Wollongong's The Farmer and Owl festival has claimed an Australian first as the only music festival with the ticket price set at "pay what you like".
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The first allocation of tickets will let festival-goers decide how much they want to pay to see triple j favourites DZ Deathrays, Bad//Dreems and Jebediah on March 14.
The festival returns to UOW's grounds as a joint effort between promoters and former cafe owners Yours and Owls and Music Farmers record store.
The line-up offers an impressive roster of bands that reads like a "who to watch" of the Australian music scene including Shining Bird, Drunk Mums and You Beauty.
Organiser Ben Tillman said the festival pricing strategy relied on the audience's generosity.
"We're appealing to people's goodwill, we're hoping people don't take advantage of the $5 minimum," he said.
"We hope they pay what they feel the bands are worth and if people are being genuine then we'll keep it rolling but otherwise we might have to cut it off on the first day."
Offering festival tickets at a $5 minimum is a bold strategy considering the long casualty list of music festivals that folded.
Falling ticket sales signalled the last curtain for Peats Ridge, Harvest, Pyramid and Soundwave's Sidewave mini festivals.
Even festival forefather The Big Day Out is ailing after the brand was resold for a third time to American giant Live Nation.
However, Wollongong festival organisers have prioritised philosophy over profits.
"We think the music industry has become owned by a lot of corporate companies dictating prices," Tillman said.
"This is a bit of a stand against the over-commercialisation of something that should be 100 per cent for the people."
Despite the risk, the Wollongong-based collective seem to know what they are doing after selling out the Yours and Owls festival last year while luring acts like Sticky Fingers and Dune Rats to the Illawarra.
Their five years of booking and promoting bands coupled with their record label has been credited with bringing live music back to Wollongong.
Home-town darlings Hockey Dad, the first band signed to the festival's sister record label, are excited to support the collective that launched them.
The triple j Unearthed winners gained national attention and new fans after playing crowd-pleasing sets at the Falls Festival over New Year.
"I feel like the home-town shows are getting better and better," said drummer Billy Fleming. "What started out as a fun little thing is now a big fun thing."
