AUSTRALASIA
by Christie Eliezer
AUSTRALIA
Tasmania Proposing 50% Tax Rebate For Struggling Music Venues
The government of Tasmania is proposing a lifeline to struggling music venues with the Tasmanian Live Music Excise Rebate Pilot. It will provide participating venues with a rebate of 50% of their verified expenditure on live music.
“We want to see local venues rewarding for investing in musicians, creating local jobs and bringing communities together,” said acting premier Bridget Archer.
The plan has received applause from national associations as rights group APRA AMCOS and the Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) who are lobbying for such a rebate.
APRA AMCOS chief executive Dean Ormston responded, “This is a national first and Tasmania should be applauded for it,” while the ALMBC stated, “It could offer a template for every state and territory.”
The government’s proposal came same week as seven Tasmanian venues closing abruptly – four of them music spaces – after owners Pub Banc Group and Hotel Banc Group entered voluntary administration citing tough trading conditions.
Matthew Lazarus-Hall Named GM of Sydney’s Afterpay Arena
Legends Global named biz veteran Matthew Lazarus-Hall as general manager of Sydney’s Afterpay Arena.
He stepped into the role in January in an interim capacity, “during which he provided strong leadership, continuity and focus to navigate the arena’s heavy event load.”
With senior roles at Ticketek Australia and 13 years at Chugg Entertainment as CEO, Lazarus-Hall joined Legends Global (APAC) 2024. Most recently, he was part of the executive team that opened Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong.
New Chapter For RAC Arena
Perth’s sports and entertainment RAC Arena began a new chapter this month when it came under direct management of VenuesWest, replacing Legends Global which continues as the venue’s hospitality provider.
VenuesWest stated “direct management would deliver the best value for Western Australians, including millions of dollars in savings and improved operational efficiency.”
The 15,500-seater’s 20 music and comedy events over the next 12 months includes a two-night stand from WA band Tame Impala.
Tamworth Spotlights Canadian Showcase
Tamworth Country Music Festival, held over 10 days in Australia’s country music capital, is debuting the Great Canadian Roadtrip Down Under.
Held Jan. 21 at the Capitol Theatre, it has sets from Dan Davidson, Clayton Bellamy of Road Hammers, Andrew Farriss and Jessica Sevier.
Davidson said, “Australia is our country music home away from home. Both the Road Hammers and I have been down touring in the market five times now, and we just can’t get enough.”
The initiative is presented by Toronto agency Strut Entertainment, and Davidson and Bellamy’s indie label SkySong Records.
Farriss, of INXS fame whose recent albums have been country-themed, is its local rep.
NEW ZEALAND
Inaugural ULTRA Generates Millions For Wellington
The inaugural ULTRA NZ, which drew 25,000 to the Wellington waterfront in April, made NZ$5.4 million ($3.11 million) of new visitor spend, said an economics report by Fresh Info Ltd.
It found 40% of the crowd came from outside the city, with an average of 2.43 nights per visitor, and a NZ$575 ($331.40) spend per visitor.
Such figures were beyond expectation, said Heidi Morton, GM Events & Experiences at WellingtonNZ, which supported the event with the NZ government’s Events Attraction Package.
“With high out-of-region visitation, increased visitor spend, and strong publicity and profile across the motu (island), this event showed how Wellington continues to leverage major events to drive more economic growth, support more local businesses, and create more memorable experiences.”
The event was promoted by New Zealand-based Audiology Touring. Its group director Mitch Lowe explained, “This is our investment in the future of our country’s electronic music scene, helping to elevate homegrown talent and inspire the next generation of artists.”
NZ acts Broderbeats, In:Motion, Joey Illah, Lenni Vibe, Paige Julia, Pixie Lane, Repair and Twofold joined international superstars such as The Chainsmokers, DJ Snake, Zedd, Oliver Heldens, and Alison Wonderland.
ASIA
by Phil Brasor
HONG KONG
The South China Morning Post recently ran an editorial critical of Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium, the city’s largest venue, which opened for business in the spring of 2025 to great fanfare as a magnet for large-scale concerts that would make Hong Kong a major events hub. While the SCMP acknowledged Kai Tak as “Hong Kong’s flagship venue for top events, with world-class concerts and sports competitions packing the calendar,” it also noted that the stadium has since been plagued with operational problems.
The latest setback was the cancellation of three concerts by Cantopop star Sammi Cheung due to “a critical component failure during the testing process and stage set-up.” As a result, the three shows were “watered down to one-and-a-half-hour free appreciation shows.” Ticket holders can either demand a refund or retain their tickets for a future date.
Though the organizer wisely decided to put safety first, the problem highlighted the stadium’s troubled status, since it wasn’t the first time this year that concerts had to be called off due to last minute concerns, the most recent being Taiwan rock band Mayday’s cancellation of the opening night of a concert series due to similar worries.
These cancellations have called into question the stadium’s “coordination and competence,” which in turn damage Hong Kong’s “aspiration to reassert itself as a premiere hub for mega-events” among regional competition for acts. It doesn’t seem to be a matter of any structural issues with the stadium, but rather the logistical challenges for “players who may be unfamiliar with larger-scale performances.”
JAPAN
How Fests Draw The Young
An article in Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper on July 10 attempted to explain how Japanese music festivals were working to attract young people. According to one marketing research group, in 2025 Japanese music festivals attracted 371 million people, an increase of more than a million since 2015. The bulk of these new ticket buyers are people in their teens and 20s, which organizers consider the prime target audience since at that age they are ripe for repeats in the future.
The trend, however, also has caused some festival organizers to reassess their way of thinking. Over time, Japanese audiences have slowly abandoned their interest in Western acts as the audiences have become younger and the older fans who made Japan a must for touring international artists in the past have aged out of concertgoing as a pastime. Though these older fans still want to see their heroes, they would prefer to wait until those heroes play standalone concerts rather than at festivals.
Consequently, the longest-running festivals in Japan that tend to highlight international acts are featuring more top-tier Japanese artists. However, another factor has come into the equation since the end of the pandemic: Young Japanese have become more interested in attending live performances and see music festivals as having greater “cost-performance” value compared to standalone concerts. So while operating costs have skyrocketed since the pandemic and the value of the yen has made inviting international stars much more expensive, young people seem to be willing to pay the inflated prices for festival tickets.
Organizers have responded to this trend. Smash Corporation, the company that holds Japan’s oldest and most famous international music festival, Fuji Rock, recently started selling one-day passes for the three-day event at a discount for attendees under the age of 22 and an even bigger discount for those under the age of 17.
But a subtler aspect of the music festival experience also seems to be attracting younger people: the excitement and uncertainty of the experience, which work to bring on physical and mental fatigue. While such a feeling is anathema to older festival-goers, it seems to have a special appeal for younger ones, according to one entertainment critic who has attended Fuji regularly for decades. “Young people today equate tiredness with doing something meaningful,” she said. Moreover, a festival “offers young people the choice” of opting out of the “algorithms” that dicate their everyday social lives. There is a freedom in the festival experience that is directly associated with the individual’s knowledge that their choices—which act to watch at a certain time, when and what to eat—are truly their own.
This aspect is especially appealing to that layer of Japanese who graduated during the decade from 1993 to 2002 called the “ice age,” when good jobs were scarce. This “lost generation” was the first group of young people to attend Fuji, which gave them a “simulated experience” of being in charge of their own situation, something they didn’t have in their real lives. As one sociologist put it, “For them, [Fuji Rock] became the only place where everything revolved around them.”
Superfan Insurance Offered
The Japanese online newsletter Unseen Japan reports that JCB, one of Japan’s largest credit card companies, has launched an insurance policy for people who follow musicians and other artists faithfully wherever and whenever they appear. Cardholders can now apply for “oshikatsu cancellation insurance.” “Oshikatsu” means “fan activity,” a bona fide “industry” that caters to the wants and needs of dedicated fans and generates an immense amount of money each year. Oshikatsu embodies merchandise, concerts, themed events and all the attendant travel necessary.
The new insurance policy, which JCB developed with a dedicated insurance company, reimburses policy holders for cancellation fees for transportation and accommodations associated with fan activities, as when concerts are cancelled or postponed, or transportation delays occur while trying to fulfill such activities. It even reimburses the policy holder if they fall ill and cannot attend the concert or event due to hospitalization or medical treatment.
The insurance does not reimburse the cost of the ticket itself, however, unless the policy holder bought the ticket as part of a travel package. It also doesn’t cover events or concerts that take place with substitute members.
The policies are sold on an event basis and cost about $5 for a domestic event or concert and between $8 and $16 for a foreign event or concert.
