Earlier this year AIF announced a campaign called Five Percent For Festivals , which should the government grant it, would temporarily reduce the VAT on festival tickets from 20% to 5% to alleviate some of the strain on the budget and profits of festivals across the UK. The government have yet to agree to this, though they recently announced investments in Liverpool and the West Midlands as they were deemed creative hubs. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has been involved with these investments and has commented on them – but the Autumn budget failed to discuss the issues the UK nightclub scene and grassroots venues continue to face.

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    The CEO of AIF, John Rostron has said: “This has been a devastating period for the UK’s festival organisers. Ours is a highly important sector that offers opportunities to artists, audiences, and develops creative skills and volunteering opportunities across all of the UK. The festival sector generates significant revenue in and around local economies as well as to the Treasury every year… We have campaigned tirelessly for targeted, temporary government intervention which, evidence shows, would have saved most of the independent events that have fallen in 2024. It is sad to see that this erosion has been allowed to continue under this government. We have great events, with great demand, and we’re doing all we can. They need to step up, and step up now.”

 

 

 

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UK music sector contributed £7.6 billion to the economy last year, yet the government continues to let grassroots venues and independent festivals suffer the consequences of the economic and financial climate. Earlier this year Readipop was cancelled, with other festivals added to the list including: Nozstock Hidden Valley (held for the last time in 2024) despite running 26 years, Bluedot (taking a year off), Pennfest (cancelled for 2024), Tenterden Folk Festival (shut down) which has run for 31 years.    

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Longstanding festivals such as these, and even newer less stable ones, are going to continue to cancel, postpone or shut down completely should the government not deal with the issue at hand. Associations such as AIF and UK Music continually release figures and suggest some solutions to alleviate the problem. If festival numbers continue to deplete it could be detrimental, even if the investments the government make are beneficial for those looking to get the training and start they need to work in the music career.  What awaits after training is not promising if the grassroots and independent festivals continue to suffer the way they have this year.

According to the BBC, just this year, 42 festivals have announced their postponement or cancellation of the festival as they do not have the funds or budget to successfully put on the show that audiences are desiring. Much loved festivals such as Body and Soul, Towersey festival and Wild Roots are being forced to postpone their festivals, or cancel them indefinitely.

The organisers of Towersey festival, after sixty years of running a welcoming, adored festival, announced that due to “economic challenges”, this year’s festival will be their last, stating that “the pandemic wiped all our back up and changed the face of festivals across the industry”, leaving many excited locals in dismay that their annual favourite festival will not be returning for 2025.

The costs for putting on a festival have increased immensely, reflected through ticket prices rocketing, as Glastonbury festival have increased their ticket price by £75 within the past two years. Organiser of the Stendhal Festival in Northern Ireland, Ross Parkhill, told the BBC that “everything has gone up in recent years across the board, everything from insurance costs, artist fees to affording fuel for generators”, especially as around 25% of a festival budget immediately goes to artist fees, and sometimes, this does not include accommodation and travel, wiping a huge part of their budget alongside potentially impacting artists financially.

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) stated that this year, festival goers can expect 100 more festivals to be either postponed or cancelled indefinitely. John Rostron, AIF’s CEO, wants to “again sound the alarm to Government” as the nation is “witnessing the erosion of one of our most successful and unique cultural industry sectors”.

An update from The Electric Picnic team: https://t.co/axzYM4FJOv pic.twitter.com/RDG16wqUsB

— Electric Picnic (@EPfestival) August 5, 2021

The news is even more disappointing seeing other festivals go ahead with similar vaccine proposals, like TRNSMT in Glasgow. “To see Scotland, a country with a similar population and virtually identical vaccine rollout and uptake as our own, only announce yesterday that they were easing restrictions and allowing events such as TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow go ahead in September makes this decision even more difficult to accept“.
Festival organisers described the news as “a huge blow and set back to our entire sector, which was mandated to close on the 12th March 2020 and such a decision now means the further loss of employment for over 3,000 people“.

The Fine Gael councillor said to BBC: “We’d all love to see it go ahead but, with no certainty it’s very hard“. “However in the current climate it’s the lack of certainty over Covid” added Councillor Conor Bergin.

The festival organisers thank all the fans and local residents for their patience and “huge ongoing support during this difficult time“. Alongside the dissatisfied fans, Liam Gallagher who was supposed to perform at this years edition shared his views: “Gutted to hear electric picnic has been cancelled was looking forward to seeing my Irish brothers n sisters and my cousin Guinness“.

Gutted to hear electric picnic has been cancelled was looking forward to seeing my Irish brothers n sisters and my cousin Guinness

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) August 5, 2021

The Electric Picnic festival has been cancelled for the second year in a row. The 2020 lineup included Rage Against The Machine, The Chemical Brothers and Lewis Capaldi.