The multinational entertainment group Live Nation has taken over Splendour in the Grass and Falls festival, two of Australia’s biggest annual music events.
The Australian reported on Monday that the Los Angeles-based company had acquired a 51% stake in Secret Sounds Group, which owns and produces the two festivals.
Live Nation has a portfolio of more than 80 festivals around the world, including Lollapalooza, the Governors Ball on Randall’s Island in New York City and Bonnaroo in Tennessee.
It has an Australian arm in Melbourne.
Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco, joint chief executives of Secret Sounds, said in a statement that Live Nation would help them take live music in Australia “to the next level”.
The acquisition includes Secret Sounds’ touring, sponsorship, PR, artist management and domestic agency businesses, but does not affect Secret Sounds publishing and its record label affiliates Dew Process and Create Control.
Michael Rapino, the president and chief executive of Live Nation, said in a statement Falls festival and Splendour in the Grass “attract the biggest artists in the world but still feel uniquely Australian”.
“We look forward to partnering with them to find new ways to grow our live event footprint across Australia.”
Live Nation acquired a controlling stake in C3 Presents, the American company that owned the Big Day Out, in 2014 but the festival folded shortly afterwards.
Splendour in the Grass is the largest contemporary music festival in Australia, and has been held annually since 2001, mostly in July in Byron Bay.
Falls Festival is in its 24th year, with shows in Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and Western Australia over the new year period, headlined by Childish Gambino and London Grammar.
The events at Lorne, in Victoria, and Byron Bay, NSW, are already sold out.
