Tauranga's Bay Dreams music festival is expanding into Nelson

Machine Gun Kelly performs at this year's Bay Dreams music festival.

It's already become one of the biggest festivals on the summer music calendar, but Bay Dreams is about to get even bigger.

Promoters today confirm they're taking the post-New Year's festival to the South Island after finding a suitable site in Nelson.

That means Bay Dreams will still be held on January 2 at Mt Maunganui's Bay Park, but it will be followed by another event at Nelson's Trafalgar Park on January 4.

Festival co-director Mitch Lowe says the popularity of Bay Dreams, which sold 25,000 tickets for this year's event, made a second festival viable.

"The events will share many of the same artists, and as it grows we hope to be able to bring most of the North Island BD artists to the South Island show," he says.

Mitch Lowe and Pato Alvarez, the co-directors of Bay Dreams which is expanding to include a second site in Nelson.

His co-director Pato Alvarez said Nelson was the perfect place for a second Bay Dreams festival.

"We searched all over for South Island for the right place and we felt that Nelson was the ideal spot for another festival. It's already a popular summertime destination and it has one of the best climates in the country," he says.

Bay Dreams has scored some major festival headliners in recent years, including Yelawolf, Shapeshifter, Sticky Fingers, Kehlani and DJ Snake.

Promoters say a line-up will be released for next year's event in the coming months.