Curating the Perfectly Balanced Music Festival Line-up.

Creating a great music festival line-up is a huge challenge for festival organisers who must balance festival-goer appeal, artist availability and the budgets allocated. What are the key considerations for artistic curators to get the perfectly balanced line-up that generates ticket sales without exceeding the budget available.

A large festival entity may have a full-time experienced artistic director with a support team to help them whereas a smaller festival may use a contracted curator. Festival-goers can be fickle when reacting to a line-up announcement usually because everyone has their own music tastes. A well-balanced line-up can provide a mixture of artists that gives a wider appeal even to those who are prone to criticise. 

Festival-Goer Demographics and Brand Identity. 
A music festival identity can focus on specific genres or be more generic mixed genres and the curation of artists will reflect this. In addition, it is essential to fully understand the audience demographics of festival-goers as this can be a key driver in producing a great line-up appeal. Organisers can use data collected from previous events to gain a better understanding of their ticket buyers. Even a genre specific festival can consider the numerous sub-genres to broaden artist selection appeal. 

Artistic Curation Directors. 
The artistic director responsible for the curation process is a highly skilled role and experienced individuals can command high remuneration packages. The artistic director working on a specific festival will likely have comprehensive experience and knowledge of that event’s genre. They will know who the established artists are as well as where to find emerging talent. They will have an extensive network of industry contacts able to make connections with artist’s management teams and promotors to gain access to artists in demand. This helps with the fee and terms negotiations along with the booking process. 

Headliners. 
Having the right headliner artists can be a big draw to generate interest and ticket sales, every festival should generate a hit list of potential headline artists they want to curate. Coordinating with artist’s management teams and agencies can help identify A list artists who will be touring on dates that coincide with the festival dates. The headliner choice should take place early in the planning phase to ensure availability and confirmation which can then be coordinated with promotional activity. The music festival market can be competitive with many events taking place on the same weekends making the early confirmation and booking essential. 

Emerging Talent and Support Acts.
The artist curators may create a priority list of artists they want to book, and this will usually include well known B list artists who regularly appear in support roles at festivals and can provide a solid backbone to the line-up selection. Festival-goers are always interested in experiencing new material and the curation process should consider booking emerging talent that is yet to get a breakthrough. It is the curation artistic director's role to identify suitable artists that fit this requirement. In addition, they will consider selecting a mix of local artists and those from diverse backgrounds and genders to enhance the line-up appeal. 

Budgets and Booking Processes. 
The festival entity will have allocated a budget for their artist curation process which will be on a sliding scale with large sums allocated for headliners and decreasing as they go down to the support acts and emerging talent. Budgets are usually established using comprehensive financial planning that accounts for anticipated ticket sales plus sponsor and vendor revenue. When an artist is selected and confirmed there will usually be a deposit fee payable to secure the booking and many organisers use event management software to manage their artist booking process. This will involve logging all relevant details about the booked artist including profiles, tech specs and riders for example. Details may also be included in agreements and contracts between the organisers and the artist with specifics on costs and allowances for transport and accommodation. It is common practice for the curation process to include a number of back-up options in case an artist pulls out at the last minute, in some cases it is possible to make a provisional booking along with a deposit to secure an artist which can be cancelled close to live dates. This can be a complex process and requires careful negotiation to ensure that the artist is aware they are on a back-up list. 

Logistics and Scheduling. 
With a large, curated artist line-up organisers will likely have multiple stages with headliners and key support acts using a main stage and other smaller stages for local artist and emerging talent. To get the best out of a confirmed line-up organisers need to carefully plan the running order of artists and who appears on each stage. A running order can drive the overall energy of an event often with highly anticipated headliners scheduled for appearances late in the day. 

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 including a dedicated artist management module. 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, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by RahulPandit via Pixabay

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