<< Back to articles


Measuring Success for Music Festivals.

Andy Robertson

The objective of organising and running a music festival can vary but whatever the aim of the festival is it is key to understand what factors are being used to measure the success of the event. A full understanding of these factors will determine the success or otherwise of the festival and help to drive decision making for future events.


Some music festivals are run to make a commercial profit while others exist to generate funds for charities or to provide a service and benefit to a community. The measurement of success can therefore be wide ranging including financial, attendance numbers or branding. It is therefore important in in the early planning stages that clear and precise objectives are set along with measurable milestones that can be used to determine the music festival success. What are the common measurement factors used for determining the success of a music festival?

Financial. 
The most common and easiest measurement tool is financial because the sales and revenue figures should be an undeniable number. Not all music festivals plan to make a profit in their first year perhaps because they are on a 5-year plan to build their brand and turn a profit in year 3 for example. Having tight control over expenditure and close monitoring of ticket sales and revenue from vendors and sponsors can be challenging but with experience and time the targets set can be more accurate. For charitable festivals the financial objective may be as simple as breaking even with any profit being made going to charity. For community music festivals the funding is likely to come from a local authority which will be recouped from vendors and sponsors where visitor entry is often free. 

Attendance. 
The number of festival-goers that a music festival generates can be a good indication of the likely revenues that will be generated. However, a community festival may place visitor numbers over financial results because their objectives may focus on increasing community engagement. A new music festival on a longer-term financial strategy may also put more focus on visitor numbers because building their brand may be more important.

Intangible Factors. 
Aside from the financial and visitor numbers some music festivals have intangible targets but these can be much more difficult to quantify. Research and feedback can provide invaluable evidence of success if measuring factors like branding, visitor feedback, engagement and experience. The advances in digital measurement can assist in better understanding of these intangible factors by measuring positive feedback on social media for example.

Post Event Actions.  
Assuming that the festival organisers have set realistic targets the post event actions will involve an assessment of achievements against objectives that were set in the early planning stages. Understanding what was achieved and what was not can help to build more accurate forecasting for future music festivals.

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Andy Robertson
Share To:



<< Back to articles

Contact us


Get in touch to discuss your requirements.

US: +1 424 485 0220 (USA)

UK: +44 207 060 2666 (United Kingdom)

AU: +61 (2) 8357 0793 (Australia)

NZ: +64 (0)9887 8005 (New Zealand)


Or use our contact form here.