The Widening Disparity of Artist Fees for Music Festival Performances

The large fees paid to a headline act appearing at a large well-known music festival can sometimes attract media attention. Are their fees increasing and widening the gap between these lucky few artists and emerging talent? What's causing this disparity and are there any solutions.

The coronavirus pandemic saw a complete suspension of live performances and this severely hit the income of all performance artists who rely on fees for the bulk of their income. For popular well-known artists the fees they have demanded since live performances resumed have increased in an attempt to claw back lost income and maximise their future revenue. At the same time up-and-coming artists have mostly had to endure being squeezed by festival organisers to discount their fees.

Rising Costs. 
Artists that regularly perform as headline acts at music festivals can have substantial fixed costs with a large entourage of crew and staff resulting in increased costs to maintain their business. At the same time music festival organisers are being faced with rising costs for every aspect involved in putting on a multi-day event. Expenditure on power generation, staff, backline equipment, site construction and infrastructure have seen large rises over the last 12 months. Some of these additional costs can be passed onto festival-goers by increasing ticket prices but curation budgets have been cut at the same time.

Balanced Curation. 
Artist curation for music festivals has always been a challenge requiring specialist experience and tough negotiating skills. In order to draw an audience and generate ticket sales organisers need to secure a great headline line-up. The bulk of the curated supporting artists will be from emerging talent and lesser-known artists. With headline acts demanding higher fees it is likely that there will be less budget to spend on other acts and this is resulting in curators offering lower fees to the bulk of their line-up.

Creative Alternatives. 
For artists faced with a reduced fee it may be possible to negotiate with festival organisers to obtain tangible benefits in place of financial compensation. This could take the form of additional guest passes, free meals and accommodation and a guarantee to cover all travelling expenses. This may suit both parties as festival organisers stay within their fee budget and artist’s receive benefits in kind whilst getting the opportunity for exposure.

The trend of ever rising fees demanded by headline acts and the static or reduced fees offered to emerging or lesser-known artists is increasing the fee gap. This can limit opportunities for new talent to gain exposure and build their fan base, however, headline acts are perhaps just being compensated for their popularity and appeal to festival-goers.

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. 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. 

Photo by Thibault Trillet via Pexels

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