SCA Hooks Free Bieber Show For Rooftops As It Looks To Commercialise And Expand Beyond Music

SCA Hooks Free Bieber Show For Rooftops As It Looks To Commercialise And Expand Beyond Music
Emma Mackenzie
By Emma Mackenzie



International superstar Justin Bieber is headlining one of Southern Cross Austereo’s experiential World Famous Rooftops music events, for what David Cameron, head of the Hit Network at SCA, says is costing them zero in performance fees.

When asked how much the network is paying for the singer girls go gaga over at the Rooftop Cameron said nothing. “He values the exposure that he would get on the Rooftop to billions of people,” Cameron told B&T. The Rooftops are intimate events for fans and musicians, and having spanned a number of years, has had its fair share of high-profile singers.

And while there are obviously production costs involved depending on the size of the Rooftop, and Cameron saying Bieber is probably “not the cheapest that we’ve done”, there’s no performance fee involved.

David Cameron on the right, with radio duo Hamish and Andy.

David Cameron on the right, with radio duo Hamish and Andy.

Cameron also hinted the Rooftop brand is looking to extend beyond just music events, eventually making the offering commercial.

Currently, Cameron said the brand doesn’t really have sponsors or partners for commercial reasons, as many artists can be iffy about that.

“We don’t necessarily treat it as a commercial platform as such right now,” he said. “While there’s value to be had for us commercially at some stage, there’s probably more value in this space to be had from a listener experience.”

Suggesting it could be within the next 12 months, Cameron said they’ll be hunt for brands to partner with.

“I think there’ll be a very big appetite for wanting to partner with the Rooftop brand,” he said.

SCA isn’t the only radio network to have experiential events. NOVA Entertainment has its NOVA Red Room, Pandora and Spotify have events and the Australian Radio Network utilises the iHeartRadio brand for numerous activations.

However, Cameron isn’t fazed about the competition.

“We’ve been around for a very long time, we’ve had more artists than anyone else, we’ve created more experiences than anyone else, and we’ve certainly had more listeners on our Rooftops than any of our competitors,” he said.

Cameron hails the history and legacy of the Rooftop, which has been going for nearly two decades, in keeping the reputation up market against everyone else.

And apart from expanding commercial partnerships, Cameron said Southern Cross Austereo is hoping to push into other areas, not just music.

“I can see the Rooftop running from everything from bootcamps, to versions of YouTube’s Fan Fest, to other digital executions down the track.”

Bieber is performing at the Rooftop in Melbourne on September 28. Only 300 places are available for the Rooftop, however Cameron reckons tens of thousands of people have already entered the competition.




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