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.

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.