Filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn’t appear to have made things a whole lot easier for SFX Entertainment. Developments that have arisen over the course of the failed EDM conglomerate’s attempted restructuring show that its board still has just as many enemies as ever – including the owners of Australian promoter Totem OneLove Group, to whom they still owe $15 million.
For those who don’t know, SFX originally bought the company from its founders, Richie McNeill, Frank Cotela, Dror Erez, Simon Coyle and Peter Raftopolous, for $75 million. Totem OneLove’s flagship festival, Stereosonic, was recently forced to cancel its 2016 edition, but it’s widely believed that the two attendee deaths of the 2015 edition played more of a role than any other factor.
Being that SFX Entertainment also had to delay the auction of Beatport, which was to be the first asset sold as part of its restructuring, the company’s future looks as bleak as ever. Additional developments will surface from its chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in the months to follow, and their repercussions on the global electronic music industry will surely remain a subject of speculation for some time to come.