The Big Topic: Is there anything wrong with artists using co-writers?
Read More
Credit: Far Out / Nick Chong / Jade Masri
The Big Topic: How will festivals survive the next future-threatening obstacle?
2022 is the first complete season of festivals in three years, but due to the Covid-19 crisis and the financial repercussions of the pandemic, many events did not manage to survive. Unfortunately, further problems are on the horizon, and more find their futures threatened by the next obstacle set to derail a return to normality.
After two years of cancellations, the finances ran dry for many organisers. Those who did survive felt as though they had just won the biggest battle of their professional lives, and then the cost of living crisis emerged in the wake of the chaos, throwing major events straight out of the frying pan and into the fire.
The latest developments won’t affect this year’s festivals, but 2023 could be severely damaged, and many will understandably fear their future. For many festivals, this was their first event since pre-pandemic, with most ticket holders paying 2019 prices for a 2022 event ahead of a sharp increase in 2023.
Inflation is currently at 9.4%, 8% higher than two years ago, and festival-goers will feel the pinch. Organisers will have no choice but to raise prices in order to cope with the increased cost of putting on the event. This increase could make punters already exploited by energy companies, landlords, and supermarkets unaffordable. If they weren’t already, festivals would become a luxury, and many simply won’t be able to stretch their pockets that far.
On a brighter note, this year has seen 9% of festivals cancelled, down from 53% cancelled or postponed in 2021, according to AIF data (via Music Week). However, inflation makes the future of smaller and independent festivals uncertain.
Paul Reed, CEO of the Association Of Independent Festivals, told Music Week: “We’re very pleased to be fully operational after two years of complete or partial shutdown. But there are a lot of challenges and very difficult trading conditions. We’re seeing 30% increases in infrastructure costs, or more in some cases, which is beyond the extraordinary rise in inflation in the wider economy”.
He added: “There are a lot of supply chain pressures. It’s particularly challenging for independent festivals as they operate on margins that are typically lower than 10%. It’s tight margins at the best of times”.
As costs increase across the board for festivals, whether it is down to rising infrastructure prices or bands upping their fees to cover soaring expenses, festival-goers will foot the bill. Truck Festival, which Sam Fender and Kasabian headlined, cost £105 to attend this year for the majority of attendees who paid in 2019, whereas next year, it will cost the average music lover £140. It’s not an increase they want to make, but it’s one they must make if Truck continues.
These festivals are the lifeblood of local communities and help create a platform for the next generation of artists before they graduate onto the bigger stages. Moreover, they are affordable for most, and you don’t need to use Klarna to attend them.
If these festivals go under, we’ll just be left with major events such as Festival Republic’s Reading & Leeds, Latitude, Wireless and Download, which will only further monopolise the market. Major event organisers should be able to survive this latest threat, even if it means they lose money over the next couple of years, as their future is secured.
Admittedly, the future of the festival scene isn’t a concern for people worrying about how to meet their electricity bills. Yet, if there isn’t action taken, such as a VAT cut to the cultural sector as trade bodies are calling for, then the British festival market will become even more monopolised and in the hands of a select few.
