Stereosonic was an annual electronic dance music festival held in Australia in November and early December. Stereosonic was held in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne, attracting attendances of up to 200,000 patrons nationally featuring the biggest electronic artists in the world.

Stereosonic
Stereosonic Sydney, 2010
GenreElectronic dance music
DatesNovember, December
Location(s)Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne
Years active2008–2015
FoundersTotem Industries (Richie McNeil, Simon Coyle) & Onelove Music Group (Frank Cotela, Dror Erez, Peter Raff)
Websitewww.stereosonic.com.au

Stereosonic was a collaboration of two major Australia promoters Totem Industries and Onelove Music Group. In 2010 Totem Industries and Onelove Music Group created Totem Onelove Group, Australia's leading electronic music companies. In 2013 Totem Onelove Group was acquired by U.S. based global electronic music company SFX Entertainment of New York.

As of 2012, it was regarded as Australia's fastest growing music festival.[1] In 2016 however, the event was cancelled with the promise that it would return "bigger and better".[2] The festival did not return in 2017, and no announcements have been made regarding its revival for 2018 or beyond.

Onelove Music Group announced new event – Festival X.[3] It was planned for 2018, but did not happen: "Due to unforeseen last-minute changes in artist availability, the partners involved in Festival X have agreed not to proceed with the 2018 event. We set out to deliver the very best experience and the compromises to the proposed line-up did not meet the vision that we have for FestivalX. More news will follow on our future plans for FestivalX – stay tuned to the website and Facebook page for more information". No event was planned in 2019.

History

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2007: Totem Industries and Onelove Music Group started Stereosonic music festival in Melbourne.

2008: Stereosonic expands and is held in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

2009: Stereosonic was held as a truly national event across (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide).

2010: Totem Industries and Onelove Music officially form the joint company “Totem Onelove Group”. Tiesto headlined Stereosonic for his first Australian festival appearance since 2003.

2011: The Sydney Stereosonic event was held with the incorporation of ANZ Stadium as the main arena, attracting a crowd of 70,000 people. The Sydney event is the largest single day festival attendance ever in Australia.

2012 : Stereosonic attracts over 200,000 patrons across five Australian capital cities. The festival is awarded the most popular festival in Australia at the inthemix awards.

Totem Onelove partners with AIDs charity, (RED) for the first ever live stream of Stereosonic in an effort to raise awareness of the fight against AIDs.

2013: Totem Onelove Group purchased by SFX Entertainment.

Stereosonic, Australia's premier electronic music festival, expands from a one-day festival to a two-day festival across five Australian capital cities. David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Armin van Buuren lead a lineup of over 350 artists.

Totem Onelove supports leading world AIDS charity for DANCE (RED) SAVE LIVES 2 by supporting the live YouTube stream of Stereosonic Sydney.

Patronage

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Calvin Harris in Perth, 2010
External videos
  Calvin Harris – Stereosonic Sydney 2012
  deadmau5 2009

The festival promoters originally began working in Melbourne nightclubs[4] forming the company Totem OneLove, which was in turn purchased by SFX Entertainment in 2013.[5]

The 2009 event was the first to see all five cities host the event.[6]

The 2011 Stereosonic Sydney was the largest festival ever held in Australia.[citation needed] 60,000 people were in attendance with more than 50 people charged for drug possession offences.[7] The Public Order and Riot Squad were called in after patrons attacked police who were trying to break up fights and to assist with other crowd management issues.[7] That year Stereosonic also sold out in Melbourne and Adelaide.[8]

The 2012 Perth event attracted almost 31,000 people.[citation needed] The 2012 Melbourne event was attended by around 45,000 people.[9] That event saw the arrest of 92 festival-goers on drugs charges.[10] In 2013, Stereosonic expanded to a two-day festival format across all five cities, enabling more than 50 international artists and over 300 local emerging Australian acts to perform.[11] This was the first time an Australian festival, held on such a large scale across five cities, had been held on multi-days in densely populated cities. Calvin Harris, David Guetta and Armin van Buuren headlined the event, with the Sydney event streamed online to raise awareness for leading AIDS charity, (RED) on World AIDS Day.[12]

The 2015 Sydney event attracted a crowd of over 48,000, with 69 people being charged for drug supply and possession.[13]

Incidents

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A 25-year-old woman became ill at the 2015 Sydney festival and died in hospital from a drug overdose.[14] A man was arrested on 4 December for supplying the woman with drugs.[15] Also in 2015, a 19-year-old man died at the Adelaide Stereosonic event.[16]

Lineups

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2007

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2008

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2009

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2010

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2011

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2012

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2013

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Headline acts for the 2013 festivals include David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Armin Van Buuren.[20]

2013 Arenas

2014

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2015

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Stereosonic 2015 reverted to a 1-day event unlike the 2013 and 2014 events which were run over 2 days.[22]

Awards

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inthemix Annual Awards

2014[23]

  • Winner Best Major Festival

2013[24]

  • Winner Best Major Festival (First year Inthemix has awarded nationally instead of state by state)

2012[25]

  • Winner Favourite Festival – New South Wales
  • Winner Favourite Festival – South Australia
  • Winner Favourite Festival – Victoria
  • Runner-up Favourite Festival – Western Australia
  • Runner-up Favourite Festival – Queensland

2011[26]

  • Winner Favourite Festival – Victoria
  • Winner Favourite Festival – South Australia
  • Winner Favourite Festival – Western Australia
  • Runner-up Favourite Festival – New South Wales
  • Runner-up Favourite Festival – Queensland

2010[27]

  • Winner Favourite Festival – Victoria
  • Winner Favourite Festival – Western Australia
  • Runner-up Favourite Festival – South Australia
  • Runner-up Favourite Festival – Queensland

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Mikolai Napieralski (31 December 2011). "A lean year for festival promoters". Theage.com.au. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Stereosonic 2016 cancelled, promises to return next year". Abc.net.au. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  3. ^ "FESTIVAL X". Onelove.com.au. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  4. ^ Nui Te Koha (4 July 2013). "Stereosonic Festival promoters to sell company for $75 million". Herald Sun. News Limited. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  5. ^ "A Farewell From inthemix: Thanks For All The Memories". 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  6. ^ Angus Paterson (6 August 2009). "Stereosonic lineup lands for 2009!". Inthemix.com. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b "Dozens arrested at Sydney's Stereosonic music festival". The Daily Telegraph. 27 November 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  8. ^ Khalil, Shireen. "Stereosonic 2011 makes history – Business – News – Inner West Courier". Inner-west-courier.whereilive.com.au. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  9. ^ Al Newstead (3 December 2013). "93 Arrested At Melbourne Stereosonic As Police Target Summer Festivals". Tone Deaf. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  10. ^ "92 Drug Arrests At Melbourne Stereosonic". themusic.com.au. Street Press Australia. 1 December 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  11. ^ Arnold, James (4 July 2013). "Stereosonic 2013 Lineup Announcement". Music Feeds. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Why Us « Totem OneLove Group". Totemonelove.com.au. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  13. ^ "Stereosonic 2015 : Woman Dies After Music festival at Sydney Olympic Park". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  14. ^ "Stereosonic 2015 : Woman Dies After Music festival at Sydney Olympic Park". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  15. ^ "Man charged over drug supply linked to death of Sylvia Choi at Stereosonic". The Area News. Fairfax Regional Media. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  16. ^ "Stereosonic music festival: 19-year-old Stefan Woodward dies from suspected drug overdose, two people critical after 'consuming illicit substances'". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 December 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  17. ^ "Robyn cancels on Stereosonic festival on". Inthemix.com.au. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  18. ^ "Stereosonic Local Lineup Revealed on". Festivaltix.com.au. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
  19. ^ "Stereosonic Local Lineup Revealed". Festivaltix.com.au. 13 November 2010. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  20. ^ "Stereosonic reveals big-name line-up". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  21. ^ "Stereosonic 2013 lineup announced". GrooveGuide.co.nz. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  22. ^ a b "Stereosonic 2015 Lineup Officially Announced". musicfeeds.com.au. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  23. ^ Cunningham, Katie (24 June 2015). "The 2015 inthemix Awards results are in". Inthemix.com.au. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  24. ^ "A Farewell From inthemix: Thanks For All The Memories". 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  25. ^ Tregoning, Jack (18 September 2012). "The 2012 inthemix awards results are in!". Inthemix.com.au. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  26. ^ "inthemix awards 2011 – Australia's National DJ, Festival, Clubbing & Dance Music Poll". Inthemix.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  27. ^ "inthemix50 2010: Australia's National DJ, Festival, Clubbing & Dance Music Poll". Inthemix.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
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