* READ MORE: Why have so many UK festivals been cancelled or postponed?
The new figures were shared by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) – the UK’s leading not-for-profit festival trade association, which represents the interests of 202 UK music festivals, ranging from 500 to 80,000 capacity.
In the new statistics, the association revealed that the UK has seen 40 festivals announce a postponement, cancellation or complete closure in 2024 alone.
The latest of which was the El Dorado Festival in Herefordshire, which confirmed its cancellation on Tuesday (May 21). In the announcement, festival organisers cited “a dramatic rise in operational costs… compounded by the impact of the increased cost of living on the festival industry and our community” as being the main factor.
It is one of countless festivals that have been forced to shut down due to external issues and rising costs.
In the past five years alone, 172 festivals in the UK have disappeared. 96 events were lost due to COVID, 36 were lost throughout 2023, and now, 40 have already been lost since the start of the year.
AIF has warned that this is a trend that will continue to grow without government aid, and revealed that, without intervention, the country will see over 100 festivals disappear in 2024.
It highlights how the main issue at hand is the unpredictable rising costs, and that the UK hasn’t had a single steady festival season since the pandemic to help it recover – meaning that festivals are under more financial strain than ever.
The Buzzcocks perform at local music festival in Camden in 2023. CREDIT: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images
Already, AIF have launched a campaign called the ‘5% For Festivals’ to help alleviate some of the stresses placed on festival organisers. With the push, it informs festival-goers about the problems faced over the last five years, encouraging them to contact their MPs to lobby for a VAT reduction on tickets.
It states that temporary support from the UK Government – lowering VAT from 20 per cent to five per cent on ticket sales for the next three years – is all that’s needed to give festival promoters the space they need to rebuild.
“The speed of festival casualties in 2024 shows no sign of slowing. We are witnessing the steady erosion of one of the UK’s most successful and culturally significant industries not because of a lack of demand from the public but because of unpredictable, unsustainable supply chain costs and market fluctuations,” said AIF CEO John Rostron.
“In asking for a temporary reduction in VAT related to ticket sales, we have provided the Government with a considered, targeted and sensible solution, which would save this important sector. We need action now.”
You can find the full list of lost festivals in 2024 here.
The report from AIF also comes after NME looked into why so many UK festivals have been cancelled or postponed in recent years, and spoke to industry experts to shed light on the rapid decline.
It highlighted how Herefordshire’s Nozstock Hidden Valley announced that 2024 would be their final incarnation after 26 years due to “soaring costs” and financial risk”, and Shepton Mallet skating and music festival NASS announced that they wouldn’t be putting on an event this summer either as it was “just not economically feasible to continue”.
Crowd atmosphere during a UK music festival in 2023 (Photo by C Brandon/Redferns/Getty)
Others mentioned were the cancelled Dumfries’ Doonhame Festival, Bluedot – which announced a year off for the land to “desperately” recover after being struck by heavy rain and cancellations last summer – Nottingham’s Splendour, which was canned this year due to planning delays from a financially-struggling city council, and Barn On The Farm shared that it would be taking a fallow year due to financial constraints.
Discussing the issues at hand, co-manager for the latter, Oscar Matthews, told NME: “From our perspective, the festival in 2023 itself was brilliant – it was a really successful year – but we were hit majorly on a financial level by a mix of increased production costs and a very big reduction in ticket sales,” he said. “That hit us from both angles and meant we suffered quite substantial losses, despite the actual running of the festival going so well.”
It was also argued that with the continued loss of grassroots music venues throughout the UK, smaller music festivals are needed to produce the headliners of major events in the future.
“It’s inevitable and it’s already started, but when you start to lose smaller festivals, events, gig spaces and venues, the opportunities disappear for new and emerging talent to get on stage and get their music heard,” he added. “They’ll suffer and that will inevitably have a knock-on effect further up the chain.
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