Music Festival Media Partnerships.

Music festival organisers need to reach their target audiences to sell tickets for their event and a key element of this is the regular media splash of news regarding line-ups and ticket availability. To get relevant news published in an accurate and timely manner many festival organisers enter into media partnerships.

A music festival organisation with large budgets may employ a Public Relations Agency on a full time retained basis. This approach saves time as the PR Agency will write content and approach media outlets for publication of any news on an agreed timeline and strategy. PR Agencies already have regular contact with the right people in relevant media that leads to a higher success rate in getting published. Some festival organisers prefer to employ an in-house resource to perform this role which can be a dedicated PR professional or a contractor. Doing a deal with a media partner can work in tandem with any approach taken and can save costs and still achieve media publication coverage. 

Types of Partnerships. 
Any media partnership needs to be with the right organisation and will depend on what the festival organisers want to achieve. Media outlets can have access to large audiences but this should be a relevant match to the event. For a music festival a media outlet that publishes content about music and events will be relevant, however, it's worth considering local media too if it's important to engage with the local community. Most media outlets now publish regular newspapers or magazines along with digital online versions too.

Management of the Partnership. 
A good media partnership can be secured by negotiating elements that can be exchanged rather than any fees being required. To secure a media partner festival organisers can offer branded coverage on their website and social media plus on-site signage. Media partner journalists can be offered accredited 'access all areas' passes or VIP tickets. In exchange for this the media partner should publish any press releases or content and perhaps offer discounted advertising rates.

Benefits of the Media Partnership. 
Once a media partnership has been secured both sides should gain benefits and for the festival organisation this can include guaranteed publication of press releases and articles. If the media partner is well known and respected this can add credibility to the event. Getting a link to the festival website from published news can also increase backlinks which in turn improves the festival's Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and this helps drive website traffic and ultimately ticket sales.

A festival organiser could rely solely on a media partnership to achieve coverage but this is unlikely. Most organisers will have a combination of in-house resources, PR Agencies and media partners to maximise their news and content coverage.

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.

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