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Implications When a Music Festival Scheduled Band Splits up.

Andy Robertson

Performing band dynamics can be complex with fickle arrangements and differences in opinions and creative direction. Combined with other factors like substance abuse and reliability issues many bands do split up. If this happens to a band scheduled to appear at a music festival what do organisers need to be aware of?


Music festivals have numerous stakeholders who have an interest in line-up artists performing as expected. A band that splits up just before they are scheduled to perform has implications for organising staff, sponsors, festival-goers and other artists which need to be carefully managed by organising teams. Potential financial loss, legal issues and logistics challenges can take their toll on the organising entity, here is an outline of how this may play out and actions that can be taken. 

Scheduling Management. 
The status of the band that splits up will impact a festival’s schedules and set lists in different ways. Obviously, the impact of a headline act break up is different to a lesser-known support act that splits up. As festivals book many artists for their events it can be easier to manage schedules which can be moved around, even with little notice. In some cases, a band that splits may decide to continue with a performance with members missing. This is possible if they can obtain session musicians or by asking for guest support from other artists and will depend on availability. For organisers this has implications on stage set up and set length along with relevant announcements to festival-goers. 

Media Communications. 
A band split can happen at any time prior to a performance, and this will dictate the nature of any press announcements which will need to be coordinated with the artist’s management team for consistency.  An announcement may not go into specifics and can be generic in nature but festival-goers and other stakeholders will want to know who they will be replaced by along with details on refunds if appropriate. If the band are going to proceed with their performance but with guest musicians, this needs to be clearly communicated before the event to avoid potential negative media coverage. At all times the festival organisers and the artist’s management team need to be fully transparent on what is happening. 

Legal Ramifications and Financial Costs. 
The contracts and agreements between artists and festival organisers will usually stipulate penalties for cancellation which may include the withdrawal of any fees agreed. This can sometimes drive a band that spilt to proceed with a performance with guest musicians which may satisfy their legal obligations. Where a headline act is cancelled prior to an event there may be a requirement to make refunds available to ticket buyers but for a festival with hundreds or artists this is unlikely. A band split can make contract enforcement complex depending on the nature of the cancellation, timing and whether part of the band decide to proceed with a performance. 

Split Bands and New Iterations. 
It is not unusual when a band splits for there to be ongoing arguments about who retains the right to use a name sometimes only being resolved with legal action. There have been numerous cases over the years of perhaps one member of a band continuing with the original name over time but with a revolving line up of accompanying musicians. There have also been cases where original band members that split continue to use the same name causing confusion about which is the genuine artist. This may add further complications for future artist curation where several separate bands claim to be the original version of the band that split. Curating an artist that was part of a band that previously split needs careful handling when promoting them on a line-up. This ensures that festival-goers fully understand the artist’s current status in relation to membership of a band that previously broke up. 

For festival organisers planning their next 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.

Image by HubertPhotographer via Pixabay

Andy Robertson
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