Issue 51 October/November 2011 £4.75
Festivals report a great year
Agents hold key to the best artistes By Christina Eccles FESTIVAL organisers have been advised to form trustworthy relationships with booking agents to ensure they secure the most relevant artistes for their events. A panel of organisers and agents joined forces for a conference at London’s South Bank Centre to share top tips with delegates looking to book acts for festivals. Among the speakers was John Empson, organiser of the annual Eden Sessions at Cornwall attraction The Eden Project. And he said that for the relationship between organisers and agents to work, it is important to establish what acts will fit well with the event you are staging. He explained: “You have to build that level of trust with an agent and establish does the show work for the artiste. “It’s also about knowing your region and audience. Cornwall has a very different audience to London. “You have to establish a strong identity, be committed and hold your nerve. Then it’s easy to tell agents what’s great about your event.” Organiser of Leefest, Lee Denny was also on the panel and he added
the team behind his festival would never pay vast amounts of money for world famous headline acts – instead preferring to focus on up and coming bands. He added: “We don’t want to go boom and bust. Strong brand identity is important to us, not headline artistes. We have a very modest amount of money we can throw at headliners. “We have a core group who come to us who love the event. I’m in favour of start small and grow from there.” Glastonbury booker Martin Elbourne – who also works on festivals including Guilfest and Jersey Live – added: “The hardest thing for us is saying no to people. Everyone wants to play at the festival. Friday is the worst day at Glastonbury because the newcomers stick to the main two stages. After that they realise there is another festival out there and go and look at different acts.” The panel, which also included Anke Link from CODA Agency and Paula Henderson who books acts for the WOMAD festival, advised a good way to get to know agents is to invite them to come and look around your event and see how it could fit with the artistes they work with.
MANY of the UK’s most popular independent festivals have reported a great year – with some selling out for the first time and others at record speed. AIF members Secret Garden Party, Camp Bestival, Green Man, Creamfields and Bestival all sold out this year, alongside boutique festivals Kendal Calling and End of the Road which all sold out in record time. Womad also had a 30 per cent increase in sales over last year. AIF co-founder Ben Turner said: "In what is clearly a troublesome year for the UK in general, it is incredible that so many of the independent festivals have sold out or had record years for ticket sales. “I think it shows that people are finding warmth and inspiration from the more creative end of the festival sector. This year’s Bestival was the best yet, according to organisers who are already looking to next year. Audiences were treated to sets from, among others, Kelis (pictured), The Cure and Bjork and promoter Rob da Bank said this year’s acts provided some of the most incredible performances ever seen at the show. Early bird tickets are now on sale for Bestival 2012, available via a payment plan which lets festivalgoers spread the cost.
“The love being put in by our promoters is being sent back by consumers voting with their feet." How did your festival do this year? Let us know by emailing ce@whpl.net or contacting our editorial team on 01226 734463.