Music Festival Announcement Timing Strategies.

Announcements and press releases made by music festival organisers don't rely simply on content, the timing can be a key factor in influencing engagement, and ultimately ticket sales. What strategies do organisers employ to optimise ticket sales revenue linked to their announcements.

The timing of announcements made by festival organisers can be critical to the financial success of an event. Most organisers have tested different scenarios over the years to perfect what works best for them and there is no magic formula to perfect timing. Organisers need to determine what works best for them, however there are some common factors that can influence the timing of announcements. 

Building Momentum. 
Most festivals are planned well in advance sometimes up to 18 months prior to a live date. The curation process will also start early and regular festival-goers will likely be anticipating announcements for the artist line-up. A significant majority of festival-goers make ticket purchase decisions based on the line-up announced so to maximise sales opportunities well in advance of the live dates organisers may prefer to release details of artists confirmed as early as possible. Even if negotiations with artists are ongoing many organisers like to drip feed regular updates and hints on potential line-ups without naming them. Regular teaser posts on social media channels can help create engagement with potential ticket buyers and rumoured headliners will create interest too. Even announcements of the date that organisers will make their line-up announcements can help create buzz. 

Line-up Announcement Schedules. 
Organisers generally announce their headliners as early as possible in the planning process and marketing teams work with the artist curation team to create announcement schedules to ensure that a constant stream of content is published. This drip feed of headline artists can be linked with early bird ticket sales offers and there will be a date around several months before a live date when the main line-up is announced and this will be followed by further additions up until the live date. Other organisers prefer to have a phased announcement schedule rather than a single big launch date. This approach helps generate momentum over time without the reliance on a few key dates. 

Ticket Availability and Pricing Linked to Timing. 
The early artist announcements can be a great time to launch any early bird limited ticket schemes or flexible payment plans. Some festival-goers may consider this a risky decision as the full line-up is not yet known, however, building FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) linked to discounted offers can be great for generating revenue early in the process and works well for established festivals with great brand loyalty. The announcement for general sale tickets is often linked to a main line-up announcement and many organisers push advertising and press releases about ticket availability and pricing withing days of the main line-up release. Other strategies will be a push on ticket sales on the same day as line-ups are announced but it depends on what works best for that event. 

Factors for Consideration. 
Announcing early bird ticket offers prior to a line-up announcement will generally only work well where the event has a loyal following of festival-goers who have regularly been attending that event for a number of years. A relatively new festival will really have to push their headliners and full line-up to generate interest and sales. Organisers need to monitor and be aware of what their competing festivals are doing to avoid their announcement getting lost in the media noise created by larger festival entities. Other dates to consider avoiding could be when major sporting events are taking place or when other significant occurrence which are likely to dominate press coverage. Despite careful planning and a great curation process it can sometimes be difficult to determine when an artist can be confirmed due to touring schedules, availability and disagreements about fees. This can disrupt any planned announcement schedules, so organisers need to build in flexibility to their planned release dates. It is only with testing different announcement schedule strategies for line-ups and tickets that organisers can understand what works best for them. It can take a number of years to establish the prefect announcement timing to maximise ticket sales revenues. 

For festival organisers planning their next event 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, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by tigerlily713 via Pixabay

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