The U.Okay.’s most prestigious pageant, Glastonbury, is formally underway. Over 200,000 folks will descend on the Somerset farm this weekend – however the occasion’s friends are going through an unprecedented disaster.
As of Wednesday, 50 unbiased music festivals have been canceled, postponed or introduced a whole closure in 2024, in line with the Affiliation of Unbiased Festivals (AIF). It’s a novel drawback, one which the trade has by no means confronted earlier than, as inflation worsens steep manufacturing prices. Just a few have been axed because of dangerous climate, however for probably the most half, the delayed ramifications of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic have created a posh credit score crunch.
The pageant trade is a fragile ecosystem, and with a decline within the U.Okay., there can’t be development elsewhere in line with John Rostron, the CEO of the AIF.
“Everyone else got here out of Covid and instantly went again into enterprise. In case you’re working a store or a gymnasium, you’ve been in a position to alter to this new local weather daily, each week. However festivals solely open for 4 or 5 days [a year]. They aren’t getting the time to regulate,” Rostron explains.
“Previous to the pandemic, festivals had been flourishing,” he continues. When lockdown hit in 2020 there have been no occasions, however Rostron says pageant organizers “used up all the cash that they’d as a result of they had been nonetheless attempting to remain open. They didn’t know once they had been going to come back again. They had been attempting to maintain their groups on, attempting to rebook acts,” regardless of not having the ability to placed on an occasion.
By the point festivals reemerged from the pandemic in 2022, Brexit had kicked into gear. Inflation has typically risen worldwide, however when the U.Okay. determined to go away the European Union, limitations to exports and imports within the type of paperwork, often known as non-tariff limitations, have induced delays. Meals, particularly, should be signed off earlier than entry which may value tons of of euros. Items coming into the nation face elevated costs and the trickle-down impact leaves shoppers footing the invoice. In addition to this, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacted vitality costs within the U.Okay. and a scarcity of meals within the pandemic drove up demand and thus, prices. In brief, all the pieces is costlier.
Now, with the repercussions of that at their most damaging, the ticket income for festivals is not overlaying the manufacturing prices. And since ticket firms have additionally suffered by way of the pandemic, they’re not advancing any cash forward of occasions — an ordinary apply pre-pandemic. Organizers at the moment are requested to cowl 100% of the associated fee beforehand. “It’s the worst time they’ve ever had,” Rostron says.
The U.Okay.’s Boardmasters music pageant in Cornwall.
Courtesy of Getty Photos
Crucially, these festivals should not within the deep pockets of Stay Nation, a big-budget leisure firm that runs Studying and Leeds, Latitude, Wi-fi — among the nation’s largest and hottest music festivals. Glastonbury, which started on Worthy Farm in 1971 by personal proprietor Michael Eavis, is an anomaly. “It’s the exception. It’s the largest pageant by far, so it’s obtained unimaginable demand,” Rostron provides.
This excellent storm leaves indie festivals floundering. Somerset’s NASS, which takes place in July and normally attracts as much as 30,000, was pressured to cancel in November. The bass, home, and hip-hop fest had Little Simz, Chase & Standing, and Anne Marie on the invoice. Many of those are run by households or native landowners with a historical past spanning many years. And the cancellation of smaller festivals has a ripple impact on the broader trade for the reason that world’s greatest artists wanted indie occasions to kickstart their careers.
“If there was simply Glastonbury and nothing else, there wouldn’t be Glastonbury,” Rostron explains. “Glastonbury solely exists due to all the pieces else. You don’t begin enjoying to 100,000 folks on that important stage, you’re employed your approach by way of. Glastonbury is a pageant of festivals, they usually depend on that ecosystem.”
Certainly, touchdown a spot on the invoice at a small music pageant could be the publicity an artist wants to extend their reputation and get larger gigs. American singer-songwriter Mitski carried out at Wiltshire’s Finish of the Street in 2019, English pop band Bastille performed LeeFest in Kent a yr earlier than they launched their debut album in 2012, and beloved Scottish star Lewis Capaldi headlined Gloucester’s Barn on the Farm in 2018. Quick ahead 5 years, Capaldi carried out on Glastonbury’s important stage this yr. Merely put, artists — and the music trade basically — want these occasions to develop.
Rostron continues: “It’s important to headline a small stage and headline one other larger stage, as a result of there’s a distinction between being a headliner and enjoying on a invoice. One in every of our members that was very early to cancel this yr was Barn on the Farm. One of many tales they all the time inform is how Ed Sheeran headlined there for the primary time in entrance of 5,000 folks. It was vital for Ed to know what it’s wish to headline for five,000 folks.”
Rostron additionally notes that the U.Okay. just isn’t alone on this disaster. The music fest disaster will have an effect on the U.S., as a result of it has one in every of its legs in how effectively Britain is doing. “As a result of it’s concerning the abilities of the people and the technicians in addition to the expertise growth pipeline,” he says. “Clearly, America and the U.Okay. have a really robust relationship when it comes to expertise swapping. You possibly can see that at Glastonbury. We’ve that relationship. We want each of them to have robust expertise growth pipelines.” Earlier than Kesha’s debut file Animal, she carried out at Lollapalooza in Chigago, as did Woman Gaga, on the fest’s smallest stage, in 2007. World megastar Taylor Swift performed Nashville’s CMA Fest in 2006 aged 17. Showing at smaller or unbiased festivals could make superstars. If the U.Okay. isn’t creating that expertise, it has a major knock-on impact for the whole music trade.
However Rostron has one attainable resolution, which he’s now discussing with the U.Okay. authorities and Arts Council. His group has calculated that decreasing VAT, or Worth Added Tax, on tickets from 20% to five%, could be a lifesaver. If the federal government carried out this in 2024, a majority of those now-axed festivals could be going forward. The difficulty solely requires a short lived repair till festivals can adapt to a post-pandemic world and provide chains settle. They want, he says, “three robust summers” to experience out the bumps.
With Glastonbury in full swing, unbiased pageant organizers imagine it’s important, for everybody’s sake, to spend money on the trade’s grassroots occasions. Provides Rostron: “They’ve had 4 years of absolute stress and agony, they usually simply can’t get it over the road.”