OCTOBER | FEATURE
How important was the launch of Field Day in terms of the development of EYOE ? Eat Your Own Ears helped to build Field Day , and that ’ s when we really made a name for ourselves in London as a promoter . We had a very good run with Field Day . We started it at a time when the market wasn ’ t so overly saturated , and a one-day multi-genre event at a cheap ticket price was quite a new thing . We learned a lot over the years and we put on some amazing artists ; PJ Harvey , Patti Smith , reforming Ride to headline . I believe the founders got out at the right time , before it became very much harder in an oversaturated market with a lot of festivals , not just one-day events .
What led you to get back into the world of promoting festivals this year ? I love the concept of a multi-genre event with a diverse line-up , somewhere you can discover new stuff and see some of your favourite artists all on one day . I launched the Sands with Soundcrash . It had a 6,000 capacity . It felt exciting to be part of that again , but it ’ s very different doing it in a site that is ready-made , you don ’ t have to put
Lucy Pitkethly and Tom Baker
everything into a field – the stages , toilets and bars are already there so we can really focus on the creative curatorial element of it – that ’ s what I always enjoy .
What ’ s the ambition with Sands festival ? Is there room for growth ? At the moment it is two stages , with potential for three . We can grow it to a 15,000 capacity event and there is potential to do camping , so we are looking at making it a weekend event , but we want to build it slowly and organically . Margate is a great place , it is very accessible from London , and a lot of people have moved there from London . It is a bubbling creative hub with many musicians and artists living there .
What led you to launch the record label Eat Your Own Ears Recordings this year ? I wanted to do something different , learn something new and work with new people . I am working with promoter Lucy Pitkethly , who ’ s worked with me for 13 years , and we are now building new relationships with artists and managers in a different way . We have signed an act called Bloodmoon , who is Dougy Mandagi from the band The Temper
Trap . We ’ re releasing EPs with artists that we ’ ve worked with over the past 20 years , including exclusive tracks by acts such as Arab Strap , Four Tet and Metronomy , alongside new artists like Tyson . We will then release a vinyl album as a celebration of all the genres and artists that we ’ ve worked with .
The industry has changed significantly over the past two decades . Do you think it is harder to be an independent promoter now the major corporations control such a significant chunk of the market ? A lot has changed over the years . Many of the independent festivals in the market when we were working on Field Day ended up selling to Global , who acquired a portfolio of festivals . We were part of that . Then Global sold a whole lot of festivals and Superstruct picked up many of them . It ’ s quite amazing how many festivals are now under the umbrella of Live Nation and Superstruct . I know the people that run those festivals still run them in the same way but they ’ ve got the support of bigger organisations , which is key because they are operating in a very competitive world . It is similar with agents , you have the big agencies Wasserman , CAA and WME , and not many independents . There is still the spirit of independence , it ’ s about the individuals doing a good job . There ’ s positives and negatives but , at the end of the day , as long as artists are represented in the right way , the right shows are put on and festivals are run well , then maybe it doesn ’ t matter as much as people thought it did when I first started .
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