Host with the Most: Loch Hart festival introduces new approach to help fight cancellations

Here at Humanitix, we are proud to see how our event hosts like Jayden Bath from Loch Hart Festival are thinking outside the box to keep their events and the Australian festival scene alive.

Jayden's been the mastermind behind the Loch Hart Festival for seven years now, but it hasn’t always been easy. "Running a festival is a pretty crazy thing to do," he says.

With the rising cost of living, festival-goers are buying tickets later than ever, and in some cases cutting live music events from their budget altogether. The impact of this has seen large-scale festivals like Splendour in the Grass cancel their events completely within just a week of going on sale.

But Jayden is determined that Loch Hart Festival will go ahead in 2025. So he’s getting inventive…

The Loched-In Club is born!

Jayden has launched the “Loched-In Club” – a pre-sale package where attendees put down a $50 deposit to secure their spot at next year's festival. It's an innovative but simple way that festival-goers can support the festival, and signal a “Count me in!” to Jayden and the team.

“Festivals need early buy-in from attendees to make it happen. We cannot risk running without that."

The cost involved in hosting a large-scale 3-day festival is immense - the guaranteed attendance, not to mention the upfront cash flow that this new model will provide, are a gamechanger for Loch Hart and potentially any other event organisers that adopt a similar approach.

“The current model needs to change for festivals to survive,” he said.

Even more incentive to join

As well as the $50 that Loched-In Club members pay serving as a deposit that will be taken off their final ticket price, members also get some extra sweet perks, including:

• Complimentary access to a private Launch Party
• A custom piece of Loched-In Club Merchandise
• Early access to the Cheapest Tickets for Loch Hart 2025

Rallying the crowd to keep events alive

Loch Hart Festival fans are really embracing the new model; 50% of the allocation of the capped Loched-In memberships have already sold. One buyer who can’t attend the event in January 2025 still signed up just so they could make a donation to the cause. "That was super humbling," Jayden shared.

With a new approach and half of the membership spots already sold out, next year and beyond is looking great for Loch Hart Festival. We can’t wait to see which other large-scale events take a leaf out of their book, and the other inventive ways they make sure the crowds can keep coming back for more.

Join the Loched-In Club now!