<< Back to articles


Music Festival Organisers Diversify Activities.

Andy Robertson

With the coronavirus pandemic having a significant impact on the business operations of most music festival organisers have had to seek out new business opportunities. Many organising entities have wisely diversified their business activities to spread the risk and create new profit centres to ensure long term survival.  


The situation for festival organisers around the world can be very different as some countries open up to unrestricted live events whilst others battle with ongoing restrictions. What types of business activities are festival organisers delving into and how can they maximise revenue from newly identified opportunities. Will the return of a full on festIval season this year detract from further diversification.

In-house Experience. 
Festival organisations have numerous in-house skills which for the most part are focused on organising and running successful music festivals but sometimes these skill sets can be turned to other activities. The operational and logistics expertise is a primary function of the organising team including project management and multi-tasking which can be transferable. In addition, the contacts with the music industry can be key in obtaining additional work utilising engineering and production skills. Organisers will also have vast experience of working with health and safety requirements with knowledge of current regulations and implementation.

New Activities. 
A logical step could be to offer event planning and management services whether it’s other festival events or even business conferences the project management and logistics skills can be sub contracted to other event organisers who may not have the necessary resources. Some festival organisers already have links to recording companies and its worth using these contacts to seek out additional work from artists and record labels that need assistance with production and tour management for example. Many festivals have adopted to providing live streamed events over the last 2 years and this skill set can now be offered to any organisation wishing to convert to virtual or hybrid style events.

New Profit Centres. 
Whether it's part of the existing entity or a new business, festival organisers can use a sub brand to offer their services. A logical step in doing this is to set up an event consultancy or event planning agency that can work with any event that needs operational assistance. It may make sense to have a newly branded legal entity to help keep activities separated. This helps staff working on other activities to focus on addition work assigned and avoids any confusion with any new potential customers.

By considering diversification of business activities festival organisers can help to spread future risk and many festivals have had success by doing just that. Assessing the in-house skills and exploring new business opportunities is a much better option than going into a dormant phase or reducing staff simply because the main festival has been cancelled or postponed.

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 fauxels 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.