Making The Music Festival More Professional.

How a music festival is presented to its target audience can have a significant impact on the financial success of that event. What steps should music festival organisers take to make their event more professional in every way to enhance their business efficiency and overall brand persona.        

Many music festivals have evolved from small specialist and localised events organised by someone with a keen interest in music and hosting parties, everything was paid for in cash and there was likely no particular structure. When the festival gets to a certain size it's time to consider taking steps to make the organisation more professional as this will secure profitability and the longevity of the event. 

Legal Status. 
There will come a point in every business venture, and music festivals are no exception, that the organisers need to establish their legal status. This usually involves the formation of a registered legal entity with shareholders and audited financial reporting. This could be a separate holding company or even a registered charity. Having a music festival organised by a transparent legal entity gives credibility when dealing with third parties and is particularly important for corporate sponsors.

Finances. 
Along with the legal status of the organising entity is the financial reporting that goes along with that. Any limited company has an obligation to submit audited accounts on a regular basis and this is a way of controlling the finances of the organisation. With the help of a professional qualified accountant budgets can be set for expenditure and revenue can be monitored along with tax obligations applicable.

Systems and Technology.
The days of managing a music festival with pieces of paper and spreadsheets are long gone. There are now various software systems available for managing a music festival from end to end with Festival Pro being an excellent example of computerising and automating all music festival processes. The festival organisers should also keep abreast of new technology available particularly when it comes to use of QR codes and scanning for ticketing and on-site transactions. 

Staffing.
Of course, founders and their core team will almost always retain control of key festival activities as they feel a certain amount of ownership for certain processes. However, there will come a point for a growing music festival that there will be just too many tasks spread too thinly. At this point it makes sense to recruit people with specific experience in that aspect of the festival organisation and planning. People will specific skills in volunteer management, artist management and stage management for example are likely to be valuable additions to the organising team.

Brand and Marketing.
Having a professional set up and structure for a music festival is great but never forget about the ‘shop window’ which includes the event website and all associated social media accounts. Having a great creative and experienced events marketing team can ensure that the festival brand is enhanced and along with exceptional customer service and communications channels. In addition the marketing function should manage any CRM systems to ensure that customer data is correctly collected (in line with GDPR requirements) and managed in such a way that customers can be targeted with future campaigns. 

Making a music festival more professional will attract key sponsors and artists which in turn leads to more ticket sales and vendor applications. Each of these factors should then feed of one another to produce a financially secure and consistently growing festival. 

For any event organiser planning their music festival using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their festival 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 and ticketing. 

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