Australian artists have been caught out with the late cancelation of Popkomm 2009. Many of the acts that were chosen for showcases had already booked their airfares when news of the Popkomm cancelation came through.
“I feel personally responsible because I have helped convince these bands that this is a great event to make contacts across Europe,” organiser of The Great Australian Wave, Steve Iorio tells Undercover News. “To reduce your costs you have to book ahead and think ahead to commit yourself to doing any project”.Australian acts invited to showcase at Popkomm 2009 in September were Dukes of Windsor, Stone Circle, Death Mattel, Tracer, Blackchords, Bloodpoets, Yves Klien Blue, Amanda Medica, Eden james, Nick and Liesl, Cousin Leonnard, Worldfly, Atomic Bliss, Sonic Monkey, Zumanity and Blame Ringo.
Steve starts organising for the local acts one year ahead of the event. “The application process is massive and the alliance of companies in Australia and Germany is a massive task that can’t be done in a couple of weeks,” he says. It has to be done over a whole year. I have working on this year’s event since Popkomm last year”.
To do so he relies on support from Austrade and Arts Victoria. “To make the project possible the support I was counting on from Austrade, from Popkomm and from Arts Victoria is the reason that I committed myself to the project and talked to Australian acts to also participate as a great career move,” he says.
Now that Australian artists have already bought flights to Germany for Popkomm, Steve is still working to put on a European tour for the acts so that they can still achieve the exposure in the region that they had hoped to get from Popkomm. “I now have an obligation to help these bands because they have put money into non-refundable air tickets. We will go ahead to make the best showcases with the resources that we have and I trust that Austrade and Arts Victoria will see the value and continue their support for the Great Australian Wave”.
Popkomm organisers said that they cancelled the event this year because of the economy. They plan to resume Popkomm in 2010.
