“Every time I play down under, I notice a very peculiar, strong and determined competition between the local promoters and bookers,” wrote Get Physical boss DJ T in his tour blog for Beatportal earlier this year. “Somehow, it’s very different from the rest of the world.”

Thanks to our far-flung geography, it’s hardly a surprise that things work differently down under. Perhaps no other country understands the concept of the ‘international act’ quite like Australia. The word ‘Berlin’ in brackets after a DJ’s name takes on new weight when it suggests a 24-hour long haul flight, with booking fees to match. So, just how much is an international worth? And what do they bring to our scene?

That “strong and determined competition” for acts is at its most fierce within the festival arena. The vying for a pool of ‘bankable’ names from distant lands has only ramped up with each year. Now, with new festivals having a crack and the old guard less assured of sell-outs than before, the price on internationals is trebling ever higher.

“With more festivals and less artists that sell tickets, artist fees have gone through the roof,” Fuzzy’s co-founder Ming Gan confirmed to inthemix back in June. “Something is going to give. If you’ve got a festival that’s paying a ridiculous amount of money for one artist they think they need to survive, but they don’t achieve that, it’s going to fall apart.” He uses the 2007 Parklife line-up – which seized the electro hysteria of the moment with Justice, Digitalism, MSTRKRFT and Busy P – as an example: “If we were to price that line-up now, we’d be paying four times the amount.”

An interesting sideline to this is the international’s fee as proportionate to their following in Australia. The notion that Ricardo Villalobos would be almost prohibitively expensive seemed to come as surprise to many here, but one only need look at his feverish pulling power in Europe to understand the man doesn’t come cheap. It’s testament to Stereosonic that he’s on the 2010 bill alongside proven safe-bets like Tiësto and Sebastian Ingrosso.

This ever-mounting competition for festival acts – which of course often comes saddled with ‘no sideshows’ caveats – has naturally been felt elsewhere in the scene. “It’s almost impossible to secure big acts for club tours with all the festivals paying ludicrous prices to secure their line-ups and outdo each other,” says Kevin Karlberg, whose Melbourne artist management collective Stable Music is closely aligned with The Likes Of You techno road-trips.

Out west, the situation is much the same. “The great acts will always pull a crowd,” says Andy Scally of Perth institution Limelite. “They established themselves when our industry was emerging, then backed it up time and time again, but their fees have hit absurd amounts, so only festivals can book them.”

However, in the opinion of fellow Perth promoter Karl Pownall, whose Democracy night recently celebrated its third birthday with first-time visitor Marcel Dettmann, internationals should fulfil a different role in the club scene. “Clubs shouldn’t be competing with festivals for acts,” he argues. “They should be breaking the acts that will go onto play at festivals; it’s an entirely different market.”

Sydney’s VOID, a party dedicated to dubstep and dark rooms, shares a similar philosophy on internationals. “We generally are onto artists before they are financially viable for festivals and before the festival promoters have even heard of them,” says promoter Damien Abicic. A prime example is Rusko, who packed out a sweaty basement for VOID in 2009, only a short time before he ascended to Good Vibrations Festival drawcard. “The big acts are usually producing rubbish music when they get to [festival] level and we are not interested in promoting them,” is Abicic’s unapologetic assessment. “There are exceptions, but this is true for the majority.” Naturally, plenty would disagree.

Getting internationals to Australia is only part of the gamble. As Norwegian disco whiz Todd Terje recently remarked to inthemix, “It takes a lot of time to be there, too.” With generally two weekends to work with and up to six cities to visit, there’s likely to be a Sunday or Thursday gig in there somewhere. Driller Armstrong – owner of Adelaide’s celebrated Sugar club – has seen a risky international booking go both ways. “Joakim played on a Sunday night in Adelaide two years ago and remarked to me, ‘There is nothing like this in Paris on a Sunday night, Driller’. The club was very busy and he was shown great appreciation on the dancefloor. We had him back on a Sunday night last month and he played to 15 people!”

Scott Walker, whose Drop night has championed the deeper strains of four-four in Brisbane for seven years, identifies another hurdle. “The main problem is touring agents not recognising that Brisbane is only a small market for niche underground acts, yet they still ask for the same prices that Sydney and Melbourne are paying,” he says. “Some agents have been more receptive to communication and co-operation, and as a result we have seen some great collaborative efforts happen.” When the punt on a high price tag pays off, though, the rewards are lasting. “Internationals go away and talk about the scene here and locals get to experience great DJs,” reasons Sugar’s Armstrong.

Amongst the discussion on our inthemix in-depth features, a recurring theme has been disappointment with headliners. Such gripes are obviously the exception to the rule – 2010 has already seen many passionate and galvanising performances from internationals – but is too much value placed on ring-ins? Opinions range from pragmatic to cutting.

“If you are coming for one weekend all the way to Australia, then the jet-lag could affect performance,” offers Kevin Karlberg. Democracy’s Pownall is less diplomatic. “A producer arses his way into producing one big track and suddenly they are doing world tours – or even worse, doing world tours based on the big track they arsed 10 years ago,” he says. “Meanwhile, artists who are doing seminal work are largely ignored or play to thin crowds, because they don’t have the marketing power of the major labels.”

Limelite’s Andy Scally adds an amusing footnote to that protest. After losing out badly with DJ Hell while will.i.am sold like hot-cakes, the international pool is getting weirder. “I was just offered Pauly D from Jersey Shore for a DJ set,” he bemoans. “My god, how did we get here?” You heard it here first, people – the #8 DJ in America is coming our way.

“Just because someone is from another country and has a record released doesn’t mean they necessarily have anything to contribute if they toured here,” is the final word from Damien Abicic. “We have local DJs more capable of playing a good set than a lot of internationals.” That may well be the bottom line – but it’s hard to argue that they’re often worth every cent.