Variety of cancelled UK festivals doubles to 72 in 2024
72 UK festivals have been cancelled or postponed in 2024, doubling figures from 2023.
The figures come from a brand new report by the Affiliation of Unbiased Festivals (AIF) which revealed that, together with 96 occasions misplaced throughout the COVID pandemic, a complete of 204 festivals have now disappeared since 2019.
By March this yr, 21 UK festivals had already been cancelled, postponed or scrapped, together with Nozstock Hidden Valley who introduced in December that 2024 can be their ultimate incarnation after 26 years attributable to “hovering prices” and monetary danger”.
Elsewhere, the fan favorite Shepton Mallet skating and music pageant NASS announced that they wouldn’t be putting on an event this summer both because it was “simply not economically possible to proceed”. Bluedot introduced a yr off for the land to “desperately” recuperate after being struck by heavy rain and cancellations final summer season, and, in April, PennFest cancelled their 2024 pageant attributable to a “difficult financial local weather”.
AIF’s CEO John Rostron referred to as 2024 a “devastating interval” for pageant organisers within the UK. “The pageant sector generates important income in and round native economies in addition to to the Treasury yearly,” he added. “We’ve campaigned tirelessly for focused, non permanent authorities intervention which, proof reveals, would have saved many of the impartial occasions which have fallen in 2024.
“It’s unhappy to see that this erosion has been allowed to proceed underneath this Authorities. We’ve nice occasions, with nice demand, and we’re doing all we are able to. They should step up, and step up now.”
Normal view of pageant goers at Obtain pageant. CREDIT: Joseph Okpako/WireImage/Getty Photographs
Different festivals impacted by rising prices embrace Dumfries’ Doonhame Festival which was cancelled this yr, Nottingham’s Splendour which was canned attributable to planning delays from a financially struggling metropolis council, and Barn On The Farm which took a fallow yr attributable to monetary constraints.
Chatting with NME in regards to the cancellation and postponement of assorted music festivals, Oscar Matthews – co-owner of Barn On The Farm pageant shared: “It’s inevitable and it’s already began, however once you begin to lose smaller festivals, occasions, gig areas and venues, the alternatives disappear for brand new and rising expertise to get on stage and get their music heard,” he stated. “They’ll endure and that can inevitably have a knock-on impact additional up the chain.”
In February, AIF started campaigning for VAT on pageant tickets to be briefly lowered from 20% to five%, as a way to present monetary aid to festivals near cancellation.
It follows current findings that the music trade contributed a report £7.6billion to the nation’s economic system in 2023, whereas the grassroots sector continues to wrestle.
In hopes of securing a future for stay music, the federal government lately backed a levy on gigs at enviornment stage that can see the UK’s smaller venues, festivals, rising artists and promoters obtain a contribution from larger gigs.
The mannequin, much like the one seen within the Premiere League of soccer and already in use in a number of nations throughout Europe, was beneficial by MPs after a DCMS investigation again in Spring.
Although the thought has already been adopted by main artists like Coldplay, Enter Shikari, Sam Fender and most lately Katy Perry, who’ve all backed a levy on their upcoming UK excursions, the music trade is but to behave, resulting in elevated requires a transparent deadline for pressing motion to be taken.
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