Advertising Standards, Rules and Transparency for Music Festivals.

Every year the media reports on complaints from festival-goers who feel they have been misled about a particular event, especially on ticketing transparency and line-ups booked. What can festival organisers do to ensure they are complying with various regulatory bodies who are responsible for setting standards for fair and truthful advertising that does not mislead.

The music festival sector has become more professional in recent decades with experienced and knowledgeable teams now employed to organise events. This has generally increased the standards of promotion and advertising used by organisers to generate interest in and, ticket sales, for their events. There are however, standards and principles that must be applied when running any promotion for an event and in recent years the ticketing industry has been widely criticised for its lack or transparency regarding ticket pricing. Compliance with recognised advertising standards helps organisers to build a trusted reputation with festival-goers. What are the current standards and what is the focus of regulatory organisations. 

Advertising Regulatory Bodies. 
There are different organisations that set standards and monitor compliance depending on the region and include the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the U.S. and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK for example. These bodies exist to ensure adherence to strict advertising standards and rules for transparency and prevent false advertising to protect consumers. The key obligations for festival entities is primarily on their terms and conditions of sale which must be fair and transparent especially regarding ticket sales, policies, refunds and on-site rules. There is link in the advertising standards to data protection regulations too where festival entities must be transparent about their data collection and use which must comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Organisers also have an obligation to communicate clearly and in a timely manner to ticket buyers if there is an event cancellation, change of date or change of line-ups. Failure to comply with any advertising standards can force adverts and promotions to be withdrawn because regulatory authorities work with media owners who can enforce any ruling. Breaking the rules can also lead to a referral to prosecutors for breach of trading standards which can lead to legal action and fines. 

Ticketing. 
The large corporate ticketing platforms have increasingly come under pressure in recent years to increase the transparency of music festival tickets. It was common practice for consumers to see an advertised price suddenly balloon by the time they reach checkout after all the hidden extra fees have been included. It was not unusual to see extra booking fees, venue fees or mysterious service charges and additional taxes appear at the final checkout stage. Ticket buyers must be made fully aware of the all the fees and charges that will apply in addition to the actual ticket price before purchase rather than experiencing this ‘drip pricing’. The FTC in the United States has recently introduced the requirement for festival tickets to be stated as the ‘total price’ up front which includes all the extra charges. Other common problems with ticketing platforms are the refund and transfer policies and processes which can sometimes be difficult to find. Festival organisers should avoid using the phrase ‘sold out’ before all tickets have been sold as this can be perceived as misleading. 

Line-ups. 
The curation process for organisers can be complex and sometimes frustrating where finalising a line-up can be challenging. Announcing a line-up with popular headliners is often a key driver for ticket sales so if an artist has not yet confirmed the festival organisers may be in breach of related laws. If previously confirmed artists cancel at a later date due to illness for example the organisers have an obligation to announce this to ticket holders at the earliest opportunity. In these instances the organisers may offer a partial or full refund depending on the significance of any line-up change. 

Other Disclosures. 
Aside from ticket pricing transparency and having accurate line-ups festival organisers must also disclose other event related alterations which may include venue changes, capacity restrictions or venue facility availability for example. In addition organisers must correctly label sponsor or influencer content as being paid for and being transparent about brand activations and commercial partnerships. 

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 geralt via Pixabay

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