“ Love Supreme ’ s sales are very strong . Festivals with a loyal fanbase are doing well but anything new is struggling a little bit ,” says Romano . “ Kite ’ s sales are as expected but we have definitely pushed the tickets uphill . Anything new is tough .”
He believes that Kite ’ s unusual blend of music and a strong focus on discussions and debate will stand it in good stead : “ You need a strong focus and an event that is distinct from the rest of the market .”
According to Heap , selling the first 50 % of a festival ’ s tickets is the easy bit , it is the remainder that can prove challenging : “ The next 25 % tend to sell steadily to a loyal audience and followers of whoever ’ s is due to be on stage but the real hard sell is the last 25 %, for that you have to be different and special .”
Romano says that while recent years have seen the Love Supreme Jazz Festival sells an increasing number of “ super early bird ” tickets each year before the line-up is announced , the bill is as important as ever and being an independent presents its own challenges : “ You have to be a lot more creative because you have a limited
“ Independent festivals have more heart and soul , the people who started them are usually still involved in the decisionmaking .” – End of The Road MD Lauren Down
budget . It is a combination of driving hard bargains and making sure all the genre elements of the festival are taken care of .”
Down says that the market is being driven by major players that can afford to pay “ massively ” over the odds for artists , which prices artists out of the reach of many independents .
Exclusivity deals and radius clauses also limit the availability of artists to independent festivals . While those contractual clauses make sense to prevent nearby festivals booking the same headliners , Reed is concerned that the deals are increasingly involving artists who are low down on festival line-ups .
“ The problem is when those deals are at the level where they impact smaller artists who are not getting large fees ,” he says . “ That ’ s stifling competition for the festivals and the talent . Some pretty small , community-focused , independent festivals are having exclusivity slapped on them .
“ I ’ ve also seen examples where a deal has been done with an independent festival and they are getting ready to announce the line-up when the agent has come back and reneged on it . That ’ s incredibly unhelpful , not least given the challenges that we have all faced over the past couple of years .”
Independent spirit For all the challenges of running an independent festival , not least during the past couple of years , Down says she wouldn ’ t have it any other way : “ As an independent festival , End of the Road is not replicable by the majors because it is all driven by a fan-first attitude . It is a cottage industry , there are small teams creating a unique feel . Many people want to come to the event because of the look and feel , the atmosphere – that ’ s why we can sell tickets before the line-up is announced .
“ Independents have more heart and soul , the people who started them are usually still involved in the decisionmaking . There are loads of passionate and skilled people involved in larger events but there is less red tape and a smaller chain of command with independents , which does mean we can be nimbler and freer to make changes .”
While independent festival operators focus on their individual events this summer , the AIF has three sectorspanning priorities : audience welfare , climate action and DEI ( diversity , equity and inclusion ).
The organisation is involved in the development of a cross-industry green code , and is appealing to Government to reconsider the removal of rebates on biofuel .
It also recently launched a revived Safer Spaces campaign , which has seen more than 100 festivals sign up . It is designed to tackle sexual violence at festivals , and involves an updated charter of best practice alongside a new awareness and education campaign .
On diversity , Reed says , “ We are hugely focused on it across the organisation itself and its membership .”
Looking ahead , the AIF CEO says that while 2022 is not quite proving to be the bounce-back year that many people hoped and expected it would be , the longterm outlook for the independent festival sector is extremely positive .
He says , “ The sector is in a really strong place but people are looking towards next year as the reset year .”
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