AJ Maddah Spills The Beans On New Soundwave Secret Society

By Nastassia Baroni

After announcing the idea earlier this week, Soundwave chief AJ Maddah has today unveiled more details about the new festival membership club, dubbed the Soundwave Secret Society, to be introduced in time for the 2016 festival.

Conversing with fans on Twitter earlier this week, Soundwave chief AJ Maddah indicataed he would be keen to pursue the concept of a Soundwave membership program, that would offer its members special “perks”.

The official Soundwave Secret Society announcement is due tomorrow, but today Maddah has revealed some of his “daft ideas” for the membership program.

In his eyes, such perks could include a “black” membership card that “will identify you at #SW16 & all the various events you’ll be invited to”. This card will allows members discount merchandise as well as discount priority access to the Soundwave Comfort Zone, that debuted at some Soundwave festivals this year.

Members will also get exclusive pre-sale access to Sidewaves, Soundwave touring shows as well as invitations to listening parties, promotional shows, after parties and Soundwave Christmas parties, plus automatic entry into meet and greet competitions.

Memberships will cost punters about $12 to $15 above an average ticket price. Maddah recently confirmed tickets for the single-day 2016 festival will revert to their 2014 price, meaning a membership should set punters back about $200, including entry to the festival.

A limited amount will be available – about 100 per state – to ensure services will be adequate. Living up to the society’s name, Maddah’s even open to the idea of introducing secret handshakes or maybe matching members’ jackets.

Part of the “conditions of membership” he says, is to maintain the secrecy of certain events. “Blab and you’re out,” he says, though it’s unclear exactly how Soundwave plan on policing such a rule.

Interesting, Maddah also indicted that membership numbers will be fixed and “we have reached our capacity for members, the only way you can join is if someone doesn’t renew their membership in following years.” To reiterate, the official Soundwave announcement is expected tomorrow, so it’s unclear of any or all of these ideas will make their way into the actual membership program. He says’s memberships could be available to purchase as soon as next week.

When initially discussing the idea, Maddah immediately ruled out certain suggestions like the introduction of a drinks voucher system as well as making Soundwave’s “Chatcave” sessions with artists a members-only option. Speaking with fans he reiterated the festival memberships are not a “a VIP thing”, adding, “I hate that shit”.

Soundwave 2016 will be return to its single day format, and will take place in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in January next year. Keep up to date with all the latest updates, at the dedicated Soundwave 2016 Facebook page.

Nastassia Baroni
Nastassia Baroni

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