Dance Festivals 'Under Direct Attack' By NSW Government: 'This Is The Start Of Lockouts 2.0'

Electronic music and dance festivals are "under direct attack" by the New South Wales state government, according to one the sector's most prominent figures. 

Speaking at Labor's live music policy launch on Friday, Jane Slingo, executive producer of Australia’s Electronic Music Conference and manager to Sydney's own Set Mo, says the state government is targeting the dance sector in its crackdown on music festivals. 

"Despite the harsh regulatory reform that killed Sydney's nightlife, electronic and dance music festivals have risen to become some of the most popular in New South Wales," Slingo said.

"Right now, the electronic music sector is yet again under direct attack with the government imposing ill-considered and uninformed regulations on our festivals. We only have to see the number of festivals cancelled in these past two weeks to know that this is a warning sign that this is the start of lockouts 2.0."

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian stated earlier this week that the government's widely-panned festival policy is about being stricter on "high-risk events where we’ve seen death, or serious injury".

"Hundreds of artists, production, crew, hospitality staff, security staff, managers, booking agents and promoters will again lose significant income and their livelihood," Slingo continued.

"This situation will negatively impact artists in New South Wales, it will negatively impact artists around the country and it will also negatively impact international artists and their teams as well.

"Having artists play on a festival is a key trigger for record sales and streaming and potential radio play. Songwriters will be affected. The licensing fees that festivals pay to bodies such as APRA AMCOS are significant and make up the income for the writers of the songs that are performed at these events.

"The entire music ecosystem will be affected negatively and beyond our industry, the social benefits for music lovers all across New South Wales will be diminished."

At Friday's launch, which took place at historic venue Selina's in Sydney, Labor Leader Michael Daley vowed to "end the war on music" should they win next month's state election, promising to increase total funding for contemporary music from less than $4 million over the last four years under the Liberal and National Government to $35 million.  

Meanwhile, a rally will go ahead next week to protest the festival policy, while almost 100,000 people have signed a petition pushing for the policy to be dropped.