UPDATE: Mushroom have confirmed are new partnership with Future Entertainment’s Future Music Festival, and Good Life Festival. “FMF will team up with the Mushroom Group and Frontier Touring to present the flagship Future Music Festival tour along with its little sister Good Life Festival (under 18s) plus a number of affiliated artist tours” read a statement from Mushroom. Read more about the new partnership here.
Original Story: Music fans are still awaiting the “blockbuster” lineup for Future Music Festival’s 2014 edition, but the organisers that run it may have been bought out by one of Australia’s biggest music companies.
Future Entertainment, one of the leading electronic music promoters in the country, is believed to have been snatched up by Australian music mogul Michael Gudinski, according to industry sources and documents obtained by Tone Deaf.
Future Entertainment’s leading brands, the national touring Future Music Festival and Summadayze, are believed to be included in the sale to the Mushroom kingpin. According to documents obtained by Tone Deaf from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, a new company called Future Music Pty Ltd was registered by Gudinski on the 27th August.
Michael and his son Matt Gudinski, who was promoted to the role of Executive Director within the Mushroom Group of companies as part of their 20th anniversary rebranding, are listed as the sole directors of the new company, with documents showing that Mushroom Festivals Pty Ltd owning all 120 shares of the new venture.
Interestingly, both Future Entertainment and Gudinski were named in BRW’s Top 50 Rich List for 2012, with the Mushroom Music Group and Frontier Touring honcho sitting at #6 with AU$10.489 million in earnings, while Mark James and Jason Ayoubi of Future Entertainment fell just inside the top half of the list, at #23 with $4.661 million in earnings.
A spokesperson for Mushroom declined to comment on the sale and any financial details relating to a transaction have not been revealed, but the legal documents obtained by Tone Deaf indicate that there may be much more at work than just another Smokescreen – the faux music festival set up by Mushroom to promote health awareness against smoking in a national campaign.
The sale of Future Entertainment and its branding to Mushroom continues the trend of live music promotions and businesses consolidating across Australia and this is just the latest in a series of high-profile touring promoters and music business forging new alliances.
The Dainty Group partnered with former Big Day Out promoter Vivian Lees to create Two Worlds Touring last September, while Lees’ former Big Day Out partner, promoter Ken West, sought solace in a new partnership with C3 Presents, the international company responsible for the likes of Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, bringing their considerable promotional power to the Big Day Out to great success earlier this year.
Both of which is following on from news that Michael Chugg and his Chugg Entertainment group buying into Homebake as well as a new deal with A&R Worldwide; while Splendour In The Grass promoters Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco also bought into Falls Festival, which has since expanded to Splendour’s hometown of Byron Bay.
Despite their directors being listed amongst the year’s biggest earners in 2012, Music Events Holdings Pty Ltd, previously Future Entertainment Pty Ltd, is believed to have minimal assets.
It was suggested in a Federal Court hearing in Melbourne this morning – relating to a trademark dispute brought by Future Entertainment against ice cream makers Cold Rock – that Future Entertainment had minimal assets except for their trademarks. However in a twist, Cold Rock’s legal team submitted to the court that the Future Entertainment brand had been transferred away from the company prior to the hearing.
Future’s trademarks, such as those for Future Music Festival and Summadayze, are currently being held by another new company, Future Music Holdings Pty Ltd, which obtained the trademarks from the original company trading as Future Entertainment Pty Ltd, which has since changed its name and according to documents obtained by Tone Deaf is currently embroiled in court action to wind the company up.
Justice Murphy dismissed Future Entertainment’s suit on the basis that they failed to turn up to three hearings on the matter, and that they no longer owned the trademarks they were disputing. Justice Murphy ruled that Future Entertainment had treated the defendant “shabbily” and the court “with contempt,” awarding court costs to the defendant and suggesting that the transfer of the trademarks could be to avoid any legal dramas associated with the wind up action, an action reflecting the “obvious financial trouble the company is in”.
Industry sources expect these trademarks will be transferred to the new company set up by Mushroom at some point in the future.
Despite the legal troubles and the sale, Future Entertainment are pressing ahead at full steam, with plans well underway for the 2014 edition of Future Music Festival, with the first act already leaking ahead of the official “blockbuster” 2014 lineup announcement.
There’s been no word yet on the next Summadayze festival, and the social media accounts for the event haven’t been updated for over a month. The Summadadayze 2013 lineup was announced on September 13th last year, so if the Gudinskis plan to continue the event we should expect a lineup within the next few weeks.
The rumour mill for Future Music Festival 2014 however is well underway, following on from Iranian born producer Dubfire telling a fan on twitter that he’d be in Australia “March 2014;” likely for his third ever Future appearance. There’s already been plenty of whispers about other artists too, including the million-dollar-earning Deadmau5, the disco-dubstep of Skream, and a hopeful return from those South African purveyors of ‘freeeky’ goodness, Die Antwoord.
Tone Deaf reached out to Future Entertainment for this story but could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
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