Live Nation owns three of the four major UK music festivals, although independent events that are not connected to either Live Nation or AEG account for nearly three quarters of the festival sector’s combined capacity each year.
That’s according to ‘Festival Forecast’, a new report from the Association Of Independent Festivals that provides an overview of the UK festival market, organising events by owner, capacity and type. It also reviews the many challenges faced by festival promoters and repeats AIF’s demand for more government support.
It’s the first time the UK market has been mapped in this way, according to AIF CEO John Rostron. The report illustrates “the dominance of two major corporations at the top”, he adds, especially Live Nation, which “has an enormous grip on the festival market”. The live giant’s festivals include Reading/Leeds, Wireless, TRNSMT, Latitude and Wilderness.
However, it also highlights “the collective importance of AIF and other independent festivals who make up so much of the festival landscape”, Rostron continues. As a result the report will “be an important document when it comes to describing our situation to policymakers, regulators and the media as we move through this summer festival season”.
‘Festival Forecast’ identifies 592 music festivals in the UK. 360 are ‘green field festivals’, while the other 232 are based in one or more permanent venues.
In terms of capacity, the report labels four as 'major' (with a capacity of 80,000+), seven as 'large' (50,000 - 79,999), 33 as 'medium' (20,000 - 49,999), 334 as 'small' (1000 - 19,999) and 214 as 'micro' (less than 1000).
Three of the major festivals are owned by Live Nation, while Melvin Benn - boss of Live Nation’s Festival Republic - has a director position at the fourth major event, Glastonbury.
Live Nations festivals combined have a capacity of 880,000, while events promoted by the other live music major, AEG, have a combined capacity of 230,000. Meanwhile all the independent festivals together have a combined capacity of 2.85 million, with AIF’s membership accounting for 1.35 million of that.
The report also highlights the various challenges faced by festival promoters and considers some of the industry-led schemes that are seeking to provide support. But more government support is required, it adds, repeating AIF’s recent call for the government to introduce a tax relief scheme for festivals similar to those already available for theatres and orchestras.