didn't feel as broadly before. People's ears are also open to a much wider range of sounds!” states Isa.

Before a quick shift in sentiment, “That said, no one wants to buy tix until like 3 days out in case they get COVID, so there's that.”

Hundt reflected differently on this point, noticing a change in shift of ticket patterns and punter attendance. “We threw two big parties with Moktar and Skeleten and announced them in that glory period. Out of the gate they sold out straight away, but on the night we had close to 150 no shows of people that had bought tickets to both of those parties. People just decided not to come.”

Colquhoun follows, “I feel really lucky that up until this point I’ve never had much of a difficulty in selling tickets. We have a really responsive following which means tickets to our events get snapped up usually within the first few minutes. That said, I could really feel the pinch on our latest event, where even though we had an interstate & an international playing, we decided to drop the ticket price shortly after sale to ensure we were getting punters on the floor.

“I’ve been chatting with other promoters & acts, who have all been experiencing a similar pattern. People are understandably pretty nervous about going out. They’re getting sick, they’re getting tired, they’ve been spending heaps of money on tickets once we finally opened up again, and the cost of living is only continuing to rise.”

“That said, I do think that there’s a disconnect between just how much punters care for the music that they’re experiencing, & how much they think it needs. We spent the last two years yearning for music to come back, and while yes, I can understand feeling tired & a bit scared, I think we all really need to be there for it on a regular basis, and put our money where our mouth is.”

Another promoter, who has requested to remain anonymous, shares their experience with throwing parties in this climate.

“Having absolutely no idea whether people will show up to a party is extremely anxiety inducing, due to the mental and financial stresses. Pre-pandemic, crowds were relatively reliable, there was a steady flow of fans purchasing tickets, both before shows and walking into shows. Now I have close to no idea whether a party will flop or be successful until it is fully up and running. This is regardless of whether the show is free or not.”

There are a range of reasons for the lack of ticket sales phenomenon that is occurring across the country at the moment, with Hundt describing the lockdown and COVID hangover as the main reason.

“Obviously a lot of people had COVID, but another lingering factor is that people don’t want to risk getting COVID when they’re looking forward to something else. People are planning their first holidays in a long time, they’ve got big family occasions and weddings that have been on delay. They don't want to miss out on that if they get COVID at a club night or live music venue.”

“It’s also really important to consider that people have had two years off from partying. I feel a bit awkward and weird socialising with that many people and it's extremely tiring to stay out until four in the morning when you aren’t trained for it.”

“There is heaps more hesitation in social interaction in clubs today, than there was in that gap.”

COVID illness context aside, there are a range of different issues that have presented in live music spaces after people have been locked down for two years. Punters have remained in their respective cities without an opportunity to travel, gain life experience and grow as live music lovers.

“People are getting used to seeing the same local acts and the same line ups at parties. Which is totally fine and it's not the punter's fault at all. People are really keen to support the local acts that have not had work for two years,” Hundt continues.

“You also then have punters who grow tired of seeing the live acts over and over again as they haven’t had the opportunity to travel and witness different communities and cities. That's a huge challenge for promoters, trying to deliver unique live music experiences.”

While these issues presented are short term and highly contextual, a scary structural issue remains. The demographic of 18-21 year olds have not experienced the power of live music. In these formative years, younger punters find their feet in the music spaces in which they love and deeply adore. It’s within these critical age brackets that people come of age, that grow as human beings and end up as hard ticket purchasing, consistent music fans. Without this being prevalent over the past two years especially in tastemaker and emerging artist spaces. The scarcity of these punters finding themselves in smaller live music spaces is being felt in Hundt’s closing remarks.

“One of the main things we need to consider is the big age gap that hasn’t been bridged yet. There were bushfires, and then Covid, which has wiped out potentially 3 years of live music experiences for people aged 18-21. 

“There are 21 year olds who have never been to a club. It’s really hard to engage them in tastemaker spaces and change their minds when they haven’t had the life experience in these formative years over the power of live music. It’s such a bizarre time to be in that age gap.”