‘I can’t keep making a loss’: bands shun UK festivals as touring costs rise

Musicians are dropping out of festivals because huge rises in the cost of performing are outstripping their fees. Artists told the Observer they have had to turn down offers to play or cut out elements of their live shows, while others have revealed they have lost as much as £17,000 for a single performance.

Although ticket prices have risen by 15% on average, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) warned that the costs of staging a show are up by 30%, and that gap is costing both artists and promoters.

More than 100 UK festivals – one in six – have closed permanently since the start of the Covid pandemic, three in the last week alone, due to staffing shortages and the high costs of energy and equipment such as fencing, toilets and stages.

Maxïmo Park were due to play Chagstock in Devon this month but the organisers cancelled it, blaming escalating costs and lower than expected ticket sales.

“It’s a real shame,” said Paul Smith, Maxïmo Park’s lead singer. “I think a lot of festivals are wondering whether it’s worth putting it on, and a lot of smaller acts are wondering if it’s worth the small fees to get there.” The indie rock band are known for their lively stage shows and were unable to tour with their 2020 album, Nature Always Wins, because of lockdown. This summer they have just a handful of dates planned, including Hartlepool’s Tall Ships festival.

“We’ve stripped back because of the costs – we didn’t take a lighting engineer on our recent European tour,” Smith said. Brexit rules have also made touring more expensive due to the cost of visas and cabotage rules on tour buses.

The Newcastle singer is also part of Unthank : Smith, a collaboration with folk singer Rachel Unthank. “We put a record out this year,” he said. “We looked at a few logistical things. It would have cost us a lot of money to do festival dates, and our fees would have been minimal. So we didn’t.”

Elkka, the electronic artist whose 2021 club hit Burnt Orange helped get her a Radio 1 residency, played a DJ set at this year’s Glastonbury. “I have to be really, really selective about what I do and whether it’s possible financially,” said the musician, whose real name is Emma Kirby. “I’m a DJ as well, so sometimes I look at something and think that I can’t afford to take a show because it’s too expensive to take my show there. So I DJ instead – but I’m lucky to have that option.”

Even as an emerging solo artist, Elkka needs a tech expert to maintain her synthesisers and drum machinesso they don’t fail during a performance, a live sound engineer and a tour manager. Sometimes she will just accept a loss-making trip. “I’m a queer artist. I like to play in spaces where I’m with my allies, and those parties don’t always have the money to take you there. But I can’t keep doing things at a great loss,” said Kirby.

Artists who trim the equipment so they can perform solo face other issues. Last week Billy Nomates asked the BBC to remove clips of her Glastonbury performance from social media after receiving abuse online for performing with a backing track. Nomates – the stage name for Tor Maries – said she would take a break from performing live, prompting a wave of concern from other musicians.

Chris Sheehan, co-founder of Karousel Music, a musicians’ collective, said he believed cost was an “overriding factor” in why artists were performing solo. “Professional musicians are suffering badly because artists can’t afford to take them on the road,” he tweeted..”

David Martin, chief executive of the Featured Artists Coalition, a trade body representing the interests of musicians, said: “There’s an assumption that if you’re the person on stage, you’re financially safe. The artists in the middle are being squeezed. We should heed the warnings that we’re seeing from cancelled shows.”

John Rostron, the AIF’s chief executive, said the Hideaway festival in Essex, Tokyo World in Bristol and Doune the Rabbit Hole in Stirling had all been forced to abandon this year’s plans since the AIF had published research showing that there were 482 festivals left, down from 600 in 2019.

“I’m very nervous about the state of the market,” he said. Independent festivals had struggled through Covid with bounce-back loans, but many had sold tickets at 2019 prices for festivals that were delivered at 2022 prices. “You had events that sold out but lost money. So there was no cushion.”

At the other end is a lack of demand from young music fans. Data from AIF members shows that 20% of ticket sales are now paid for in instalments, up from 4% in 2019, but very few people under 24 are even taking payment plans, Rostron said.

“If you look at the events that are struggling, these are the rites of passage festivals for teenagers,” he said. The pandemic meant many young people never developed the habit of going to festivals or heard about the experiences of their older peers.

“We’re asking the government for a reduction in VAT, down to 5% as a temporary measure.

“That would mean we can get that cushion, find those young people that might be missing and rebuild,” Rostron said.