Stereosonic officially gets cancelled, leaving uncertain future for Australia’s biggest festival

Australian festival goers may be in for some bad news as it has been reported that the country’s biggest music festival, Stereosonic, would face a similar fate to so many of Australia’s popular festivals that have folded in previous years, including Soundwave, Future Music and Big Day Out.

Speculation has started to build amid a report in Australia’s The Daily Telegraph that Australia’s biggest festival is not returning in 2016 and is understood to have been “binned permanently”. The organizers are yet to respond to the claim; however, there have certainly been indicators in recent times that the festival was facing some major issues. The festival faced bankruptcy of its parent company and came under public scrutiny after a pair of drug-related deaths from its 2015 events.

Speculation over Stereosonic’s future began earlier this year, when the festival’s U.S. parent company SFX filed for bankruptcy. Stereosonic’s founder Richie Mc Neill said at the time that they weren’t affected by the financial restructure and assured fans that the annual festival is in good hands and that there were even plans to expand.  

But was SFX’s bankruptcy more of a blow to Stereosonic than the organizers would admit to at the time? In late March, one of SFX’s Australian offices went up for lease with listing photographs even showing old Creamfields and Stereosonic posters on the wall. “All the core team behind Stereosonic have left SFX and there’s hardly anyone left to put on the festival,” a source close to the festival has said. “Plus SFX is dealing with bankruptcy in the US with the CEO Robert Sillerman gone and the business in disarray, it seems unlikely the festival will return.”

It was also reported that Stereosonic organizers Simon Cotela and Richie McNeill are planning on capitalizing on Stereosonic’s demise by starting a new venture. Cotela denied the claim stating “I just don’t know what is going on there at Stereosonic.” When asked whether or not he is working on another festival, Cotela said: “Not at this stage no. Maybe at the future I will do something but at this stage there is nothing on the go.”

Although Stereosonic doesn’t typically announce their line-up until July, by March of 2015 the festival had already locked in dates and ticket prices. No announcements regarding this year’s Stereosonic have been made by organizers, leaving the fans to question whether the festival will take place. The recent reporting will most likely prompt the organizers to make an official announcement and we hope that instead of a cancellation we’ll be hearing about Stereosonic dates and a line-up.