Creamfields – nice upgrades shame about the rates

The latest of the raft of special offers available from organisers was announced by Creamfields, who put tickets on sale today. Everyone purchasing a standard camping ticket before 9am next Tuesday (2/10) will get an upgrade to a Bronze package, giving access to showers, better toilet facilities and an exclusive campsite. That’s a nice deal and one you will no doubt appreciate next August, when you are crawling back to your tent in a heap.

Those a bit short of cash can secure their ticket for 20 quid and spread payment over six monthly instalments. Be warned though, the once off payment option for a two day camping ticket is £160 plus booking fee, the deposit and six installment option comes to over 200 quid. That’s a fairly hefty rate of interest to pay for a six month loan – looking to me like an APR of over 50%…..ouchie. To be fair, they aren’t forcing you to take the installment option.

Tickets available from here

Creamfields 2019 will take place August 22 – 25, 2019.

Lifeline for Bestival

It looks like a happyish ending. Bestival and Camp Bestival may have a future, having been bought by their largest creditor, Richmond Group. Richmond had earlier had the Company behind the festival placed into Administration.

Richmond’s offer was not the only one made, but it was described as being the best by the Administrator. The offer is apparently £1.1m. This appears to be on top of the £1.8m owed by the former festival owners to Richmond.

James Benamore, of Richmond, confirmed that the new owners hope to see the festivals continue.

We have been fans and supporters of Bestival since the beginning. Our children have grown up with wonderful memories of these festivals. Bestival is an example of Dorset being world class and we are keen to ensure that this fantastic institution goes on to delight families and local businesses for many years to come.”

One of the key elements of Bestival were the owners and curators Rob and Josie da Bank. It will be interesting to see whether the new owners can bring the same flair to the festival.

Green Man and Mysteryland, the early birds keep coming

It’s early bird season. Festivals want you to commit early. It makes sense, the choice is huge out there and if you wait till the line ups are announced, you may go elsewhere and the festivals don’t want that.

In return for you making the commitment early, you can secure significant discounts. The latest to announce early bird deals are Mysteryland in Holland and Green Man.

Mysteryland is a two day festival, although camping is for three days. The fesitval site Haarlemmermeer, near Amsterdam. Main acts in 2018 included Alesso, Fatboy Slim, Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike.

Mysteryland tickets are €149 with camping for the weekend and €99 without. Tickets can be sourced here.

Green Man takes place in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. As locations go, this is about as beautiful as it gets. 2018 headliners included, Public Service Broadcasting, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Fleet Foxes and War on Drugs.

Green Man has early bird tickets for little ones, teens, students and adults. Adult tickets are from £173. Student early birds are from £147. Green Man 19 takes place 15 – 18 August. Early birds go on sale this Thursday.

Of course you are buying blind. So, maybe look at previous line ups for a guide to the style of music. Check the forums for feedback. You don’t know the line up, but there is plenty of homework you can do.

Not in the Bestival position

The Times reports that the company behind Bestival is seeking new investment and that the music festival is likely to ‘enter administration.’ The administration process offers protection to the business from creditors while it seeks to source new investment and resolve its debts.

James Benamor has filed the administration notices at the High Court. One of Benamore’s companies appears to have loaned £1.6m to Bestival in 2017 and took a charge on some assets at the time. Bestival’s organisers have indicated they are looking for a new partner to come on board to secure the future of the event.

Launched in 2004 and originally situated on the Isle of Wight, Bestival moved to Dorset in 2017. Bestival 2018 saw performances from the likes of London Grammar, M.I.A, Grace Jones and Plan B.

This is not the first time that the future of the festival has been in some doubt. With questions raised in 2016 about whether the downscaling of the festival meant that it was in danger, something organisers were quick to rule out at the time. We await news from the organisers with interest.

Festival ownership – a small club

The Association of Independent Festivals has recently published some interesting figures on festival ownership in the UK. The report indicates that festival ownership is concentrated in very few hands. The report does not mention Ireland or Europe, but a similar picture exists in ROI.

I’m late to the party on this, and I’m happy to admit that the Guardian and the NME reported this a few weeks back, but I saw it today and was intrigued and wanted to cover it.

The study shows that Live Nation now owns or controls 25.6% of UK festivals over 5,000 capacity. The American corporation’s festival market share is over three times that of its nearest rival Global, which controls 8% of the UK’s festivals over 5,000 capacity through promoter Broadwick Live. AIF members own 20% of festivals, with 37 companies operating 65 festivals.

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Live Nation organises iconic festivals such as Isle of Wight, Parklife, Creamfields. They also have a controlling stake in Festival Republic, which organises Reading & Leeds, Latitude and Download among others in the UK. In Ireland, Festival Republic organise Electric Picnic and Longitude.

The AIF has called for a probe into the dominance of Live Nation in the market. They have drawn attention to Live Nation’s dominance throughout different levels of the supply chain. According to AIF, Live Nation also owns Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticketing company, which controls an estimated 46% of the top 61 venue box offices in the UK and sells 500 million tickets worldwide annually. The company also manages over 500 artists and promoted 30,000 concerts globally in 2017.

The Association is launching an online Stamp which independent festivals can use to mark their independence. Similar to the craft brew or artisan food movements, this stamp is likely to play well with a type of customer who values supporting smaller businesses.

AIF Chief Executive Paul Reed said: “AIF’s festival ownership map paints a stark picture of the sector. Allowing a single company to dominate festivals, and the live music sector in general, through vertical integration reduces the amount of choice and value for money for music fans. It can block new entrants to market, result in strangleholds on talent through exclusivity deals and stifle competition throughout the entire live music business.”

While there is logic in what AIF are saying, it is also fair to say that the number of festivals available to punters remains impressive. There have been high profile cancellations, but there certainly seems to be a healthy and diverse market. Independents and the Big players play important roles in this.

The most important thing about the AFI announcement, is that people know more about what they are buying. The AFI campaign and the new Stamp will help improve consumer awareness, that can only be a good thing.

Glastonbury tickets

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After a fallow year in 2018, Glastonbury is back. The mother, father and cute cousin of all festivals is back once more to embarass the hell out of all the other less awesome festivals.

Tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2019 (26th-30th June 2019) will go on sale at the beginning of October. Coach + ticket packages will go on sale at 6pm on Thursday 4th October, 2018, with general admission tickets on sale at 9am on Sunday 7th October, 2018.

If this is your first time buying tickets in recent years, you will need to register in advance. Registration remains free of charge and only takes a few minutes at www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk. You can also check your existing registration here. Registration will close at 12 noon on Monday, 1st October, after which there will be no opportunity to submit/re-submit a registration until after both ticket sales.

Tickets will cost £248 + £5 booking fee per ticket and will be sold exclusively at glastonbury.seetickets.com. Children aged 12 and under are admitted free of charge and do not need a ticket. A bit pricey, but there is few better value festivals anywhere.

Between now and Sunday you should get your fingers in training, practice hitting the refresh button. That and sell a soul or two, if you haven’t already.