Synergy Global Entertainment (SGE), who is responsible for several prominent music festivals including Ozzfest Meets Knotfest, the Disrupt Festival Tour and the Mad Decent Block Party Festival, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. According to filing made in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in California’s Central District, SGE owes its creditors $8.4 million and has about $1 million in assets and $54,000 dollars in the bank.
“After having creative impact in over 45 Festival Brands and Tours in the company’s history, we most appreciate the years of partnerships with fans, artists, brands and vendors,” promoter John Reese, the founder of the company wrote in a statement to Billboard.
Reese owes money to vendors, publicists, lawyers, and staging and rental companies tied to these events, along with about $500,000 to the credit card company American Express. His biggest creditors are Front Gate Tickets, who are owed about $1.7 million and Groupon, who are owed $1 million, both for “ticket refunds.” In addition, Reese owes $445,000 to concessionaire Outer Springs of Anaheim and $227,142 to Rat Sound Systems of Camarillo.
While the group had brought in $17 million this year, they took substantial losses from the 25-date Disrupt festival tour headlined by The Used, Thrice and Sum 41, and the cancellation of the the Mad Decent Block Party Festival, which was intended to take place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Last month’s Real Street Festival in Anaheim, California, was the promoter’s final event.
“All of his summer events were already booked and on sale so there was no time to do proper due diligence, hence it was a very risky investment but I care about John and the SGE family dearly,” one of Reese’s creditors, Ash Avildsen explained.
Read the entire statement below:
It is with deep regret and after exhaustive efforts to save the business, SGE is now closed.
After 15 years as a successful festival promoter, SGE was hit by a perfect storm of adverse market conditions and a massive drop in ticket sales and RPT (Revenue Per Ticket) since late April of this year compared to historical ticket sales metrics. As a result of these issues, the negative economic impact for SGE became untenable.
After having creative impact in over 45 Festival Brands and Tours in the company’s history, we most appreciate the years of partnerships with fans, artists, brands and vendors
Leave a Comment