Association Of Independent Festivals Representation for Grassroots Music Venues Inquiry
The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) is the not-for-profit trade association representing independent music festival members in the UK. It was formed in 2008 by five festivals, and currently represents 202 independent music festivals.
AIF represents a wide range of music festivals and operators. Members range in licensed ticketed capacity from 500 people to 80,000 people, and includes some free festivals, the largest of which is Notting Hill Carnival. Over 90% of our members operate events for less than 20,000 people. Operators may be companies limited by shares; not for profit companies limited by guarantee; Community Interest Companies; Charitable Incorporated Organisations or Charities. A small handful of festivals are run by sole traders.
Member festivals include greenfield festivals and city or town based events. Membership includes many multi-venue festivals. A small number of AIF members are UK based operators who run events internationally, however the majority of AIF members are UK based and deliver their festivals within the UK.
AIF brings festivals together to help festival teams share knowledge and learning and improve best practice. Collectively we build resources to support festivals, deliver training, and initiate programmes of activity within the festival sector. AIF is well recognised within the live music sector for raising standards within the festival sector in areas such as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Action towards gender balance on festival line ups and Sustainablity. By way of example AIF created the Drastic On Plastic Campaign, which saw festivals bring to an end single use plastics, and the Safer Spaces Campaign, which supports front of house and back of house work to improve sexual safety for audiences and crew alike. These and other initiatives have subsequenty been adopted by many elsewhere in the festival sector.
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic brought AIF into contact with UK Govt for the first time where a mutual understanding of the festival sector was developed. That good relationship of information sharing between Govt and Sector - and vice versa - continues to this day.
Music festivals and GMVs sit within the same ecosystem. Sometimes that’s through the talent and artists on stage. Sometimes it’s through the people supporting the talent on stage. Sometimes it’s through the audience who move through that ecosystem. Often it’s through all three.
Individuals are inspired at festivals to become artists or form bands that then work their way through GMVs and perhaps on to bigger stages. Individuals start out as promoters in small pubs and clubs then move into GMVs, and then begin their own festivals. Artist bookers might hold a diary at a GMV then become festival bookers. Sound and light engineers spend their winter in GMVs and their summers at festivals or they tour with artists across venues, festivals, and back again always on the road. Audiences stumble upon someone new at a festival, then go see them in a GMV on their next tour. They hear an artist on the radio, see them for the first time at a GMV, then drag all their friends or family across a festival site to see them whilst they are there. There’s a thousand other possibilities of how these worlds interconnect and overlap, and there’s no constant, steady, surefire route. It is an alchemy of sorts. There is no formula other than we know that through the past two decades or so of recent history the key pillars for live music performance have been festivals and GMVs. They have become the bedrock on which the live music industry is built and now stands.
It wasn’t always this way. Thirty years ago there wasn’t really a festival offer in the UK. There were a handful of events. Then something changed. Since the mid to late ‘90s multiple new festivals have emerged every year. Many that took root quickly grew and expanded - Boomtown, Victorious, Tramlines, Truck, Mighty Hoopla, Creamfields, Parklife, Latitude, Green Man as some examples. As they grew, new smaller festivals also emerged. Hundreds of them. And the old guard of festivals - Glastonbury and Reading for example professionalised, expanded, and sold out to fans and audiences keen to come. Hundreds of grassroots festivals - from 500 people to 20,000 played out across the UK, underpinning the small, medium, large and very large festivals that brought the UK to life. By 2019, prior to the pandemic, there were around 700 or 800 music festivals in the UK.
There’s many reasons for the rise of festivals in the UK. They’re playful; innovative; safe and fun. People love coming together in groups. You can join communities based around people or genres of music or language or lifestyle. You can see artists you know and discover plenty of new ones. They are incredibly accessible - each year a new site is built to accomodate developing technology and fresh learning. Unlike bricks and mortar building festivals are easily changeable and adaptable, built anew each year. They are, in effect, low carbon holidays too, making them a first choice for those wanting a good time away with less impact on the planet.
But some of the reasons for the growth of the music festival offer are tied to some of the issues that are the cause of the plight of the grassroots music venue. In the early 2000s with the move away from physical sales to streaming, record labels began to withdraw tour support to artists (money advanced by record labels to underwrite the bulk of touring costs). Previously, labels paid for artists to go on tour (going on tour meant artists could sell records
- and selling records was the most profitable part of the music ecosystem). Live music fees, though paid, supplemented that income. This change was the first early sign of pressures on touring across GMVs. As tour support dwindled, artists took more and more as a percentage from the venue. What was once 50% to the artist, 50% to the promoter (or to the venue if the venue promoted the show) gradually became 90% to the artist, 10% to the promoter or venue today. Do the math - 10% on 100 x £12 tickets after VAT, PRS, show costs etc does not make an income - and the promoter only gets paid once everyone else has been, so they desperately hope a show sells well) The economic model changed dramatically and damagingly and this remains at the very heart of the GMV problem. As soon as any other pressure came to bear (energy costs; supply chain costs; building developments, noise abatement etc) there was nothing left to squeeze. When Bath Moles closed, it was reported that it had run three nights back to back, sold out, and still lost money. The model is broken.
The emerging festival scene offered an attractive alternative. Playing a festival is something artists aspire to. Most emerging artists have another job, so a festival slot offers an opportunity to play on a weekend, rather than a working day. A festival slot, even first on a stage, put artists in front of many more people than a GMV ticketed show could. Festival fees (more people, higher ticket price) mean bigger fees for artists too - so as tour support faded, festivals became the principal earner for touring. Perhaps most crucially, playing a festival means playing to a new audience rather than to an audience who knows you.
Festivals are a key to developing talent and finding audiences.
As the festival offer grew, it directly impacted GMVs. The ‘festival season’ got longer, and live agents began to look at the year in a new way. GMV tours began to run from late September until April, then festivals would take over from May until the end of the summer. GMVs diaries emptied for the festival run and this put an additional new pressure on GMVs who had gaps in their diaries. The paradox was festivals were shortening the touring period for GMVS and putting a new pressure on them, but festivals offered a lifeline for artists - financially and in terms of audience discovery which enabled them to tour. Festivals remain the key earner for live music for emerging artists, and they are a key driver of live music discovery for audiences.
One cohort of festivals most directly linked to GMVs are multi-venue festivals. These may take place over one day or multiple days, usually where one wristband gets you access to multiple venues in a town, city or community. These will often include GMVs in the mix, as well as other seed venues (pubs, bars, libraries etc) and perhaps outdoor or pop up stages within the urban environment. These are also a relevantly recent phenomenon that have bloomed in just the last 20 years. AIF represents around a dozen multi-venue festivals, but we know that there are well over 100 multi-venue festivals across many areas of the UK, including :
The Aldeburgh Festival, Allen Valleys Folk Festival, Are You Listening?, Arran Folk Festival, AVA Festival, Balstock, Beat The Streets, Beggars Fair, Beverley Folk Festival, Billingham International Folklore Festival, Brecon Jazz Festival, Brick Lane Jazz Festival, Brighton Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week, Burnham-on-Sea Folkfest, C2C / Country to Country, Camden Rocks, Celtic Conncetions, Cheltenham Music Festival, Chippenham Folk Festival, Cleckheaton Folk Festival, Core Festival, Cornwall Folk Festival, Creekside Festival, Crouch, End Festival, Dartmoor Folk Festival, Desertfest, Dot to Dot Bristol, Dot to Dot Nottingham, Down Stokes Festival, East Neuk Festival, Fair Play Fest, Fishguard Festival of Music, Fleetwood folk and blues weekender, Float Along, Focus Wales, Get a Word in Edgeways, Get Together, Glasgow Jazz Festival, Gwyl Boia Festival, Hanwell Hootie, Hartlepool Folk Festival, Highway to Hellfest, Hockley Hustle, Hull Jazz Festival, Innervisions, Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend, K Music Festival, Keynsham Music Festival, Live at Leeds in the City, Liverpool International Music Festival, London Jazz Festival, Loop Fest Manchester Folk Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival, Manchester Punk Festival, Middlewich,FAB festival,Mirrors Festival,Misery Loves,Mutations Festival,No bounds festival,Onwards,Pitchfork London, Right To Roam Festival,Ritual Union Bristol, Saltburn Folk Festival, Sensoria, Shetland Folk Festival, Sidmouth Folk Week, Simple Things, Sound Festival, Sounds From The Other City,Spitalfields Festival,Stockton Calling,Stonehaven Folk Festival, Swanage Blues Festival, Swansea Fringe, Sŵn Festival,Tenby Blues, Tenement Trail Festival, The Great Escape, Twisterella, Upton Blues Festival, Visions, Waves, Wide Days, Wild Paths, You Are Not Alone Festival, Your City Festival.
Multi-venue festivals are celebratory moments in and around GMVs and other spaces in a community that encourage wider participation, more discovery, deliver stronger than usual footfall and an energy that celebrates space.
Developing artists and back stage talent happens, mostly in this live music ecosystem. Some use parts of that system. Some use it all. There are artists from an online world of Tik Tok and You Tube who can skip performing in GMVs and can immediately arrive to play to many thousands of people. That’s nothing new. We’ve a history of artists developed on TV and then immediately able to tour Arenas, albeit many would also tour festivals to build audiences too. But we’ve also a long history of artists developed from the very bottom - on streets, in seed venues - up through Grassroots Music Venues who’ve moved to bigger stages. A one-time report illustrates this well. In 2017 Music Week reported that 19 artists played UK Arenas as a headliner artist for the first time in 2016. Of those 19, eleven had developed through the grassroots. They’d all played GMVs, all been promoted by independent promoters and all played through different stages of music festivals. Without that supporting ecosystem, they wouldn’t have made it to an Arena.
It’s a shame that report has never been run again to see how things are now. Yet a look at this year’s line up at two of the very biggest festivals in the UK - Glastonbury and Reading - is easy proof of just how many artists still have a relationship with GMVs.
That relationship is true of backstage talent too - promoters, bookers, sound and lighting engineers, marketing, box office, artist liaison… the many dozens (hundreds?) or roles that develop between GMVs and Festivals. Festivals - particularly through volunteering - is often
a place where someone will get their first taste of a role. GMVs are, in turn, the more steady, all year round constant where people can then hone their skills near home, study or work.
They return to festivals for the summer, and to scale up too - larger events; more people; more artists; more pressure sometimes in a time sensitive event. The closure of GMVs hugely reduces opportunities for skills development.
PRS For Music - Venues vs Festivals
In the CMS Select Committee evidence session we saw representation from PRS, and so thought it useful to touch upon it here in regard to festivals and how it differs slightly for festivals.
Generally, the relationship between PRS and AIF as organisations is good. We have an open dialogue and regular conversation to ensure both parties understand the needs and complexities of each other. AIF Festivals recognise the importance of ensuring songwriters get paid and the value of music in a festival offer. PRS recognises festivals as a part of audience development, a place where artists can build careers, and a space where many varieties of music can be peformed and heard and income can be generated. Strong festival performances lead to enhanced profile, media coverage, radio plays and improved touring and future festival offers which in turn leads to better income for songwriters and copyright holders. Artists may work their way up through festival slots, and an artist headlining a 5000 capaciy festival one year, for example, might then look to headline a 10,000 capacity festival the next. Artists and songwriters benefit from the UK festival season.
Some of our members make us aware of difficulties with collections to PRS - whether that’s reporting of set lists; finding the appropriate rate for their event; or the impersonal nature by which PRS sometimes quote or collect. We have welcomed good engagement with PRS on these issues and have found them to be open to learning more about the festival sector, working with us and members on resolving problems. Our members, who work very closely with the thousands of artists they programme, would like to see more transparency or reporting from PRS on the distribution of revenue paid by AIF Festivals to copyright holders, and more clarity (or equality) when it comes to ‘black box’ distribution. We held a session with PRS at our Festival Congress in Spring 2024 where they explored the collection and distribution process at festivals and took questions from festival members and we welcome this kind of positive communication and engagement.
Festivals are more complex than live concerts when it comes to considering an appropriate royalty rate. At a concert there’s usually no more than three artists performing. They are all likely to all be music artists, and always a ‘headliner’ artist - the main artist for which tickets are being sold and for whom an audience are likely to be attending. The supporting artists are usually there to support the main act, warm up the audience, and use it as an opportunity to be discovered. The venue is often fixed, with infrastucture in place. Therefore the percentage of the ticket revenue covering venue hire; infrastructure and production is comparatively low, with the higher percentage available to go directly to the artists (albeit the majority goes to the headline artist as a condition of their performance).
Festivals are structured very differently. Tickets do not provide the audience with a singular musical offer, but many dozens or hundreds of music acts. And music is not alone in the
festival offer. There is a host of other entertinament on site (comedy, theatre, yoga, literature, art installations, walkabout interventions, science, talks etc). Music is rarely - if ever - the only feature of the event. The ticket also covers a wide array of things entirely outside of entertainment but integral to the festival goers needs - camping; parking; welfare; shuttle transport for example. None of this is included in a standard concert ticket. The festival site is usually temporary so the costs for fencing, staging, sounds, lights and production of the music offer is much, much higher as a percentage than it is within a fixed venue.
This was all argued and understood during the PRS Tariff LP Review that concluded in 2018 where one of the key amendments was to create, for the first time, a ‘Qualifying Festival’ definition that separated these events from standard concerts, and decrease the Royalty Rate for Qualifying Festivals from 3% to 2.5%. More information on that rate can be seen here.
Whilst this change was broadly welcomed, there remain problems with it which we would like to resolve. The ‘Qualifying Festival’ parameter excludes some events that are, quite clearly, festivals, running on multiple stages, with many artists, and with much of the burden of installing infrastructure, production etc usually on a single ticket point of entry. The rate was already too high in the UK when compared to other countries, but is now clearly in need of reduction as since 2018 production costs have risen. From evidence we collected from members in March 2024 production costs have increased as a % of the overall budget on a festival, reducing the % available to meet artists demands for fees. We acknowledge that the PRS LP Tariff is set for review next year, and we expect a good open dialgoue with PRS to consider what is an appropriate reduced rate for the next period in consideration of the current climate for producing festivals.
Financial support for the grassroots, the merits of a levy, industry action and evidence on VAT.
Grassroots Music Venues are part of a grassroots music ecosystem which not only has an enormous value and merit in its own right, but underpins the talent development pipeline- front of stage and back of stage that is the UK’s creative sector.
In that grassroots music ecosystem the most important part is the promoter. Without a promoter - someone who says ‘I want to put on a show’ - nothing happens. Sometimes that promoter is an artist. Sometimes that is an independent promoter. Sometimes that is a grassoots music venue. Sometimes that’s another type of venue or space. Sometimes that is a festival. It doesnt matter how much tour support an artist has to go on tour, unless someone offers to put the show on - and take that risk - there is no show.
This inquiry has come about because of the plight of GMVs, and the admirable work of Music Venue Trust. Through the evidence and conversations prompted by their actions there now seems to be a broad industry consensus that was known by many of us all before that all aspects of this grassroots music ecosytem are valuable and need support. Promoters, Venues, Festivals, Artists.
MVT reports that 125 GMVs have closed since the pandemic. Festivals lost an equivalent amount between 2020 and 2022. 96 festivals were lost to the pandemic. 36 festivals were
then cancelled and ended last year in 2023. As I type this 29 festivals have already this year been cancelled, postponed or are making 2024 their final edition. That’s 161 festivals lost since 2019.
The challenge for festivals is not the same as the challenge to GMVs. For festivals, the issue is a combination of a credit crunch caused by the long tail of Covid and the unpredictability of rising supply chain costs brought about by the pandemic, Brexit and some other causes (manufacturing issues; interest rates on warehousing; increase in bad debt caused by festival closures etc). Put those together, and despite strong sales (indeed, plenty of festivals selling out, but then losing money), festivals are failing unneccessarily. With a temporary intervention to stablisie the market and help the supply chain and festival recover and build, this could be stopped, indeed reversed within a few years.
We strongly agree with Music Venue Trust and with others that there needs to be intervention and financial support for the grassroots, and welcome that this conversation, triggered by the plight of GMVs, has explored the wider grassroots ecosystem, concerns and issues. We appreciate the good work of LIVE, of which we are a founding member, in engaging with its many association members to seek to find a consensus. The music ecosystem, through its eclectic nature, varied ownerships and structures, is rarely easy to negotiate. Like many fellow associations we always prioritise what we, as industry, can do first and only ask of Government when we know our ask is beyond what we can do ourselves..
We can see the merits in a levy on venues over 5500 capacity, and the potential funding pot this would create for the grassroots. We thank MVT for engaging with us at AIF, recognising that the financial structures of festivals are very different, and that festivals are facing problems too, and agreeing that a mandatory levy on festivals is not appropriate at this time.
A funding pot from a levy is appealing and if one was established we would expect it to support grassroots music festivals. If the direction of travel is a levy, which it seems to be, we would support a voluntary levy model. It would enable those who are able to contribute and that may then include some festivals whose position affords them the ability to help others.
However we think there is a better solution that removes layers of administration; removes interference in the market of choosing who benefits and who doesn’t; has more consistency (ie isn’t dependent on sales); reaches more people and also stimulates growth. That is through a reduction of VAT on grassroots activity.
Whereas for GMVs a reduction in VAT would be helpful but not a cure for all their problems, for a grassroots festival* (ie an independent festival of up to 20,000 licenced capacity) it would be a silver bullet. Our research shows that a temporary reduction of VAT on ticket sales would have saved most of the events cancelled last year and almost all the events cancelling, postponing or coming to an end this year.
We’ve based that ask on evidence pulled from the festival sector over the past twelve months. As an example, in the January 2024 AIF member survey, 78% of respondents had made a loss on their 2023 festival. We asked how their 2023 edition would have fared if VAT on ticket sales only had been 5%.
61% would have made a profit 9% would have broken even
26% would have made a manageable loss 4% would have made a significant loss
In addition, we have evidence that a reduced VAT rate would create the space for new festivals to start up - there are operators with licences, tenders or ideas for events that will not start whilst supply chain costs remain wild and VAT sits at 20%. A VAT reduction would create the opportunity to bring new events into the market and kickstart growth in festivals that stopped with the pandemic, and also contribute to supply chain stabilization and growth.
[*Whereas the term ‘grassroots’ in venues and concerts relates to capacity of around 1000 or less, in festivals it relates to events of 20,000 or less that are independently owned. For example, Independent festivals of this size are often run with just one or two full time members of staff. Many smaller events - say at 10,000 capacity - have no full-time staff at all. The temporary nature of festivals, as well the very different cost structure, means that it’s only beyond 20,000 capacity that events and can afford - to employ an equivalent number of FTE roles as small GMV (See MVT GMV Definition HERE). Non-independent Festivals (ie Live Nation / Festival Republic owned events) have access to wider organisation teams and resources which mean they do not have the same issues, and so do not qualify as a grassroots festival]
We hope to conduct some research shortly to calculate what a reduction in VAT would mean for the Treasury in terms of growth income and what value would reach UK audiences through such a measure.
Barn On The Farm. Has announced it will be trying to return in 2025.
Leopallooza. Made its 2023 edition its final event.
Bluedot Festival. Has said itʼs taking a ‘fallow yearʼ for 2024.
Nozstock The Hidden Valley. Has announced 2024 - its 26 edition - will be the last event, citing rise in supply chain costs as its reason for reluctant closure.
Field Maneuvers. Has announced its 2024 edition will be its last in its current form.
NASS Festival. After its 2023 edition it announced it will not return.
Escape Into The Park. Festival will not take place due to 'increase in supplier and artist costs'
Bingley Festival. No plans for festival to return. 'Production costs have gone through the roof'
Nibley. Announced 2024 will be their last festival. Cite increasing costs against a backdrop of cost of living crisis.
Togfest. No plans for festival to return. Loss of core team and some venue issues given as reason.
Detonate Festival. Cancelled for 2024 due to costs.
Takedown Festival. Postponed until 2025. Building works and trading conditions given as reason for postponement.
Smoked and Uncut. Festival cancelled. No reason given.
Spring Classic. Festival cancelled due to costs.
Standon Calling. Festival postponed until 2025.
110 Above. Rising costs mean no festival in 2024 and no plans for a future edition.
Connect. Festival will not go ahead this year. No reason given. Suggests it may return in 2025.
Ampthill. Festival cancelled unable to cover costs. Company goes into administration.
Hayloft Live. Cancelled due 'to unforseen circumstances'
Wild Fields. A new festival for 2024 is cancelled due to costs
Love Fit. Festival cancelled and company goes into liquidation.
Splendour. No event in 2024 due to tender and procurement issues. Festival hopes to return in 2025.
Doonhame. Rising costs force cancellation of festival
Camp Quirky. Taking a fallow year. Cite challenges of running an independent festival. Neighbourhood Weekender. No event planned for 2024. Said they will return in 2025 Lowedefest. Bought to an end after 13 years
Tunes On The Bay Festival. Has been postponed until 2025
Shindig. Have announced this year's event will be its last. Cite venue changes and challenges of running an independent festival.
In 2023 AIF tracked news of music festival cancellations - events that were on sale but did not make it to open their gates. We found 36 events that cancelled. The primary reason was for economic conditions - with events citing the rise and terms in supply chain costs. The second reason was weather related (ie heavy rain following strong periods of dry weather slowing site build).
Alfresco Audio Farm
Beacon Festival Beyond Festival
Cambridge Rock Festival Chagstock
Cowley Road Carnival Creation Day Detonate
Doune The Rabbit Hole English Riviera
Exodus Festival Farm Fest
Fresh Ayr Festival Geronimo Festival Glas Denbury
Gwen Gwen Kidwelly Hideaway Festival Highrise Festival
In Between Days Kaleidoscope Festival Lechlade
Loosefest
Midnight Sun Weekender Mugstock Festival
New Quay Music Festival No Bounds Festival
On Kilter
One Love Reggae Festival Otherlands Perth
Out East Festival The Kirkstyle Stomp Tiree Music Festival Tokyo World Tolpuddle Festival
Warm Up Festival
This is a list of 96 music festivals that were active in 2019 but did not make it through to 2023. Some tried to roll over or planned events in 2022 but did not emerge back by 2023. This list is not exhaustive. There is not a comprehensive list of UK Music Festivals. This came from research conducted by AIF during Spring 2023. We estimate that 1 in 6 music festivals did not survive the pandemic.
A Perfect Day Always The Sun Asparafest
Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival Beyond Festival
Bigfoot
Bilston Blues, Rhythm & Rock Festival Blissfields
BluesFest
Brentwood Festival/Evoke Festival Burnham-on-Sea Folkfest Camden Rocks
Camp Good Life Carfest North Chalgrove Festival Chewton Glen
Chilled In A Field Festival Chislehurst Rocks
Cleethorpes Blues, Rhythm & Rock Festival
Cocoon In The Park Cornbury Festival
Croissant Neuf Summer Party Dartford Festival
Doune the Rabbit Hole Drown U Out
Dundee Summer Sessions FarmFestival
Festival of Europe
Fleetwood folk and blues weekender Fling Festival
Folk on the Dock Folk on the Quay
Free Harmony Festival Futurama Festival Gateways Festival Giants Of Rock
Glas-Denbury
Glasgow Summer Sessions Great British Folk Festival Greenwich Music Time GuilFest
Happy Days Festival Havering Show
Head for the Hills festival Heretic Fest
Hideaway Festival Holifair Festival
House of Fun Weekender I Am Next
Innervisions Jam On Rye Kaya Festival L Fest
Larmer Tree Festival Leamington Peace Festival Lechlade Festival
Live at Chelsea
Liverpool International Music Festival Liverpool Loves
London Summer Jam Looe Live!
Lovebox Merthyr Rising
Middle of Nowhere Festival Music Mania Festival Music On The Marr Neverworld
North Yorkshire Music Festival Outcider Festival
Pulse of the Maggots Festival RedFest Bristol
Rockin the Bowl - Forged in Fire / Set in Steel Sacred Vibrations Festival
Signals Festival Skankfest Somerfest
South Central Festival
South West Four Weekender Southport Sixties Weekend SW4
The Acoustic Festival of Britain The Funk & Soul Weekender
The Great British Alternative Music Festival (Oct) The London Mela
Throwfest
TogFest True North Truefest Tusk festival
Unlocked Fest Village Green
Walthamstow Garden Party Walton Folk Festival Watchet Live Music Festival Waves
You Are Not Alone Festival