Listen Out is the latest festival to confirm it will not be going ahead in 2025.
Like so many other music festivals, Listen Out has felt the weight of downward pressures from every angle, and has decided to skip this year’s event.
In a statement posted to its official Instagram, the Listen Out team confirm they won’t be going ahead in 2025, instead pivoting to curated parties around the country.
“The last few years have been tough. So, we’re hitting pause on Listen Out as you know it,” reads a statement. “But we’re not going anywhere. Introducing Listen Out Presents – tomorrow’s got you covered”.
The post insists, “we’re still here for the good time…just in a new way. We’re not saying anything else…for now.”
The Australian Festival Association commends the team for “taking a thoughtful and creative approach. It reflects both the pressures and possibilities of the current festival landscape.”
Launched in 2013, Listen Out has “long been a leading voice in Australia’s contemporary music festival landscape,” notes the AFA, “known for championing global and emerging talent with curated line-ups that reflected the culture and energy of the moment.”
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It’s tough out there in festival-land. “With complex regulations, rising costs, tight timelines and increasing operational risks,” the AFA continues, “the environment festivals operate in has fundamentally shifted. We are seeing promoters of all sizes adapt in real time.”
New formats like Listen Out Presents are said to be part of an industry-wide evolution, one that “needs to be backed by policy, funding and regulatory reform to ensure a sustainable future for music festivals.”
