The Great Escape Festival debacle highlights how the future of alternative music is independent
Usually, after The Great Escape, the world of a music journalist is buzzing with reviews and recaps as publications place their bets on which stand-out sets will birth the next big thing. Normally, bustling queues outside Brighton’s various venues are a joyous sight, welcoming in not just another summer of the festival but a new cast of the next big things to follow. But in 2024, all the names to know pulled out, some stages shut up shop, and the new class of artists sent a clear sign that their rise will be independent of any corporate evil.
By the time the festival got underway, a third of the lineup had withdrawn due to the controversial sponsorship from Barclays. In April, when over 300 artists signed an open letter calling for the festival to cut ties with the bank that is connected to weaponry companies involved in the Isreal and Gaza conflict, they wrote, “A bank that is involved in Israel’s genocide has no place at The Great Escape, which is a fixture of the independent music scene and has a prized place in the industry.”
Realistically, The Great Escape serves as one giant industry showcase. For the days the event is running, it feels like the entire music industry descends onto the beach with everyone from managers, A&R staff, bookers, promotors and journalists all sulking around, usually trying to find the best acts. For so many artists, getting booked is like a golden door opening, offering up the potential to be seen and spotlighted by someone who could get you booked at even more significant events, get you signed, or simply get you somewhere for the next big set. But as so many acts followed through with their threat of pulling out despite the implications, the boycott feels like proof that the new age of new artists will no longer be drawn into the darkness of the ‘industry’ simply out of obligation or expectation to do things the old-fashioned way.
Or maybe it is a sign that they want to return to the old-fashioned way. By now, we’ve all been tricked into a belief that an artist needs to be instantly fantastic to get big, get a team behind them, have a viral moment and climb quickly to the top. There is pressure piled onto them to get booked at festivals like The Great Escape as if these big official events are the only way to grow or mark growth. But this year’s festival, or really the lack thereof, felt somewhat like a rebalancing of the scales, helping to place more power or agency back into the hands of the music makers rather than the music business. It was a sign that the independent spirit could prevail where the industry failed.
Lately, on all fronts, the business around music is, more often than not, the thing that ends up letting artists down most. There are constant stories of musicians feeling squashed into tiny, limiting boxes by marketing teams. The mess of Co-Op Live proved more than ever why time and money should be invested in well-run local venues instead. Even in vinyl production, the success of the independent plant Press On shows the power and value of backing companies who are motivated by passion over profit, trusting that good morals and knowledge will lend themselves to good business. Meanwhile, corporate plants are still holding new artists back with delays and hold-ups thanks to major orders by dominated chart toppers.
The boycott on The Great Escape showed incredible bravery from artists, not just for being willing to place their morals ahead of their career gain, but in being able to steel themselves against the major conglomerates that would claim they dictate these careers. The sponsorship from Barclays comes indirectly via Live Nation, the multi-billion dollar titan at the heart of the live music industry. The Brighton festival is one of many connected to the company, along with hordes of venues up and down the country. No doubt Live Nation could throw their weight around and strike fear into any one of the small artists that pulled out, waving the stick to hit them within the form of the threat of refusing to book them anywhere. But the carrot will always be the artistry. There’s power and peace to be found in the fact that people make music because they want to, not because they want to climb to the top of an industry ladder.
But even as hundreds of musicians pulled out of the festival, the city was still bustling and busy with music, perhaps even more so than any other year. One member of the local music scene took it upon themselves to draft an extensive schedule of all the alternative escape programmes as more and more venues decided to book a lineup of artists, snapping up as many dropouts as possible. For a hefty amount of the people that quit the festival, they could still be found playing somewhere in the city, still gaining new fans as even people with paid tickets were found casting off the official lineup in favour of the grassroots festival that wound up happening.
It was a triumph of independent spirit as Brighton’s various independent venues worked to platform these artists. The Great Escape is built on the backs of independent and emerging artists, normally considered to be for them. In 2024, the artists reclaimed that for themselves, sending a message that maybe they don’t need the industry, but the industry certainly needs them.
