2022 Could be the Tipping Point for Some Music Festivals.

Organising any music festival is a very risky business where the swings between high profit, break even and big losses can be unpredictable. With the coronavirus pandemic now entering a new Omicron wave globally what is the likely impact on the business of running music festivals in 2022 and beyond. 

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020 there would be about 1,000 music festivals every year in the UK but almost all were cancelled in 2020. Many returned this year whilst a few remained cancelled considering the financial risks too high. For 2022 almost all summer music festivals have confirmed they will go ahead with a handful not returning until 2023. With each coronavirus wave allegedly becoming less severe and a higher proportion of the population being vaccinated is it time to really start living with it? For many festival organisers 2022 will be a crucial year potentially being a tipping point of survival or not. What are the key factors affecting the financial risks for festival organisers next year?

Financial Backing and Insurance. 
Commercial insurance companies will not provide cancellation insurance because of COVID-19 and organisers will have to rely on the government underwritten insurance scheme. The LE Reinsurance Scheme however, only covers expenses rather than any loss of profit. Financial backers for music festivals have become more cautious and the risky business of running music festivals has become even more of a risk.

Suppliers and Workers. 
With about 85,000 people reliant on an income from working in the music festival support infrastructure and related industries many have made the decision to move on to a more reliable source of income over the last 2 years. This has potentially left a skills gap for support services that music festivals rely on. From organising staff to sound engineers and stage rigging experts the industry could be faced with a supplier crisis in 2022. Add to this worrying tend is the reluctance of some performance artists to travel due to the risk of infection making artist booking and confirmation more challenging.

Financial Stability.
There are not many music festival organisers with deep pockets and with risk averse financial backers disappearing the financial stability of many organising entities is finely balanced going into 2022. With rising operational costs due to implementing additional protocols, rising supplier costs and potential restrictions on visitor numbers some organisers may call it a day after next year. Any independently run music festival may have some difficult choices to make in 2022 which may include selling out to one of the corporate live event organisations or partnering with another festival to survive into 2023. Consolidation in the music festival industry seems inevitable in the future for this very risky business.

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 RODNAE Productions from Pexels

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