Industry Professionals Leveraging Music Festivals for Networking.

It’s not just artists, festival-goers and organising staff that attend music festivals, there are also likely to be a plethora of industry professionals present too. With so many musicians and their support crews in one place a music festival makes an ideal environment for industry professionals to network and create new beneficial relationships.

Through professional connections it is usually possible to obtain an ‘access all areas’ pass and most importantly access to the backstage zones. For aspiring professionals seeking out networking opportunities the backstage access enables them to meet and connect with their peers, organising staff and the many musicians scheduled to perform. 

Who are these Industry Professionals? 
Any festival backstage zone can be a busy and sometimes chaotic environment with event staff like stage managers, sound and lighting engineers and artist liaison managers making themselves busy. In addition to the festival staff there will be artist’s managers, record label executives, A&R representatives plus booking agents and promoters all in attendance for a variety of reasons. Some will be taking care of specific artists they manage whist others are talent scouting or looking to showcase new talent. There will also be numerous media individuals and journalists who are covering the festival but also looking for exclusive interviews with artists and other prominent personalities. 

Musicians and Artists. 
Festivals can book hundreds of artists and the backstage environment is the perfect place to meet other artists and musicians. Any networking connections established can lead to creative collaboration projects both for the creation of new material or working together on future events and tours. Artists and musicians also network with their peers to share experiences and gain advice from more experienced live performers and importantly provide each other with support. Any up-and-coming artist will find the backstage zone ideal for networking with A&R representatives or potential management companies. 

Networking Planning. 
Any industry professional that intends to attend a music festival with the purpose of networking needs to do their homework thoroughly. They need to figure out who they want to connect with and establish the day and time any target individuals are likely to be present. Approaching artists or other target professionals should be done in an appropriate manner, ideally being introduced by a mutual associate, at the right moment. Timing is critical, trying to talk with a performance artist just before they go on stage is certainly not recommended so choosing the right time is essential, preferably when they are relaxed and not busy. Equally there may be other individuals who want to connect so professionals should always be open and welcoming as everyone is in a similar situation. Even if the professional has failed to connect with their target individuals, they probably enjoyed the experience and likely made some good friends in the process. 

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 including comprehensive accreditation functionality for the allocation of passes. 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.

Image by Bence Szemerey via Pexels

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