Revenue from merch sales is becoming an increasingly important profit centre for music festivals and is growing in importance in an industry known for its very tight margins. The demand for merch from festival-goes continues to be high but what are the key steps festival organisers can take to maximise sales. 

Whether a music festival tales places in a remote rural location or a city centre park it is important to take full consideration of the local community when planning the event. Full consultation and involvement with local issues will help to enhance the festival's reputation and ensure a long-term relationship with the community to secure future festivals.  

Developed countries in Europe and North America have largely adopted cashless payments and digital ticketing for events. Almost all festivals taking place in these regions now only accept online digital payments for tickets which are issued to buyers in the form of QR codes which allows them easy access to the event and the issuing of RFID wristbands.

There are various factors to consider when assessing copyright laws with regards to music festivals and it can be a complex subject to understand. All music is protected by copyright no matter who plays or reproduces it, equally a music festival organisation and its brand is also protected by copyright laws. 

Every music festival relies heavily on the army of companies that provide rental of backline equipment to them every year. What can festival organisers expect when dealing with a a backline rental company and how have they fared during the coronavirus pandemic to be ready for what looks like being a busy festival season in 2022.

The entire music industry relies on a constant feed of new talent to keep the sector healthy but with so many new up and coming performance artists trying to get a break this can be challenging. With recording deals few and far between and the financial rewards reduced most artists and musicians now focus on live performances and music festivals to earn a living.  

Despite the coronavirus pandemic having an impact on the music festival sector new festivals still get announced on a regular basis. Why would anyone want to launch a new music festival in an already overcrowded market where margins are known to be extremely tight even for well-established festival organisers.

Any large scale multi day festival situated in a remote location will need the ability to manage all their operations locally on-site. What are the key requirements for setting up and installing a festival site office to ensure that all the operational logistics can be easily managed away from a fixed office space.

Sponsorship deals are an essential part of every music festival and provide a key revenue stream that contributes towards running costs. Sponsors can vary in size and budget and festival organisers usually offer varying packages to suit potential sponsor budgets. What are the options for sponsors in utilising the pitch space they get as part of their package?

Any large scale multi day festival will have a complex planning schedule created perhaps a year in advance of the festival dates. Tasks are typically assigned to responsible staff with schedules and critical paths being constantly monitored to ensure on time delivery, however, what can organisers do to minimise the impact of something going wrong at the last minute.

A sizable cost of organising and running any music festival is the cost of insurance to cover most eventualities. Some underwriters and insurers may be giving music festivals extra scrutiny in the coming years because of some recent high-profile incidents so will this result in higher premiums for organisers affecting their financial viability.  

Every music festival compromises many moving parts and controlling and managing these can be daunting for even the most experienced festival organisers. Many festival entities have embraced some form of automation to help managed all these moving parts but with so many elements to consider can everything be automated.

Festival-goers, vendors, artists, sponsors and contractors can have a perception of a festival organising entity that may not reflect reality. All these audiences generally think that every festival makes huge profits making it difficult to justify high ticket prices along with organisers driving down prices for contractors and artists.

Any music festival organiser will tell you to expect the unexpected when running a multi-day festival. The unknown is a key element of even the best run music festival and no event is perfect so it is imperative that organisers take steps in their logistics planning to implement a robust escalation process for every conceivable eventuality.

For festival organisers who hold annual events having an accurate record of all the data relating to the event is important in the planning process for future events. The ability to refer back to previous data can help with financial forecasting for future events and make the festival organisation process smoother.

2021 has been an eventful year for the festival sector with plenty of highs and lows to reflect on. It has been another tough year financially for the industry and anyone who works in it but the festival sector has survived intact. The future looks bright with most festivals looking forward to a good year in 2022.  

A subject that is often ignored and receives little publicity is the impact on hearing that musicians and music festival-goers suffer. Hearing loss can take many forms and can affect people later in life but because of the gradual onset is not taken seriously so what actions can vulnerable people take to protect their hearing.

The democratisation of the music industry has increased since the late 70s and continues to be a fundamental aspect of the industry today. The advancements in technology to help create music combined with distribution over the internet have been the engines behind this process but can the same principles be applied to the music festival industry.

Alcohol sales and music festivals have always been closely connected and the amounts of money spent by the big corporate alcohol brands each year on music festival sponsorship amounts to about $1.5 billion. Getting an alcohol brand to sponsor a music festival is a key requirement for festival organisers and always forms part of their overall sales revenue strategy but are there other ways to benefit from alcohol sales. 

Having poor financial planning and budgetary control has been the downfall of many music festivals no matter how well intended they were. What steps can festival organisers take to ensure that they have robust financial processes and procedure in place to avoid future financial difficulty or event cancellation.