The government on Saturday released a list of 14 festivals that will be subject to a tough new licensing regime from March.

Festivals are deemed high risk if they have had a serious drug-related illness or death in the past three years, or the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority believes there may be a significant risk of serious drug-related illness or death.

Laneway Festival - which has been running in Sydney for almost 15 years - was among those on the list, alongside Ultra Music Festival, FOMO, Electric Gardens and Defqon.1.

In a strongly-worded statement on Tuesday, it said the classification has the potential to cause brand and reputational damage and was considering its legal position.

Organiser Danny Rogers said more than 35,000 people had attended the event over the past three years and a total of two people have presented to hospital for known drug or alcohol-related issues in that same period.

"It's preposterous that Laneway is categorised as high risk," he said.

"We are angry that the NSW government is so dismissive of the industry who contribute so much to the state's economy and culture. It is a short-sighted political move that panders to the conservative media and vote."

He labelled the criteria for the classification as "poorly-defined" and said there was a risk that all contemporary music festivals could be categorised in the same way.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday stood by the new measures, saying the vast majority of festivals had "nothing to worry about".

"It's business as usual for them," she told reporters.

"But for the high risk ones, we're just saying to them please work with the government.

"It's not about stopping fun, it's about stopping people dying."

Australian Associated Press