Following the cancellation of Australia’s largest rock festival, Soundwave, a number of local and international acts have rallied together to create a world-first, fan-driven music festival in Australia called LEGION MUSIC FEST.
The project, spear-headed by John Sankey, drummer of LA-based heavy metal band Devil You Know, has already attracted the support of a number of industry heavy weights who believe that this model could change the way that touring music festivals are approached world-wide.
“If we pull this off we will have broken the record for the biggest crowd funded campaign in Australian history and the biggest music campaign in the whole world”, said Sankey.
He explained that the model vastly reduces the financial risk for bands, fans and suppliers alike.
“All the fans need to do is pledge – which gets them a guaranteed ticket to the festival BUT their payment won’t actually get processed until the goal is reached and the event is guaranteed.
That way everyone involved can have complete confidence that all costs are covered and the event will go ahead before committing time, services or money to the festival”, he said.
Legion Music Fest have already announced a number of local and international bands and have said that they will be announcing a majority of the line up in the coming days; basing a vast majority of their line up and broader event decisions on fan feedback.
Sankey hopes that this is the first in a long line of annual, fan driven, music festivals in Australia.
“We have an opportunity to rally together and make history while establishing a future for the live music scene in Australia and have our actions speak boldly to the world”, he said.
If the goal is reached, the festival is set to take place over the Easter long weekend in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with smaller ‘mini’ festivals to be held in Adelaide and Perth on the following weekend.
Pledges at: www.pozible.com/legionmusicfest
More info at: www.legionmusicfest.com
- Bands announced at 1pm yesterday: Devil Driver (USA), Frontline Assembly (Canada), Aversions Crown (AU)
- Also announced previously: Devil You Know (USA), Darkest Hour (USA), Battle Cross (USA), Dream on Dreamer (AU), Caligula’s Horse (AU), Darkc3ll (AU) and Rick Dangerous and the Silkie Bantams (AU)
- 30 bands in total set to play over 3 stages at each east coast event
- Approximately 10 International acts and 20 Australian acts
- The first major rock festival world-wide to be run without a traditional event promoter
- First major music festival in the world to be crowd funded
- Crowd funding goal of $3.27 Million
- Largest Australian crowd funding campaign to date raised $1 Million
- Largest music crowd funding campaign globally to date raised $1.2 Million
- In its first day of being live to public, LEGION MUSIC FEST campaign raised over $100,000
- Ongoing commitment to fostering local talent with a dedicated stage for local, emerging artists
- Ongoing commitment to fostering local economies by using local suppliers exclusively
- With no traditional event promoter, all ticketing profits raised above the crowd funding goal will be split amongst the participating artists
- Capacity limited to 10,000 per east coast event and commitment to grow the festival slowly to ensure event is achievable and sustainable
- Confirmed event partners include: Oztix, Pozible, Global Events Management, Unbreakable International, Love Police, Bullet Proof and Jaden Social
