22 November 2011

Mission to Launch fizzles on the platform

| johnboy
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mission to launch

The Mission to Launch festival planned for New Years in Weston Park has announced they’re scrapping the event.

Organisers of Canberra’s Mission To Launch Festival regretfully announce that the festival has suspended ticket sales and is officially cancelled.

The decision has been a very difficult one for organisers who, as Canberra locals themselves, envisaged bringing a world-class party to the nation’s capital for New Year’s Eve.

Unfortunately, the current economic climate has seen music festivals across the country suffer with drops in numbers of attendees and poor ticket sales on a large scale. Mission To Launch has unfortunately suffered the same fate.

The festival was a bold and unique business venture designed for Canberra – an idea initiated by local businessmen and activated 18 months ago when the event market was more resilient.

Ticket holders are entitled to a full refund from the point of purchase. Contact your ticketing agency for more details.

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Enrique you’re wrong. If you’ve got a decent venue, a couple of decent DJs and a good promoter you can make quite a tidy sum on NYE. Been there, done that. People need to think of something new for NYE.

8. Canberra is in danger of becoming a live music wasteland – music acts, promoters and organisers will avoid Canberra because of the poor turnouts, slow ticket pre-sales and a distinct lack of suitable venues.

Slow ticket sales ? Poor turnouts ?

Michael Buble sold out in minutes, P!NK sold out in minutes, Lady Gaga sold out in minutes.

I love going to concerts and find myself travelling to Sydney half a dozen times a year because no one wants to come here… Wouldn’t hurt them to at least TRY and put on a concert in Canberra.. they might be surprised.

I’ve got 2 road trips in a week to Sydney for Eminem, then for Foo Fighters – turns a $150ish concert up to a $500 concert
(FYI – I have an Eminem ticket for sale… anyone ?)

OpenYourMind8:48 pm 23 Nov 11

Wombat 1974, I reckon it would have been a great event. I think Weston Park is a new and novel location and I liked the line up. Many of the people on here whining about the line up and how they’ve not heard of the artists probably wouldn’t go to music festivals anyway. They might at a pinch go to see Suzi Quattro or Cold Chisel getting wheeled out of their retirement homes.

There are a couple of points that need to be clarified;
1. Ticket price – $130 for 15 known acts and 2 local acts is not expensive. In fact in works out to a little over $8 per act. The acts fees only make up around 1/3 of the total event costs, making the ticket price more than reasonable.
2. Get bigger bands to sell more tickets – The bigger the bands, the higher the artist fees, the higher the ticket price and number of ticket sales required to break even, let alone make a profit.
3. Lack of public transport to event – On the FAQ page it says there were free buses available from satelite stops throughout Canberra to and from the event. This was designed to remove the need for getting cabs etc to and from the event, and the fact that there was limited parking available on site.
4. Low return/high risk – This was accepted by organisers. As locals, they were prepared to carry moderate losses over the short term to bring an event to canberra that met needs identified in the region. Namely, nothing really on in the region over new year’s, no concerts available for the under 18 market in this region, slow business environment over this period.
5. Supporting the local region – MTL was donating over $10,000 to the local Lions club which delivers tangible benfits to the local community, engaged CIT graphic design class to design future years themes and stage and event banners for this year
6. 17 festivals have been cancelled this year alone in Australia. However, something like this doesn’t come together overnight. This event started planning over 18 months ago when the festival scene was a lot stronger.
7. Should have waited until after Foreshore had run – With only 40 days to go before the event ran every day they waited cost them money. The dollars involved in running an event of this size is considerable (six zero’s). The acts needed to organise other gigs or full fees would have needed to be paid and suppliers engaged and non-refundable deposits paid.
8. Canberra is in danger of becoming a live music wasteland – music acts, promoters and organisers will avoid Canberra because of the poor turnouts, slow ticket pre-sales and a distinct lack of suitable venues.
9. Have to start somewhere – The major NYE festivals had to have an inaugural year. Without getting the first year off the ground, festival goers in Canberra now don’t have the opportunity to have input into growing it to something that was exactly what was needed and wanted.

It is a shame that this event didn’t come off , not only for the community, but the live music scene in this town.

shadow boxer3:42 pm 23 Nov 11

Gantz said :

No, it would not. With the over saturation of festivals, we’re delivered the same rotation of artists, Bliss N Eso being some of the worst offenders.

Yeh maybe, I think the target audience for this festival would have been the local occasional festival goer rather that the hard core BDO regular. I have daughters in year 9 and year 11 and they would kill to see BnE.

I was more having a quiet dig at people who say all rap and doof is crap.

Can’t say I’m surprised.

The Canberra market for these types of events is relatively small compared to other capital cities at the best of times.

Throw in NYE when a large proportion of people in the 20’s/early 30’s go interstate to party with friends and you’re looking at a few thousand potential customers left in Canberra, max.

You’ve then got the artists to deal with – they’ll all be charging premium prices since this is one of the premier nights of the year. You’ll also be faced with the risk that they’ll cancel if they get what they think is a better offer elsewhere.

With whatever cash you’ve got leftover you’ve then got to organise production staff, admin staff, marketing and promotions, security, fencing, audio, lighting, stage(s), mixing, toilets, site offices, ticketing, emergency/first-aid, food&beverages, site rehabilitation, insurance, etc…

Probably not a lot leftover after that – meaning that throwing a party/festival in Canberra on NYE is a pretty low reward / high risk venture.

No, it would not. With the over saturation of festivals, we’re delivered the same rotation of artists, Bliss N Eso being some of the worst offenders.

shadow boxer1:36 pm 23 Nov 11

Should’ve paid whatever it took to get these guys, would sell out in a heartbeat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmYz-RE9YmA

johnboy said :

bog metal?

Named after the appropriate place to put it.

Mind you, it’s way better than rap and doof.

I am really sad to hear this, I think Mission to Launch could have been a success if they waited for a few more weeks after foreshore to allow people to buy tickets, it was late notice that it was happening and the budgets of many had been stretched tight preparing for foreshore. Though if none of the foreshore crew made it to MTL that would have been fine by me!

I thought the line up looked really good, and was looking forward to enjoying a decent NYE in Canberra instead of watching some fireworks and avoiding drunk losers in civic.

It was also going to be the third time I have seen TLE this year. They are a top Australian band for all those saying the line-up sucked.. why not take a look at the triple j 100 greatest album list for proof…

How about:

Thanks Canberra for being such a massive bunch of try hards who don’t appreciate decent music and the dance music you listen too instead isn’t even really music let alone dance music.

Typical that Canberrans don’t support music, maybe there are to many events?
As for price, it was high but the time of year and having people work would have incresed the price.
As for line-up, I agree that there were bands which I have not heard of. This may have been due to a new event, no repretation! Would you as a reputable artist perform and risk damaging your name.

It is a shame that in Canberra on NEW YEARS EVE there is not much to do, congrads to the people for attempting to bring something here, but again Canberrans are all talk no action when it come to events, maybe in the future there will be no live bands performing here and everyone will have to travel.

Keijidosha said :

The failures of Trackside, Stonefest and now Mission to Launch suggests to me that either the organisers have dollar signs in their eyes and pudding for brains, or the kiddies are realising that festivals are one of the worst ways to experience your favourite artists.

it took me a while to realise it – but i couldnt agree more. That and i dont own any fluro singlets of Kanye West sunglasses like every other clone at BDO.

I went to soundwave and missed watching a few acts because i was watching other acts – kind of cuts down the ratio of value for money when that happens.

Well that is a bummer. I was hoping Civic would be left to the humans on NYE.

I guess unlike the occasions where we ratepayers pay for freebies for assorted VIP rellos, economic reality had to bite. Speaking of failed events, can’t wait for the ACT Government stats on how many of the supposedly 4,000 people who showed up to “voices in the forest (sic)” were freebies.

Muttsybignuts7:09 pm 22 Nov 11

i don’t care about no stinkin festival politics. I just wanna get my fat, old body into the pits of Machine Head and System of a Down…

johnboy said :

bog metal?

Short for Bogan Metal??

Thoroughly Smashed4:43 pm 22 Nov 11

shirty_bear said :

johnboy said :

bog metal?

It’s metal, but it sounds as though it was recorded in a WC.

Ahh, they’re bringing Mayhem back to Australia?

The failures of Trackside, Stonefest and now Mission to Launch suggests to me that either the organisers have dollar signs in their eyes and pudding for brains, or the kiddies are realising that festivals are one of the worst ways to experience your favourite artists.

johnboy said :

bog metal?

It’s metal, but it sounds as though it was recorded in a WC.

johnboy said :

bog metal?

It’s used to fix rusty panels on your car.

johnboy said :

bog metal?

I swear you added that 🙂

It should say ‘big metal’

Gantz said :

Oh qbngeek…

Foreshore? Strength to Strength? Won’t even begin with them, all that needs to be said is it doesn’t really reflect the foreshore anymore does it?
Onto to Soundwave, ‘darling of the festival world’? You ever been, to say, I don’t know, Glastonbury? In fact, any other festival that was not in Oz?
Compare the two though, and the organisers behind them, and what crowds attend either, big fat differences!

I have been to several of the massive UK and European festivals, but this is not a discussion about them. Their market is very different with masively larger populations in much smaller areas. TO compare them to a festival in Australia is not fair.

I called SW the darling of the festival world as that is what I have heard and seen many people call it, obviously I am talking about Australian festivals. Outside my day job I am heavily involved in the music world, mainly in the metal and rock communities, and the big names are struggling big time. BDO is on its last legs and the innovative festivals are the one s who are winning out.

MTL was never innovative, it had a lacklustre line-up, full of yesterdays news, and was charging like a big nome festival. If it had been properly done, it may have succeeded, maybe the organisers should have approached some fo the bigger promoters and asked for help getting access to bands. It has been done before and is the smart way to do it. Find out who is on tour to Australia and see if you can get them to appear as part of the tour. They needed a bid name to get people interested, and they had no current big names.

It is sad it failed, but it wasn’t very well done at all.

pptvb said :

qbngeek said :

Mmmmkay, so if music festivals all over the country are suffering, why has Soundwave sold out in Melbourne and about to sell out in Brisbane? Why have they had to change or expand venues to allow for more attendees? Why has the organiser of Soundwave also launched Harvest which by the word going around at the moment appears to be a massive success? Why has Foreshore gone from strength to strength?

I would say it had more to do with:
– a piss-poor line up
– a location that is (a) not very well serviced by public transport and (b) nowhere near the majority of hotels/motels/hostels.
– Tickets that are waaaayyyy overpriced considering the tiny line-up with no real star power. MTL – $130/15 ‘bands’, Soundwave $160/70+ bands, Homebake $103 30+ bands

My apologies for all the Soundwave references, but they seem to be the darling of the festival world at the moment and are absolutely killing it.

Really!
You obviously didn’t get F#%ked over by the Soundwave organisers like we did.
http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/music/news/blog/its-official-soundwave-revolution-2011-cancelled/20110809-e6g7.html

They were sold out in Bris, Adel, Melb & almost in Syd & Perth when they pulled the plug.

Too many festivals at the moment.

You need to understand that Soundwave Revolution was a disaster that was caused by issues outside the control of the organiser. I have spoken to AJ about Revolution and it was cancelled due to a bunch of things he couldn’t control. He did the best he could in the situation, refunded everyone and organised Counter Revolution. Obviously that isn’t enough for you, gee your life must be sweet if nothing ever goes wrong. I say harden up princess.

However Soundwave is a different festival. It has gone from strength to strength every year and continues to blow everyone away. Especially when there are no street performers or rides or circus acts or any of the other crap that festivals like BDO have had to introduce to keep people interested. It is about the music and nothing else and that is why it is succeeding (plus no-one else is bring the bog metal/punk/goth bands to Australia).

Oh qbngeek…

Foreshore? Strength to Strength? Won’t even begin with them, all that needs to be said is it doesn’t really reflect the foreshore anymore does it?
Onto to Soundwave, ‘darling of the festival world’? You ever been, to say, I don’t know, Glastonbury? In fact, any other festival that was not in Oz?
Compare the two though, and the organisers behind them, and what crowds attend either, big fat differences!

Festivals do nothing for me. Give me a decent concert starting at 8pm running until midnight and I’m happy.

pptvb said :

qbngeek said :

Mmmmkay, so if music festivals all over the country are suffering, why has Soundwave sold out in Melbourne and about to sell out in Brisbane? Why have they had to change or expand venues to allow for more attendees? Why has the organiser of Soundwave also launched Harvest which by the word going around at the moment appears to be a massive success? Why has Foreshore gone from strength to strength?

I would say it had more to do with:
– a piss-poor line up
– a location that is (a) not very well serviced by public transport and (b) nowhere near the majority of hotels/motels/hostels.
– Tickets that are waaaayyyy overpriced considering the tiny line-up with no real star power. MTL – $130/15 ‘bands’, Soundwave $160/70+ bands, Homebake $103 30+ bands

My apologies for all the Soundwave references, but they seem to be the darling of the festival world at the moment and are absolutely killing it.

Really!
You obviously didn’t get F#%ked over by the Soundwave organisers like we did.
http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/music/news/blog/its-official-soundwave-revolution-2011-cancelled/20110809-e6g7.html

They were sold out in Bris, Adel, Melb & almost in Syd & Perth when they pulled the plug.

Too many festivals at the moment.

Soundwave Revolution was not sold out in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney or Perth when it was cancelled. It had sold less then 30% of capacity in Adelaide and Perth when it cancelled. All that goes to show from these cancellations is that is too many festivals at the moment, and treating your customers with the respect that Soundwave did is one of the reasons its sprung back so well.

qbngeek said :

Mmmmkay, so if music festivals all over the country are suffering, why has Soundwave sold out in Melbourne and about to sell out in Brisbane? Why have they had to change or expand venues to allow for more attendees? Why has the organiser of Soundwave also launched Harvest which by the word going around at the moment appears to be a massive success? Why has Foreshore gone from strength to strength?

I would say it had more to do with:
– a piss-poor line up
– a location that is (a) not very well serviced by public transport and (b) nowhere near the majority of hotels/motels/hostels.
– Tickets that are waaaayyyy overpriced considering the tiny line-up with no real star power. MTL – $130/15 ‘bands’, Soundwave $160/70+ bands, Homebake $103 30+ bands

My apologies for all the Soundwave references, but they seem to be the darling of the festival world at the moment and are absolutely killing it.

Really!
You obviously didn’t get F#%ked over by the Soundwave organisers like we did.
http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/music/news/blog/its-official-soundwave-revolution-2011-cancelled/20110809-e6g7.html

They were sold out in Bris, Adel, Melb & almost in Syd & Perth when they pulled the plug.

Too many festivals at the moment.

Mmmmkay, so if music festivals all over the country are suffering, why has Soundwave sold out in Melbourne and about to sell out in Brisbane? Why have they had to change or expand venues to allow for more attendees? Why has the organiser of Soundwave also launched Harvest which by the word going around at the moment appears to be a massive success? Why has Foreshore gone from strength to strength?

I would say it had more to do with:
– a piss-poor line up
– a location that is (a) not very well serviced by public transport and (b) nowhere near the majority of hotels/motels/hostels.
– Tickets that are waaaayyyy overpriced considering the tiny line-up with no real star power. MTL – $130/15 ‘bands’, Soundwave $160/70+ bands, Homebake $103 30+ bands

My apologies for all the Soundwave references, but they seem to be the darling of the festival world at the moment and are absolutely killing it.

Sad, yes! Although with the likes of Summer Dayze and Field Day having dominated NYE and New Years Day for some time now, was bound to happen.
My suggestion would be to promote a lot sooner, perhaps as early as June, if decent ticket sales are to made and some better acts.
Doesn’t have to be Bieber of Guetta, perhaps just not recycled artists who don’t appeal anymore….

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